September 12th, 2009 – AeroSmith’s own Richie Supa will be performing at Sold Concert (actually FREE Concert) decicated to National Recovery Month and The Rally For Recovery. 
The place, Beautiful Bicentennial Park in South Florida. This is going to be an all day extravaganz, with a WALK, FESTIVAL featuring Great Food music, arts and crafts, and guest speakers, Finally we top it off with an “Earth Shattering” CONCERT – JOIN US! For more info Visit: www.intherooms.com or www.rallyforrecovery.org
I recently received an anonymous email from a member of IntheRooms.com asking me to publish the following letter. He/she stressed the importance of the online community, which has really made a difference to his/her recovery.
Anonymous In the Rooms Member –
To the Editor of the NA Blog, I noticed you’ve written some articles about In the Rooms, which is great, but I’m not sure if the articles are reflecting all the facets of what In the Rooms does, exactly, to help members.
As an active NA member, I can honestly say that In the Rooms has provided me with a vital tool I use daily for my recovery. I’m recovering cocaine addict and am beginning to have some real success for the first time. Throughout the last few years, I have had several relapses and been in and out of rehab treatment centers. I’d say that in the last 9 months, IntheRooms has helped make a big difference in my recovery.
You see, I travel for my job, which doesn’t help in terms of attending meetings. With In the Rooms, I connect from my laptop at any hot spot and talk to my recovery buddies at the NA group IntheRooms.com, which has over 14,000 members. We chat live, send each other messages, and post discussions in the group.
For someone like me, struggling to get to meetings, I just go onto IntheRooms and connect with fellow NA members. Also, I always check In the Rooms national database of NA meetings, in case I have time to attend a meeting in a visiting city.
I hope my testimony helps people understand and encourages them to join In the Rooms. It can really help to connect with so many people who have so much knowledge about recovery. One of my buddies In the Rooms has been clean 30 years. He’s a tremendous well of knowledge and support to me. Thanks _ AnonymousNAer
Just recently, The Recovery Network (TRN) website has gone down. Similar to other social networking sites for recovering addicts, the Recovery Network specialized in connecting people and keeping them informed with blogs and news. It also provided online support that connected members to recovery experts. The Recovery Network was actually one of the first among the circle of social networking sites for recovering addicts; its niche and main base was the continent of Europe. It is unknown exactly why the site is down at this point, but insiders are speculating that it has to do with hosting costs.
Nonetheless, there is a viable and readily available solution. Right now, anyone seeking the same kind of social networking website and more can find it free of charge at intherooms.com. IntheRooms is less than a year old and already boosts 40,000+ members whose combined recovery time has recently been marked at 100,000+ years.
IntheRooms features all of the interface capabilities of The Recovery Network and more. It has a blogroll with at least 20+ blogs, a community forum, live chat for all the fellowships that members belong to (NA Chat, AA Chat, GA Chat, etc). The Newsletter is updated weekly. Each member can set up an account that has email and messaging capabilities; they can set up their own discussion groups for any and all interest broad or niche.
At last count, IntheRooms.com had members in every continent (over 100 countries). Their recovery community is considered global, so for any former members of The Recovery Network seeking similar needs again (because the network is down), please come check out IntheRooms.com. Hope this helps out.
The new “Pokies Cause Pain” campaign is encouraging people that live with a pokie addiction (poker machine) to share their tales online with the hope of preventing others that maybe destined for similar paths.
The campaign was initiated by Australian senator Nick Xenophon and was launched on “Responsible Gambling Awareness Week.” Senator Xenophon told the Australian AP that families had been victimized long enough as a result of pokie addiction and added “It’s an opportunity for people to have that voice. They haven’t had it in the past.”
For anyone interested in making an anonymous contribution to the “Pokies Cause Pain” campaign, the website is up and running and can be found at: www.PokieAct.org.
Still, Australian Senator Nick Xenophon said that the government must find a better way to shift taxes collected from pokies to other areas and ultimately limit the influence of pokies; “There is no doubt that communities would be better off, budget bottom lines would be better off, if state governments didn’t rely so heavily on poker machine taxes,” Xenophon said.
News is starting to slowly crawl through the internet, right now as only little bits that have been confirmed, of a charity walk that is to take place in Miami’s Bicentennial Park in September as part of National Recovery Month. Not yet “officially” released to the press, the charity walk is to be sponsored by the social networking site, In the Rooms (intherooms.com). As of the latest update, a committee is being formed by In the Rooms to head up the project event.
So far, what we know is that the walk will begin in Miami’s Bicentennial Park and take course over the MacArthur Causeway, which is the bridge that leads to Miami Beach. Then, the walk is to go back over the the MacArthur Causeway bridge to Bicentennial Park, where In the Rooms plans a day full of scheduled events that will include: food, music concerts and scheduled speakers. For more information, check back often to the NA Blog (thenablog.com) for more information.
According to a recently published report by John Hopkins University, online drug treatment programs can provide short term counseling that is considered “just as effective” as traditional in-person group counseling. Former U.S. drug czar, Barry McCaffrey, was on hand for the announcement and said: “People need effective, science-based treatment that is appropriate for their community. This Internet delivery behind health care is going to be a big thing for us in the coming years.”
To prove the effectiveness of online recovery programs, researchers put 37 participants that sought a methadone treatment program into two groups, the first being a traditional counseling group and the second an online video-based group. Sic weeks later, researchers found that the online group attended 90 percent of the time, while the traditional group had only attended 76 percent of the time.
