Month: August 2013

Categories
Adolescence Education Mental Health Recovery

School Is Back In Session!

education (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

Despite the heat, School is back in session, marking the end of the Dog Days of Summer. It’s time to leave the sandy beaches behind and hone in on your academic prowess. If you left school in a state of emotional disarray because of substance abuse, mental illness, or both, this is your opportunity to revamp your experience. Sure, the wreckage of your past will be there, but the opportunity to shift the perspectives of those you encounter is available to you. You can clean up the mess, so to speak. The bigger question is how does one traverse the landscape of school…sober?  Here are some tips:

 

  • Continue to go to meetings and work with a sponsor: This is your lifeline to sustainability in sobriety. 
  • Join a sober club or start one if there isn’t one already!
  • Make new friends—your using buddies have to go.  You are changing your life for the better: find friends who have the same moral fiber as you.
  • Ask for help. It’s a sign of courage and strength to reach out. If a subject is too hard, or if you have difficulty with a teacher or assignment, advocate for yourself.  Suffering needlessly benefits no one.
  • Get excited about school. Education is the ultimate brain food!
  • Follow your dreams! Going to school is the first step to reaching them. Give it your all!
  • Make your emotional and physical wellness a priority. Meetings, therapy, and self-care: those are all supportive tools. Use them.

While going back to school can be met with apprehension, despair, excitement, joy, and even complacency, meeting those emotions with some compassion and openness can make them easier to work with. Changing your lifestyle, perspectives, and emotional temperature takes effort, but it is well worth it in the end. Choosing to be present and awake for your life is a true gift. Approaching school with curiosity and an open mind will make a difference in your life. Try it!

Categories
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) Mental Health Recovery Therapy Trauma

Redefining Your Emotional Landscape With DBT

mindfulness 1.0 (Photo credit: Mrs Janet R)

The ideology behind therapeutic tools like DBT is to facilitate and encourage an emotional and psychological paradigm shift towards a more sustainable relationship to one’s mental health challenges. The foundational tenant of DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) is mindfulness training. By using core mindfulness skills, one becomes personally active in redefining their relationship to their suffering.  Using these tools, one can learn to be non-reactive to their discomfort while staying emotionally present.  In a nutshell, they are taking what is a learned response to stress and dismantling it. DBT teaches you how to put it back together in a healthier, more sustainable and manageable way.

 

Are we programmed to fix things? Is being present with “what is” simply too much? For many, the answer to these questions is a wholehearted “Yes!” We come to recovery in deep suffering, and often times, this suffering is precluded by failed attempts at “fixing” what was “wrong” with us. Substance abuse, sex, shopping, self-harming, video games, the Internet, and gambling are used as ways to mollify our pain; these things are temporary and eventually, they cease to work. What we are left with are the frayed shadows of unaddressed traumas, hurt, loss, shame, sadness, depression, anxiety, et cetera.

 

Redefining the way we approach our difficulties takes patience. It takes effort. It takes acceptance. It requires us to sit with our discomfort without trying to fix it or change it in any way. Imagine someone clutching something with all of their might, because letting go would be unfathomable. But their grip is so tight, what they are holding onto is crushed, creating sheer devastation and heartbreak. What if we look at our difficulties the same way: if we hold onto them so tightly, we create heartbreak and devastation. Instead, we can hold them gently, giving those same difficulties room to breathe and change.

 

There is no magic bullet. There is work to be done, and it takes effort and patience and support. With tremendous tools like DBT elicited by skilled clinicians, it’s clear the temperature of mental health recovery is changing; it’s more inclusive and collaborative.

Categories
Addiction Prevention Synthetic Drugs

In the News: Synthetic Marijuana aka Crazy Clown

Crazy Clown (Photo credit: yewenyi)

Synthetic Marijuana is back in the news, this time under the names “Crazy Clown” or “Herbal Madness Incense.” Eight teens and young adults were sent to the hospital in Georgia this weekend because of the effects of this drug. The CDC is investigating this latest designer drug incarnation and has issued a warning. The use of synthetic marijuana is incredibly dangerous and presents a growing public health concern. According to the CDC:

