12 Step Family

IntheRooms.com social networking website for addicts, RT and Kenny, did a series of interviews with Lee and James of the Recovery 101 podcast (Los Angles), which loosely covers the 12 step recovery programs, while taking a more laid back approach that is “less like a meeting and more like going to coffee afterwards,” according to the website.

During episode 1 of the podcast series, RT and Kenny spoke about the reasons they started IntheRooms.com and the features and functionality of the new site for recovering addicts. The founders also discussed the global impact that their vision of In the Rooms has had, as it now serves to connect people from all “anonymous” groups (NA, AA, CA, GA, MA, etc), so they can interact and help each other during their downtime between fellowship meetings.

Mentioning the concept of transcending the boundaries of the fellowships, the founders noted: “If I’m an alcoholic going to a AA, I’m not meeting other people in these other fellowships…we wanted someone in say AA, who is kayaker in Washington state, to meet a kayaker in Georgia, whose in GA, and a kayaker in Texas, whose in NA, and get friendships and ‘say hey lets meet in Utah to do the snake river.’ And feel safe together because their all in recovery and have the same hobby. They’re from three different fellowships, but its all addiction, its all recovery.”

During the 2nd episode of the In the Rooms podcast, Kenny and RT spoke about recovery in general and the long process recovering addicts must endure and stick through to make recoveries, always humbly giving credit to God. They also talk about the cutting edge, technical advances the site offers to ensure recovering addicts truly seeking recovery “can find a safe place where they can come and share their feelings,” spam free and harassment free, while still having the capability to start their own groups and make friends. Finally, they talk about the 30,000 plus members that In the Rooms currently has, since it opened less than a year ago.

During the Richie Supa “In the Rooms” song episode, Richie speaks about his recovery experiences and how he got together with RT and Kenny to get involved with IntheRooms.com and write the song. Richie says, “I’ve known Kenny and RT for years through recovery, I’m coming up on 21 years,” adding, “one night they approached me with the idea for the website, and I thought it was a great idea, and they mentioned they’d love to have a song for In the Rooms and planted the seed.” Richie later adds, “It was just flowing to me…I wanted write a real accurate song, but not full of fluff, I wanted to make it really real.” Richie goes on to speak about his nomination for a Prism Award this year, which he has since been awarded as part of the 2009 ceremonies.

For more information, click the text links in the article or visit Recovery 101 at: recovery101.podomatic.com. For more information on In the Rooms, visit: intherooms.com.

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Amidst the growing popularity of the world series of poker and online gambling, teens are beginning to mimic and organize their own poker games and other betting activities in record numbers. According to one recent finding, US teens are at 2-3 times the risk of adults for developing a gambling addiction.

Nonetheless, schools and parents are starting to take notice that just as with kids and smoking, drinking or drugs, kids and gambling make a bad combination. Some schools have now began integrating youth gambling prevention programs like “Kids Don’t Gamble…Wanna Bet?” into their after-school program’s curriculum.

The program “Kids Don’t Gamble…Wanna Bet?” teaches youths the probabilities, odds and myths about gambling through age-appropriate, cartoon formatted learning methods. This particular program, along with many other teen prevention programs, is now available online for parents and educators at The North American Training Institute’s website: http://www.nati.org

NATI has provided education and training on gambling addiction since 1990 and even worked along side Harvard Medical School as part of the North American Think Tank on Youth Gambling Issues with.
With the escalation of teen’s interest in gambling, the implementation of prevention education and public awareness about gambling problems are crucial for parents, teachers and teens to combat and prevent future possible addictions.

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A recently published study by leading experts in steroids abuse at the Harvard Medical School found that people with conduct disorders are more likely to abuse anabolic steroids. The conduct disorders specifically cited in the study were “the juvenile version of antisocial disorder, and body image disorder is an unhealthy obsession with the size and appearance of one’s body,” according to the online addition of the Harvard Crimson.

The results of the steroids study were compiled from 134 interviews with weight lifters that were categorized into one of three groups: “non-steroid users, steroid users with no dependence, and steroids users that had developed dependence,” wrote Harvard Crimson. According to the main author of the study, professor Harrison G. Pope, “Steroids are a fairly new phenomenon in the drug abuse scene,” adding, “Science is only now beginning to answer many questions about the effects, especially the long-term effects.”

Additionally, the study published in the “Drug and Alcohol Dependence journal,” also concluded that most people in the study that fell into the last category, of “steroids users that had developed dependence,” shared similar traits like being from a single-parent home, having family members with an addiction, and no college degree.

