When does it stop being a party and start becoming a problem? Is there a way to steer clear of addiction?
Every Wednesday, Mike McGowan explores substance use disorders with expert guests.
Episodes
The Addiction Inoculation
How can parents help their children navigate the minefield of growing up without making poor choices around substance use? Jessica Lahey is the author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed and The Addiction Inoculation: Raising Healthy Kids in a Culture of Dependence. Jessica discusses substance use disorder research and the dialogue needed between parents, teachers, and children to help young people make good choices. Until children’s brains fully develop, they are at greater risk for greater harm from substances. Jessica’s work and contact information can be accessed at https://www.jessicalahey.com
Turning Off the Fentanyl Spigot
We know where the drugs come from. We know how the drugs get here. We know how they are made and distributed world wide. Michael Brown explains how current and advancing technologies can aid in the disruption of the flow of fentanyl. Brown is the global director of counter-narcotics technology at Rigaku Analytical Devices. He has a distinguished career spanning more than 32 years as a Special Agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). As Mr. Brown explains, understanding the drug distribution chain is only the beginning. It takes pressure, cooperation, and political will to stop the flow. To book Michael Brown for engagements or for media requests, contact Evan Bloom, Fortress Strategic Communications, at [email protected]. More than 100,000 individuals lost their lives last year to synthetic opioid overdoses in the United States. If you want to know what you can do locally, get involved, support prevention activities, call or email legislators, ask your local school what they are doing to educate the students, and, most of all, talk to your children.
Listen to the Silence: Women Trapped in the Opioid Epidemic
When it comes to substance use disorders, women have traditionally been misunderstood, understudied, and underserved. In her newest feature film, Attention Must Be Paid: Women Lost in the Opioid Crisis, Debra Gonsher Vinik shines a light on the women experiencing opioid abuse. Dr. Gonsher Vinik is a film producer, writer, director, and founder of Diva Communications. She has produced and written twenty-one documentaries, including six Emmy winners. Attention Must Be Paid: Women Lost in the Opioid Crisis is a call-to-action for more women-specific addiction treatment and recovery services nationwide. The new film was edited into a two-hour series airing on ABC-affiliated stations in August and November 2023 under the title Listen to the Silence: Women Trapped in the Opioid Epidemic. Debra can be reached at Diva Communications.
Be Your Best Advocate
Most people spend most of their time at work, and what happens at work is often a leading cause of their stress and anxiety. Michelle Correia-Templin talks about the importance of asking for what you need and forming healthy relationships in the workplace. Michelle is the author of Selling It Right! Getting Result with Integrity and Five Star Teamwork. Michelle is also the President of Get Smart Training, a California-based learning organization with focus on Sales Messaging, Emotional Intelligence, and Change. She is an international speaker and trainer. When over a third of the workforce has reported their mental health has worsened in the past several years, it makes sense that employers and employees address the issue. Michelle Correia-Templin can be reached at [email protected]. Help for your mental health is available. Nationally, you can start your search at https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help.
Art for Hope
William Stoehr’s artwork focuses on victims, witnesses, and survivors of opioid/substance use disorders and the stigma that inhibits prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. Stigma suffocates discussion, blocks action, causes pain. William Stoehr wants to use his art to normalize the discussion and to help erase the stigma. William discusses his art, his sister’s substance use disorder, which led to her death, and his exhibit, “Art for Hope/Stigma and Survival.” William’s art can be accessed at www.williamstoehrart.com. He can be followed on social media platforms at: Facebook @William Stoehr Art, Instagram @wlstoehr, and Linkedin @William Stoehr
Pillars of Success
In the 1980s when drugs were seemingly everywhere and parents couldn’t take their children to parks for fear their children would step on heroin needles, Switzerland decided to try a different approach to their drug problem. Now, forty years later, Simone Schär talks about the country’s collaborative effort and Switzerland’s Four-Pillar Policy. Simone Schär is a studied psychologist and head of department at CONTACT Foundation. To work with people who use or abuse substances was always something, Simone says, that fascinated her. After working seventeen years in the repressive system of the incarcerated (carceral) environment, Simone wanted to see how the totally different approach of harm reduction works. Through the collaboration and cooperation of the public, treatment professionals, law enforcement, and politicians, Swiss crime is down, drug usage is down, drug-related death is down, infectious disease is down, and the parks and streets are relatively free of drug use and drug paraphernalia. Simone can be reached at [email protected], and information about CONTACT can be accessed at https://www.contact-suchthilfe.ch/fr/contact-fondationaideaddiction/ (The website is in French and German.)
Surround Yourself With Angels
Mark Murphy lost his twenty-one-year-old daughter Lizzie to fentanyl poisoning. He has worked tirelessly to try to make sure other families don’t experience a similar loss. An Ohio native, Mark has traveled the country to share his experiences and learn from those who are trying to stop the flow of fentanyl into the US. Mark shares his observations about the dangers of fentanyl and what is being done, and not done, to stem the flood of drugs into and across the country. A media report of one of those trips to Cochise County, Arizona, can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Tei0aOSqdI. More than 100,000 individuals lost their lives last year to a synthetic opioid overdose in the United States. If you want to know what you can do locally, get involved, support prevention activities, call or email legislators, ask your local school what they are doing to educate the students, and, most of all, talk to your children.
Bring Your Whole Self To Work
A recent study has shown that mental health has worsened for thirty-four percent of American workers. Dr. Uma Kedharnath talks about how workplaces are addressing the mental health concerns of their workers. Dr. Kedharnath received her doctorate in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Colorado State University and is currently an Associate Professor of Management at the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater. Taking the steps to address mental health is not only good for the employee; it’s good for the business and good for the culture, too. Dr. Kedharnath can be reached at [email protected]. Help for your mental health is available. Nationally, you can start your search at https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help.
Relationship Obstacles and Deal Breakers
What happens in a relationship when partners don’t see eye to eye on important issues? What happens when, over time, values and opinions change? Dana Emold, a Clinical Therapist and Certified Substance Abuse Counselor with LifeStance Health, discusses relationship roadblocks and deal breakers. People and relationships change over time. That change can be anticipated and embraced, but it needs to be communicated, too. Dana can be reached at https://lifestance.com/
Mending the Hole in Your Heart
Jack Quehl was successful in almost everything he did. Sports, academics, friends. On September 20, 2021, a decision to use a drug laced with fentanyl ended Jack’s life. Stephanie and Tom Quehl talk about their son’s life, his tragic passing, and lessons they learned about fentanyl poisoning. The Jack Quehl Foundation’s mission is to educate communities about the threat of fentanyl poisoning. More than 100,000 individuals lost their lives last year to a synthetic opioid overdose in the United States. Stephanie and Tom Quehl can be reached at https://www.doitforjack.org. If you want to know what you can do locally, get involved, support prevention activities, call or email legislators, ask your local schools what they are doing to educate the students, and, most of all, talk to your children.