“Sixteen cases of synthetic cannabinoid-related acute kidney injury occurred in six states in 2012. Synthetic cannabinoids, which are sold in smoke shops and convenience stores under names like ‘synthetic marijuana,’ ‘Spice,’ ‘K2,’ or ‘herbal incense,’ are designer drugs dissolved in solvent, applied to plant material, and smoked. These psychoactive drugs can have a significant effect on mood or behavior, but also carry the risk of unpredictable toxicity. The growing use of synthetic cannabinoid products is an emerging public health concern. The sixteen cases reported in this study developed kidney damage after smoking synthetic cannabinoid products. In seven of the cases, analyses of the products or blood or urine samples found a unique cannabinoid called XLR-11. These products are often sold as incense and labeled “Not for Human Consumption.” Despite the labeling, individuals use the products as an alternative to marijuana use.  There is a risk that some cannabinoid compounds may be toxic and the health effects may not be easily predictable because of what is still unknown about the products. However, it is important that clinicians, scientists, public health officials, and law enforcement are alerted about the emerging adverse health effects from synthetic drug use.”

Symptoms from the use of this latest version of synthetic marijuana include:

  • Nausea
  • Vomiting
  • Dry Mouth
  • Weakness
  • Cardiac Problems
  • Paralysis

We’ve written about Spice, K2, Cloud Nine, bath salts, and all other incarnations of these designer drugs before. They are enticing, especially to teens and young adults looking for a cheap, quick high.  Because these drugs are easily obtained at liquor stores and convenience marts, their often innocuous packaging makes them seem harmless or just “fun.”

 

For now, the active ingredient is unknown, but we know that it is highly dangerous. One of the most troublesome issues regarding synthetic marijuana is the ever-changing ingredients: As soon as one ingredient is banned, it morphs into something new, creating a maelstrom of issues for law enforcement, medical professionals, and the CDC. Usually new synthetic marijuana is discovered because of an increase in ER visits. This stuff is lethal. What looks like a cheap, easy high is more often a fast-track ride to the hospital. It’s not worth it.

 

Categories
Adolescence Communication Recovery

Technology: It Will be There After Dinner

© sarit z. rogers / sarit photography

Technology allows us to be more connected, more in touch with what’s going on in our communities, and it enables us to reach beyond our wildest dreams in terms of connections; there’s also a dark side. With this incredible connection comes an inevitable disconnection. This may sound ironic coming from me, the New Media Manager, but stick with this, I promise you, it’s relevant.

 

How many of us have a few hundred or a few thousand followers and connections across several social media platforms, whose lives we “know” and “touch” on a daily basis? Most of us do. In fact, if someone says they don’t have a Facebook, Instagram or Twitter account, we find ourselves at a loss for words. Let’s be honest, technology is a wonderful tool: it gets a message out there in a way that analog marketing couldn’t. One post can reach thousands of people at the press of a button. The fingers of the Internet and social media mavens are long and far-reaching. It’s phenomenal, to tell you the truth. The current technological age is monumental.

 

So what’s the catch?

 

As we have become more plugged in and more connected, we have subsequently become disconnected.  Text messaging has become the primary means of communication for many, because it’s fast, convenient, and it takes away the discomfort of confrontation. It’s much easier to dump someone via text, or tell someone off via text, or give someone bad news via text…isn’t it? In a sense, but it’s deeply impersonal and detached.  We have deluded ourselves into believing we are “safe” behind our smart phones and computers.  I have seen teens in coffee shops hanging out and texting to each other in lieu of having a real conversation: Eyes on the iPhone, rather than on each other. Conversations seem to happen technologically rather than face-to-face, which is, in this case, a disservice. Talking to each other is an invaluable way in which to connect, and making eye contact is part and parcel to that connection.

 

I realized I was doing some of this myself. I was disconnected to the people trying to talk to me in real time, because I was too busy staying “connected” in tech time. This is a problem. So I made a decision. I decided to unplug when I am sitting with people, and chose to engage with and be present for the people I’m with.  Texts and the like could wait. As a result, I find myself less stressed out, less anxious, and more connected with the present moment.

 

Where do we go from here?

 

First of all, technology is here to stay. It’s incredible. I couldn’t do my job without it. There are outlets like Skype and Google Chat, which allow us to stay connected with family, friends and co-workers that are not geographically close. Social media provides a global connection.  These tools are invaluable.

 

To me, the solution is to use these tools wisely and consciously. We can choose to unplug at:

  • Meals
  • With our family
  • With our friends
  • While we’re driving

We can pick up the phone to share pertinent information with those in our lives.  Yes, even the uncomfortable stuff. Confrontation is tough, but so is being on the receiving end of a terse or insensitive text message. I write all the time and am enamored with words, but it’s more authentic and heart based for me to directly communicate significant information. I recently received a text message in text lingo telling me a distant uncle had passed. I was more jarred by the transmission of the information than the loss. It was clear to me that using that form of communication for that type of information had desensitized my reaction.

