Month: July 2009

Amy Winehouse’s celebrity father is reporting that he once faked a heart attack in order to scare his daughter into getting clean. Obviously, the plan was not a success. The thing with using addicts is that we rarely have the ability to care for anyone but ourselves. It’s an enormously self-centered disease and I can recall wanting to care, but being unable to do anything but feed my drug and alcohol habit. Her father seems to be encouraged that Winehouse has replaced drugs with alcohol, but as a recovering addict, I can say that replacing one drug with another is simply prolonging the process.
In an effort to get off of “hard drugs,” I attempted to try drinking instead of using. It was probably one of the more disgusting periods in my using history. I still sought escape and obliteration, and had no ability to stop- no matter what I was using. It wasn’t until I was able to maintain total abstinence from all drugs, including alcohol, that I was able to deal with the core of my problem- me!
drug and alcohol treatment gave me a chance to be completely removed from my environment, which I feel was necessary for me. I was incapable of maintaining my resolve long enough to kick drugs on my own. Being separated from my old environment and old friends gave me some space to really look at my life honestly. In drug treatment, I was able to look at the disease of addiction in its entirety and how it was destroying my life and devastating my family. Once the fog of drug and alcohol use lifted, I was horrified to realize what I had become. In the compassionate world a good treatment center, I was able to process these feelings and was guided into a new way of thinking and approaching life. Appropriate behavior was expected of me, and in embracing the program’s structure actually helped me to find freedom, which seemed counterintuitive to me at the time.
Watching Winehouse in the media is like watching an awful train wreck in slow motion. I hope for her sake that something derails her from her destructive path before something truly terrible happens. It makes me sad because I know that recovery is possible for those that can make the effort. When my parents dragged me kicking and screaming to adolescent treatment, I thought it was the ultimate betrayal. Now, I see that their unwillingness to enable me further is what actually saved my life. Perhaps instead of faking heart attacks and encouraging her drinking, Amy’s father might consider refusing to participate in her insanity anymore. Now that I have found the gift of recovery through, I just hope that others can get this chance too.

Integrating Modern Psychotherapy & 12 Step Recovery Programs
How to Successfully Utilize Individual, Group and Family Treatment
presented by: Dr. Allen Berger

Saturday, August 1st, 2009

9:00am to 4:00pm

Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital

Pueblo at Bath Street

Santa Barbara, California 93105

$35 Registration Includes: Presentations, Lunch, Refreshments and CEHs

Register Online at: https://www.bettyfordcenter.org/training/event_registrations

Or Call Christina Howard at 714.855.6378
Please view the website or attachment for further details.
Hosted By:
Cottage Health System
Visions Adolescent Treatment Centers
Betty Ford Center
Safe Harbor Treatment Center for Women
Jaywalker Lodge
Saturday, August 1st, 2009
Integrating Modern Psychotherapy & 12 Step Recovery Programs
How to Successfully Utilize Individual, Group and Family Treatment
Presenting: Allen Berger, Ph.D.
Cottage Hospital
Peublo at Bath Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
Presentations, Lunch and Continued Education Units

Online Registration
https://www.bettyfordcenter.org/training/event_registrations/