Thus, it seems that kids already considered at risk for the above mentioned factors, in conjunction with antisocial and body-image related antisocial disorders, are more prone to turn to steroids abuse to resolve their unresolved emotional and psychological problems. It also seems that the likelihood is increased because of the lack of steroid abuse, prevention education available to teens, because “Steroids are a fairly new phenomenon in the drug abuse scene,” as professor Pope cited.

The Researchers whom conducted the steroids study intend on continuing their investigation to find out long-term risk factors and effects of steroids. Addressing the next step, professor Harrison G. Pope said: “Doctors know a lot about alcohol problems and addiction to profitable street drugs, but they know little about anabolic steroids, they’re poorly understood.” The professor added, “This is an area where [the scientific community] needs to be educated as this problem comes over the horizon.”

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Alanon 12 Steps Family – Daily Meditation

In the official “One Day at a Time in Al Anon” (Al Anon Family Group Headquarters 22nd 1987 edition, NYC), on page 115, under the entry for April 24, it says: “Today’s Reminder – I had never admitted to myself that I was wrong or at fault in anything that happened. It was something of a shock to learn that I am expected, as part of the Al-Anon programs, to search my own shortcomings. I must be honest with and about myself in order to start on the highroad to serenity. Will I be able to meet this challenge?”

The basic concept behind today’s meditation is the premise that Al Anon daily can really change the individual’s life, but brutal honesty is required for success of any of the Alanon 12 steps programs. It stands that as the family or friend of an addict, the individual must not fall into the pattern of behavior in which they blame their own short comings, failures or frustrations on the addict they’re interacting with. The idea instead, is to focus on the self. To not waist energy and upset one’s self passing judgment on another, in this case the addict, but rather to focus on changing the one thing any individual has the ability to correct, themselves.

My own personal experience is that the premise is very close to Buddhist and Taoist precepts in which everything outside the self can act as a distraction to detract the individual from working on their own spiritual cultivation. Likewise, in the Al Anon 12 steps programs, the individual must accept their circumstance and work on their own control rather than controlling the exterior environment that surrounds them.

It reminds me of an anecdote. My father is a good man but amongst other things, he is also someone who abuses substances. For years, since I cleaned up, I’ve tried to persuade him to do the same with no success. Often, it resulted in frustration, shouting and overall disgruntled feelings, which for any recovering addict can act as a trigger to consume.

Nonetheless, as I began to notice how I’d lose my center, after such altercations, and further read the Al Anon Blue Book, I began to understand that instead of pushing my expectations onto him, it was better that I internalized them and focused on my own recovery. Once I began doing this, I accepted my father’s position on the issue and didn’t argue or fight with him again about it. It helped over all, in recovery and as a person, for any control issues I encountered.

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Tomorrow, April 23rd, the 13th Annual Prism Awards will take place in Beverly Hills, CA. For those unfamiliar with the Prism Awards, they are the equivalency of the Oscars and the Grammys but for outstanding achievement in the “accurate depiction of drug, alcohol and tobacco use and addiction, as well as mental health issues, in film, television, interactive, comic book, music, and DVD entertainment,” according to the awards website.

This year’s event is a joint effort by The Entertainment Industries Council (EIC) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), along with FX Network and News Corporation. Similar to other esteemed entertainment awards, finalists for Prism Awards are chosen by a committee of both entertainment specialist and scientific experts. According to the Prism Awards website: “They are selected for their entertainment value, accessibility of their message, and scientific accuracy. The production in each category that best exemplifies these three objectives is presented with an award.”

Some of this year’s nominees in film include, Rachel Getting Married for “Featured Film,” whose lead actress Anne Hathaway was nominated for an Oscar, as well as Mickey Rourke in the “Performance in a Feature Film” category for his role in The Wrestler. In TV, A & E’s Intervention: Season 4 is nominated for “Unscripted Non-Fictional Program.” Finally, for “Music Recording,” Richie Supa is nominated for his single, “In the Rooms.” For those who are unaware, the track was especially written by Richie Supa for the new social networking website for recovering addicts, In the Rooms.

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Redmont Health Services has opened a new outpatient treatment center in Boise.  The center provides affordable and effective treatment options for adolescents and adults that includes assessments, individual, group and family counseling, and personal, individual treatment plans.

Jeff Morrell is to head the program.  Morrell has more than 29 years of health care experience, with a major focus in psychiatric and substance abuse treatment.  In the past, Jeff Morrell worked as an administrator in a number of psychiatric facilities in Wyoming, Missouri and Idaho, as well as 13 years in Idaho at the Intermountain Hospital.

In addition to its outpatient center, Redmont has sought and obtained initial approval on a 48-bed residential facility that will be built in Meridian. Residential care will be provided for both adults and adolescents and the facilities will include dormitories, family style dining, indoor/outdoor exercise facilities, a challenge course, and an outdoor chapel.