 

I encourage you to unplug incrementally: be present at dinner, with your friends, and with your family. Technology isn’t going anywhere. It will await you in all of its magnificence when you return. That’s the beauty of it.

Categories
Anniversary Blogs Recovery

Visions Says Goodbye to JuliAnn Crommelin: Alum and Staff Extraordinaire

JuliAnn Crommelin has always been an incredible light at Visions. She came to us at 17, and during her time as an adolescent in treatment, JuliAnn grounded herself in her recovery and was inspired to give back. She went from alumni to staff as soon as she could. Since March, 2006, JuliAnn availed herself to the staff, clients, and families, drinking up knowledge and developing skills, which enabled her to become an incredible source of inspiration and recovery.

 

Over the last 7 years, JuliAnn has personified the face of Visions in everything she does, be it working as a program aide, a counselor, an outreach coordinator, or most recently, the alumni coordinator. Everything JuliAnn does, she does with willingness and heart. Recently, an opportunity arose for the Outreach Coordinator position at Promises and Visions encouraged JuliAnn to pursue it. We are proud to announce: She got the job!

 

Our greatest desire is to encourage those that come through our doors to pursue that which celebrates their greatest assets and encourages them to reach higher than they could imagine. This, in essence, is what it means to inspire the growth of one’s roots and wings. We are tremendously excited for JuliAnn’s next adventure. What she brings to the table is wholeheartedly kind, helpful, and seeped in recovery with a remarkable willingness to learn.

 

I took the time to talk to JuliAnn and get a gist of her experience at Visions. She couldn’t say enough about the endless encouragement and support she’s received from Amanda and Chris Shumow, along with the rest of Visions’ family. She said,

“Amanda encouraged me to become a counselor and supported my growth. The Shumows always saw my potential and encouraged it. Visions has always been an advocate for me, motivating me to be my best, and encouraging me to go further than I could imagine.”

 

How would you sum up your time at Visions?

“I grew up there. I learned how to become a responsible adult, with dreams and aspirations. My experience at Visions was truly familial.”

 

How do you feel about your transition?

After years and years of Visions believing in me and training me, and seeing something in me that I couldn’t see myself, I am finally ready to expand. I’m excited!

  

What will you miss?

I’ll miss everybody. The camaraderie–all of my friends work there. Honestly, the thing that’s scariest about this adventure is not seeing my friends every day!

I’ll definitely miss the Shumows. They are so relatable!  They always wanted to know about me, and how they could help me enjoy my time at Visions and help me grow. This was the case from the very beginning.”

 

After many years of encouragement and dedication to hard work, JuliAnn is ready to spread her wings! While we are sad to see her go, we are elated that she is living and following her dream.  This is her last week with us.  We celebrate her time here, encourage her future, and revel in her enthusiasm. She will always be a part of the Visions family and we wish remarkable success and freedom to continue to expand her wings and deepen her roots.

Categories
Eating Disorders Mental Health

Orthorexia: When Healthy Becomes an Obsession

Orthorexia Nervosa is a term coined by Dr. Steven Bratman in 1997 and refers to the obsession with the purity and healthfulness of food. Orthorexia hasn’t found its way into the DSM-V, but it is a very real disorder. It falls under the pretense that one is really eating healthfully.  However, the desire to eat well and purely can often provoke an environment of nutritional loss and poor health. Orthorexia presents a conundrum, because eating healthy is a positive attribute; where the issue arises is when eating healthy becomes an unhealthy obsession.

 

I sought deeper insight into this disorder, and spoke to our nutritionist Stefanie Boone, MS, RD, who frequently works with clients suffering from Orthorexia.  She says,

 

“When I see clients with orthorexia, what stands out most is the level of stress and anxiety they experience at the idea of eating something they deem as unhealthy, as well as the amount of time and energy spent around their healthy diet. Orthorexia is hard for people to understand as a type of eating disorder, because eating healthy is generally such a positive thing to do. But when it winds up being all-consuming, it is at the expense of other areas of their life (relationships, work, mental health). Health may be compromised if a person winds up eliminating too many foods. Weight can get dangerously low, though it doesn’t always.

With orthorexia, there is an exaggerated perception that eating one food or meal that is unhealthy will have unrealistically negative consequences (similar to Anorexia Nervosa where a person may fear one food or meal will cause them to ‘get fat’).  Sometimes, the person feels as if their goodness or worthiness as a person, or even their spiritual trajectory, depends on their eating.”