The findings are very exciting for individuals of low-income status that cannot afford the often pricey cost of in-patient treatment. However, traditional meetings such as AA and NA charge nothing for attending, while many online sessions, similar to those mentioned in the article “cost $50 each, and participants take part for 24 sessions. That comes to $1,200 for twice-weekly sessions over three months, only slightly less than in-person treatment,” according to Greg Warren, executive director of Baltimore Substance Abuse Systems.
Still, there are now social networking websites, such as IntheRooms.com that are a marriage of the two, by providing free memberships to recovering addicts seeking online recovery interaction with others. In the Rooms is considered a website were recovering addicts can go between their traditional group meetings to connect with others in the community to supplement their recovery efforts.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, rececntly unveiled its first comprehensive Physicians’ Outreach Initiative, NIDAMED, which gives medical professionals tools and resources to screen their patients for tobacco, alcohol, illicit, and nonmedical prescription drug use. The NIDAMED resources include an online screening tool, a companion quick reference guide, and a comprehensive resource guide for clinicians. The initiative stresses the importance of the patient-doctor relationship in identifying unhealthy behaviors before they evolve into life threatening conditions.
The NIDAMED tools were developed because doctors are in a unique position to discuss drug-taking behaviors with their patients before they lead to serious medical problems. Research shows that screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment by clinicians in general medical settings, can promote significant reductions in alcohol and tobacco use.
A growing body of literature also suggests potential reductions in illegal and nonmedical prescription drug use. Yet many primary care physicians express concern that they do not have the experience or diagnostic tools to identify drug use in their patients. For more information on NIDAMED visit www.drugabuse.gov. The online screening tool is an interactive Web site that guides clinicians through a short series of questions and, based on the patient’s responses, generates a substance involvement score that suggests the level of intervention needed.
G & G Holistic Addiction Treatment has added the use of Mild Hyperbarics to treatment protocols. Long used around the world, including Scotland and Russia, mild hyperbarics are not generally associated with drug and alcohol treatment in the U.S. However, G & G is now offering Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) to help repair and restore the body and mind.
HBOT is a method of administering increased levels of oxygen at greater than atmospheric pressure to a patient in order to help heal tissue damage. HBOT appears to be effective at restoring cell function to tissue everywhere in the body. According to some experts, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) can even restore some cells in the brain through its delivery of higher than normal concentrations of oxygen.
The use of HBOT in poisoning cases, stroke victims and other brain injuries provides a foundation for efficacy with use to treat the brain injuries which result from long term drug and alcohol abuse. Brain scans of addicts show areas of reduced circulation and functioning in the brain much like those of stroke and gas poisoning victims. The ability of HBOT to restore the cellular functioning and to promote the growth of new blood vessels to damaged brain tissue has been demonstrated in stroke victims both immediately following the tissue damage as well as much later.
HBOT is cost-effective, noninvasive, and safe and works well with other treatments. It is an accepted, reimbursable treatment for more than 15 different types of disorders ranging from carbon monoxide poisoning to “crush” injuries of the brain to diabetic wounds. Over the years, G & G Holistic Addiction Treatment has maintained the highest professional standards, continually bettering their services through innovative and promising treatment.
For more information visit:
http://www.holisticdrugrehab.com
This summer, Four Circles Treatment Center, for young adults, will co-host its second annual professional development workshop for clinicians interested in recovery therapies that focus on spirituality. The conference will take place in Asheville, North Carolina on June 5th and the daylong presentation called “Integrating Spirituality into Therapy.” This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. David J. Powell, President of the International Center for Health Concerns.
Amongst other things, Dr. Powell is Co-editor of the Journal of Chemical Dependency Treatment, as well as an internationally recognized trainer, presenter, and author who holds a doctoral degree in human relations and psychology. He is also a licensed alcohol and drug abuse counselor, marriage and family therapist, and has served as a diplomat to the International Academy of Behavioral Medicine.
The June 5th workshop is a natural complement to Four Circles’ holistic approach to substance abuse treatment. Four Circles has been offering its outreach programming to professionals in the field of substance abuse treatment since 2006. Additionally, Four Circles Treatment Center continues working to provide valuable continuing education opportunities to professionals in the substance abuse recovery community. For more information about Four Circles Recovery Center, please visit: www.fourcirclesrecovery.com
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA), more than a quarter of a million youths in the US are admitted to rehab treatment centers annually. To put it in other terms, that’s 1 out of every 70 youths (Middle school to High school aged). Thankfully, some US organizations, like the Association of Recovery Schools, have taken progressive action to curb youth addiction and substance abuse. Currently, there are more than 20 “Recovery High Schools” across nine US states. But what exactly is a Recovery High school?
Most of these innovative High schools are usually funded by a mix of support from statewide Department’s of Public Health and local school districts. Their aim is to provide students more intimate drug-free environments (smaller class sizes, typically, 50 students), where they can focus on their studies. In addition, the majority offer group sessions, 12 step programs as part of the curriculum, as well as random, weekly urine tests. Upon completion, students are awarded a state-certified diploma authenticating their accomplishment of the program.
Although some of the schools that form the Recovery High schools, haven’t been around very long, others like Sobriety High first opened 1987 outside Minneapolis. Since the first Sobriety High school’s opening, three more of its kind have sprouted in the surrounding area. For a nationwide index of currently active Recovery High schools, click this link: http://www.recoveryschools.org/schools_highschool.html
Included on the list is Northshore Recovery High School, which has been around three years and was recently featured in CNN’s new documentary, Addiction – Life on the Edge. One student interviewed by host Sanjay Gupta, Lucy Gross, said that Northshore Recovery High School, “helps me so much,” adding, “I can’t imagine staying clean without it.”