Redmont Health Services is based out of Alabama and known for its holistic approach to by treating addiction by addressing each client’s spiritual, emotional, physical and dietary needs.  In addition, Redmont counselors examine the behaviors, triggers and coping mechanisms of the people they treat to create individualized plans for every client.

For more information call Redmont Health Services at 208-319-0700,
or visit the website: http://www.redmonthealth.com/welcome.html

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A study recently published in the scientific journal, Psychological Science, found that nearly 10 percent of youths between the ages of 8-18 are “pathological” players of video games using the standard previously established for pathological gambling. The study also concluded that more pathological gamers had been diagnosed with ADD and ADHD. Douglas Gentile, who is an Assistant-Professor of Psychology at Iowa State University and also director of research for the National Institute on Media and the Family, headed the study.

Using surveys collected in 2007, from a national Harris poll of nearly 1,200 youths in the US, Douglas Gentile compared the responses to those of pathological gamblers and matched at least 11 symptoms previously established in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. But what exactly does a pathological video gamer mean, in terms of Addiction? In this case, pathological gamers matched a number of characteristics including, playing video games 24 hours per week and having video game consoles in their bedrooms, troubles paying attention in school, poorer grades and health problems.

Gentile plans on continuing his research by carrying out clinical studies in lab settings, as well as long-term studies in hope of establishing possible risk factors and symptoms amongst pathological gamers.

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In the Rooms is a social networking site, and for those of you who aren’t familiar with the term, it describes a site similar to facebook where people can network and communicate online with each other. However, the difference is that In the Rooms is specifically designed to utilize the most cutting edge, web technology to create one the top addiction recovery network online today. The site is host to a slew of features that include various 12-step recovery programs, NA and AA fellowship, a Meetings database, and online-chat group meetings. In the Rooms started in October of 2008 and already has over 12,000 registered members. Additionally, In the Rooms was featured on several news stations including NBC News 6 in Miami.

The Street Team campaign is all about trying to connect the addiction recovery community further with In the Rooms by spreading the word about the new opportunities available online as result of the technical advancements that In the Rooms provides by connecting recovering addicts, at no cost, around the globe. Existing members are encouraged to get the word out in creative ways at fellowship events, conferences, camp-outs, meetings, 12 step programs, spiritual retreats, music festivals, while respecting the traditions of all recovery fellowships to the utmost.

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A ruling soon to come from the Supreme Court could change the way school board administrators handle student drug problems indefinitely. The case currently being reviewed, “Safford Unified School District vs. Redding,” will decide whether to uphold the current policy, which gives school board administrators the right to strip search students suspected of possessing illegal substance, or overturn the strip search policy on the basis of student’s privacy.

The litigation stems from an incident in 2003, when Savana Redding was strip searched at Safford Middle School after a fellow student had tipped off administrators that she was carrying unauthorized prescription drugs. Still disturbed by the event, she tells of how she was pulled from class, asked to strip to her under wear, and then asked to pull open her bra and panties so they could see whether she was hiding any pills. None were ever found.

Still, Safford school district officials (outside Tucson Arizona) say that the strip searches are vital to their “decades-long war against drug abuse among students,” which includes a prescription drug crisis seen in most middle schools and high schools across the nation. School administrators across the US, showing support against Redding’s Case, cite a 2006 Office of National Drug Control Policy report, which claims that more than 2.1 million teens abused prescription drugs in 2005.

Next Tuesday, nine Supreme Court justices will hear and decide whether Redding’s case, which argues on the basis of the Fourth Amendment’s “protection against unreasonable searches,” is just and worthy of overturning the long-standing policy. However, it isn’t the first time. In 1985, the Supreme Court did rule in favor of similar case based on the Fourth Amendment’s “protection against unreasonable searches” to students. That case involved a New Jersey freshman who had her purse searched after she was caught smoking in a bathroom.

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While the economy in the US continues to struggle, addiction is on the rise as people turn to consuming abusively to cope with the stresses of financial woes. Consequently, many people that are substance dependent may find themselves unable to afford the kind of treatment they so desperately seek to overcome their addiction. When the two factors are combined, the subsequent results are devastating to individuals, families and communities all over the US.

For this reason, the board of trustees at the C.A.R.E.S. Helps foundation, in cooperation with Professional Training, is actively seeking to raise funds in order to subsidize treatment and provide recovery scholarships for people in need. C.A.R.E.S. Helps foundation has pledged to match dollar for dollar every dollar donated. In addition, for every $22,000 collected, C.A.R.E.S. Helps foundation will provide one fully paid scholarship to a recovering addict in need.

For further information on the program visit the web site www.helpanaddict.org

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