 

The National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) provides these questions to consider. The more questions you respond to with a “yes,” increase the likelihood of orthorexia:

 

  • Do you wish that occasionally you could just eat and not worry about food quality?
  • Do you ever wish you could spend less time on food and more time living and loving?
  • Does it seem beyond your ability to eat a meal prepared with love by someone else – one single meal – and not try to control what is served?
  • Are you constantly looking for ways foods are unhealthy for you?
  • Do love, joy, play and creativity take a back seat to following the perfect diet?
  • Do you feel guilt or self-loathing when you stray from your diet?
  • Do you feel in control when you stick to the “correct” diet?
  • Have you put yourself on a nutritional pedestal and wonder how others can possibly eat the foods they eat?

 

Orthorexics often become isolated, suffer from nutritional deficiencies, lose the ability to eat intuitively, and suffer from significant social issues. The fear of food becomes overwhelming. This is not a sustainable existence; it is one that requires professional help and support.

 

As a recovered orthorexic client describes, “I basically thought that the cleaner I ate, the better my closeness to the source would be from a spiritual perspective—that I would be able to see and think and feel more clearly. The problem was that at the end of it all when you cross reference the foods that are not OK to eat across the many different philosophies I was trying to follow (ayurveda, Chinese medicine, etc.), I was left with the reality that there was really nothing left I could eat.”

 

With professional help, a recovered orthorexic will learn to shift their paradigm around food. While they will continue to eat healthy foods, they will have redefined their relationship to it, freeing them to enjoy life more completely.  If you are suffering, please seek help. Recovery is possible.

Helpful sites and articles:
NEDA

Mayo Clinic

Academy of Nutrition and Diatetics

Orthorexia: Too Much of a Healthy Thing? (Huffington Post)

 

Categories
Adolescence Communication Safety

Texting and Driving: It’s Not Worth It

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Texting and Driving: Are you guilty of doing it? Even for a second? To an extent, we all are. Even if it’s at a stoplight, and no one is moving, many of us will check our phones. Gone are the days of “just driving.” We have evolved into a culture of fast-moving, busy, multi-tasking folk, and the importance of checking a text or checking our email or checking social media outlets has consumed us.

 

When we text and drive, we are driving blind for short periods of time.  According to this study, “Texting takes a driver’s eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds, the equivalent of driving the length of a football field at 55mph BLINDFOLDED.”

 

The University of Utah did a study, comparing drivers who are texting and driving versus those drinking and driving and found “Texting while driving is the same as driving after drinking four beers.” That same study also “found that cell phone drivers had slower reactions, had longer following distances, took longer to recover speed lost following a braking episode, and were involved in more accidents. In the case of the cell phone driver, the impairments appear to be attributable, in large part, to the diversion of attention from the processing of information necessary for the safe operation of a motor vehicle (Strayer et al., 2003; Strayer & Johnston, 2001).”

 

One of the things I do like about texting is the fact that it is a form of non-contiguous conversation. It was originally designed as a way of communicating necessary information that didn’t require an immediate result. Times have changed, however, and the need for instant gratification has trumped the original utilitarian modality of the text message. The current generation prefers using text messaging to live conversation. In fact, that is often the primary means of communication.  It’s easy, it’s fast, and it’s non-confrontational. It’s not uncommon for breakups and arguments to occur via text. And with the advent of smart phones, one is afforded less character limitations, so the “text” book has evolved. Texting is so easy that one can do it anywhere and at any time; ironically, the danger is the same: you can do it anywhere and at any time.

 

Let’s make a concerted effort to be more responsible and more aware of our actions and interactions with those around us. We can start with implementing the following actions to stop texting and driving:

Action:

  • Put your phone in the trunk or the glove box when you’re driving.
  • Wait until you are parked to respond our check your phone
  • Let your friends know you won’t be responsive if you’re driving.
  • When you’re not driving, try calling someone instead of texting. Make an effort to make contact beyond your fingertips.

 Notice any changes that may occur:

  • Are you more or less stressed out?
  • Are you more or less aware?
  • Are you less distracted and more engaged with the activity of driving?
  • Are your interactions with others more or less engaged?

 

Next, take the  “It Can Wait” pledge here and make a commitment to stop texting and driving. Encourage your friends to do the same. This is how change happens: one positive decision at a time; eliminating texting and driving is a wonderful step in a positive direction.

 

Watch this trailer for Werner Herzog’s documentary “From One Second to the Next” which documents four lives that have been impacted by texting-related accidents.

https://youtu.be/SCVZqeAGY-A

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