Or call Christina Howard for Reservations 714.855.6378
Brochure Available Here

Most alcoholics begin drinking in their teens, but the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University has concluded that a third of kids between ages 12 and 17 had their first drink before the age of 13. The Partnership for a Drug Free America revealed that ten percent of nine year olds have had more than a sip of alcohol. Columbia’s research indicates that people who begin drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol and substance abuse problems than people who wait until they are 21 or older to begin drinking.
Many parents may expect to look for signs of alcohol abuse in high school, but more and more young people are abusing alcohol at much earlier ages. I think my drinking went undetected for some time simply because my parents did not assume their 12 or 13 year old could possibly have an alcohol problem. Unfortunately, as my drinking progressed, so did the consequences that became impossible to ignore. It wasn’t cute. It wasn’t a phase I was going through. Even at that young age, I felt that alcohol would always be a part of my daily life. I couldn’t imagine getting by without it.
I’m sure it was difficult for my parents to conclude that someone so young might actually need adolescent drug and alcohol treatment. It was certainly hard for me to think that I could possibly be an alcoholic at fourteen. Our culture often defines alcoholics as a real “grown up” disease, and recovery programs tend to cater to an older crowd. Fortunately, this attitude is changing, thanks to more media coverage and to adolescent treatment centers.
Visions was made just for me, and kids like me. No one there questioned my alcohol problem. They didn’t act like I was going through a phase, or acting out for attention. They gave me the serious attention I needed. As I have stayed sober over the years, I have come to believe that anyone has the right to recovery, regardless of age or anything else. Coming to Visions helped me take my problem seriously. Alcoholism destroys lives no matter how old you are, so why prolong the destruction? I’ve always felt that if I couldn’t pull off drinking into my twenties even, then I am definitely an alcoholic. Sometimes in 12 step meetings, older people like to joke about how young I am and even question why I’m there. I know that if I kept going at my previous rate, I might not get another chance to recover. I might be dead or in jail instead. I don’t care about those people and what they think of me. I’m changing my life. I’m getting another chance, and I will do what I need to do to keep it. Visions bolstered my resolve to recover. Going to meetings with them helped me remember that they had my back- that they believed in my ability to change my life. I know that there are more kids getting that chance every day there. I see them at meetings, or at alumni functions, or when I go there to work with a sponsee. Some people may not believe in the idea of a preteen alcoholic, but Visions does and for that I got a life. A real, good life.

I was recently talking to a new girl that I’d met in AA and asked her what she was doing for her summer. “I’m in rehab!” she responded, laughing. I could relate. We joked about her getting to say she spent the summer in Malibu, hanging out with new friends from all over the country, and eating good food, but really, summer is a great time to go to rehab. Some kids go to summer camp, and some of us go to adolescent drug treatment in Malibu.
Long stretches of days full of nothingness and minimal supervision are a good recipe for problems for a drug using teen. For me, summers were a big chunk of time that I got loaded and got into a lot of trouble. Rehab in the summer didn’t interrupt my life in any way, other than my using, and it kept me doing something functional during those long summer months. I was in a safe place where I couldn’t hurt myself and I learned to take personal responsibility for my actions. I began to want to change. By going away to teen drug treatment in the summer, I could return to my life with a new attitude and new tools to help me deal with my life. The extended adolescent outpatient program in Brentwood let me ease back into my world as I continued to be surrounded by other teens who were staying clean and learning to live life without drugs.
At first I was angry that I would be missing out on whatever my using friends were doing, but now I have a different opinion. No, I didn’t get to go on an exotic vacation like some of my friends, but I got to go on a trip that has turned into a lifelong journey. When people asked me how I spent my summer that year, I could tell them I spent it changing my life.

A Starbucks in Seattle will begin serving beer and wine to their coffee-drinking customers starting next week!

If the Seattle customers respond well, Starbucks is looking to expand the alcohol sales to other Starbucks locations in metropolitan cities across the country, with bottled beer and glasses of wine available for $4 to $7.

The coffee chain claims that the reasoning behind the alcohol sales is to give Starbucks a more authentic “European-style” feel, but we think $tarbucks are looking to make a quick buck!!
They’ve been closing LOTS of stores!

What do U think of having a glass of chardonnay on the side of your Caramel Macchiato???

Looks like good AA’s we’ll be going to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf after meetings for their caffeine fix…

For more information about Visions please click here Adolescent drug treatment

An adolescent treatment center reported a twenty-two year old man from East London died this week from cirrhosis of the liver. He was denied a liver transplant based on guidelines requiring transplant recipients to remain sober for six months prior to the transplant. The young man, Gary Reinbach, had been bing drinking since he was an adolescent at the age of thirteen. Gary’s story highlights the very real and tragic consequences of teen alcohol abuse in London and around the world.
When you are a teen, it is easy to think that drinking can’t actually hurt you, but Gary’s death shows otherwise. Cirrhosis of the liver seems like something only old men get, not young people. Great Britain has reported an increase in liver disease amongst thirty year olds following an increase in teen binge drinking. Researchers indicate that the more teens drinking will lead to more serious illnesses at a younger age.
Liver damage is not something I ever considered would happen to me when I was binge drinking as a teen. Was I on the same road as Gary? If Gary had gotten help in a teen alcohol rehab when he was a teenager like I did, would Gary still be alive today? Gary Reinbach’s death is very sad to me because it didn’t have to end like that. Maybe if Gary had gotten help when he was an adolescent he wouldn’t have done irrevocable damage to his liver. Youth does not deny teens a chance at recovery. It’s possible to stop using and live a new way of life. I’m glad I got the chance.

My friend recently pointed out to me that she had gone to the beach for the first time sober and that it was really weird for her. I totally understood. Part of getting sober means building new associations with people and places. In early recovery, I let people, places, and things trigger me- which means they made me want to use. I learned that I had a choice in what I let trigger me. It was all about perception and my willingness to change. Teen drug rehab helped me gain new experiences sober that helped me rebuild my perception of places. Because we were able to participate in recreational outings in, I learned that it was possible to have fun sober and I was able to go to the movies for the first time sober and with a group of other sober people. When we went to AA and NA meetings in different areas like Newport Beach, I learned to associate places with meeting locations rather than places I used to use drugs.
Treatment also helped me build new associations with my family and feelings about things. While I used to slip right into the role of the black sheep when around my family, in teen drug treatment, we worked to change our dynamic and work on what was challenging us as a family. I had to take a lot of personal responsibility in how I treated my family. I also learned positive ways to deal with my feelings. Instead of letting a feeling make me use drugs or drink alcohol, I learned to write or talk about my feelings, or do something like take a walk or draw a picture. Adolescent drug treatment in Malibu gave me the opportunity to rebuild my life, and it started with rebuilding how I perceived the world. My fresh outlook on life has helped me change my life for the good. If your teen is struggling with substance abuse, Contact us today and help them find a new outlook on life.

Medical sources report Bam Margera’s suspected “overdose” was a legitimate case of dehydration?

Margera was in the middle of a 4-day drinking binge to drown his marital sorrows when he was rushed to the hospital after his wife Missy learned the Jackass star had taken an Ambien on top of all the booze, according to Margera’s mom.

Mixing Benzodiazepams like Ambien, Xanax, Valume…with alcohol is extremely dangerous and often results in overdose but apparently not for Bam.

Bam says he managed to damage his kidney and leg muscles from not keeping sufficiently hydrated or nourished while drinking.

Margera has returned home from the hospital after getting the green light from a psychiatrist and claims he’s in “good health.”

Might wanna lay off the booze, though! or you he may need to fallow his cast mate Stevo into recovery.

For more information about Visions please click here teen drug treatment

One major university has concluded a study indicating that underage drinkers consume 90% of their alcohol while binge drinking. This is no surprise to me really. Our culture, including the media, often promotes this attitude towards drinking. The problem for young people, is that younger drinking increases the chances of dependent drinking later on, and for some of us, that happens much earlier than others. The way I know that I was different from my drinking peers is that my life became quite unmanageable pretty quickly. I was consumed with the need to drink, and the longer I drank, the more I turned to other substances to increase my levels of intoxication. It was hard for me to see my peers “successfully” partying without the consequences I seemed to have. I couldn’t understand how they could be more in control than me. I resented having to go to adolescent rehab while my friends stayed home and continued to have fun. Fortunately, I was so miserable deep down that I felt desperate enough to give rehab a chance.
The following questions are taken from Alcoholics Anonymous’ website. These are the questions that really stood out to me and helped me honestly see my addiction to alcohol for what it was:

Do you ever wish people would mind their own business about your drinking- stop telling you what to do?
Do you envy people who can drink without getting into trouble?
Have you had problems connected to drinking in the last year?
Has your drinking caused trouble at home?
Do you ever try to get “extra” drinks at a party because you do not get enough?
Have you missed days of work or school because of drinking?
Do you ever have “blackouts”?
Have you ever had an “eye-opener” upon awakening during the last year? (a drink in the morning)
Have you ever decided you would stop drinking for a week only to last a couple of days?
Have you ever switched from one kind of drink to another in the hope that this would keep you from getting drunk?
Have you ever felt that your life would be better if you did not drink?

These questions helped me realize that maybe I wasn’t participating in normal social drinking. For whatever reason, I am an addict and alcoholic, and I just can’t succeed when I drink and use. Visions gave me the safe environment to build a new way of life. If these questions have led you to a similar conclusion, don’t hesitate to contact Visions today.

A new way of life is right in front of you.

Alcoholics Anonymous