This is going to be a good time. HazelFest – Recovery Rocks is an outdoor music festival on Saturday June 15, 2013 in Center City, Minnesota. Friends, family, children and everyone is welcome for an all-day extravaganza that starts at 10AM.

Headliners include Kristen Johnson, emmy award winning actress, gb leighton, favorite Minnesota rocker, Communist Daughter, popular indie band and Nicholas David, from Season 3 of The Voice. Tickets are $10 in advance or $20 at the door. Children 12 and under free and you may register online.

This is the kind of event we love to see. Lots of recovering people getting out and having fun in the sun. The lineup is excellent and there will be family activities, food and all the good things you might expect on the lawn by the lake at Hazelden.

If you’re anywhere near the Twin Cities on June 15th, make it a point to grab some friends and family and head over to the Hazelden campus. All the information you need is available online here.

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For many addicts, the shame of facing their illness is second only to their fear of going to treatment. They don’t want to leave home and they don’t want to get help with a group of strangers.

Imagine the relief the addicted person feels when he or she learns that their family has selected Eric Clapton’s treatment center, Crossroads, on the beautiful island of Antigua. The combination of first-class medical treatment with sea breezes and 12-Step recovery is a special gift.

Crossroads Antigua

I had the pleasure recently of taking another patient to Crossroads and spending time with Executive Officer, Kim Martin. Under her expert direction, the center has expanded its already extensive services, providing a warm and professional environment for the treatment of chemical dependency.

Many families think that Crossroads must be fabulously expensive, but nothing could be further from the truth. The treatment is very competitively priced and some scholarships are available for those who need it.

Others think that treatment in Antigua must be a glorified vacation, but this is not the case. A discussion with an admissions counselor and a look at the weekly schedule will dispel any ideas that patients will simply be lounging in the sun. Crossroads provides serious treatment for serious people in a beautiful setting.

Another benefit is the family program, offered once per month. It provided critical support and education for families, along with the opportunity to reconnect with their loved ones. What better place to begin again?

I’ve had a number of patients at Crossroads over the years, but every time I come back I wish there had been more. We use many treatment centers in our private practice, many of which are listed on this website. But Crossroads will always have a special place in my heart.

–Jeff Jay

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The official magazine of Al-Anon (Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism) interviewed Debra Jay on the subject of alcoholism and intervention. This article represents one of the first times that an author and clinician specializing in intervention has been interviewed in this journal. The article can be read here:

http://lovefirst.net/wpt/debra-jay-al-anon-faces-alcoholismm/

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Enjoying holidays and special occasions with family and friends doesn’t have to include alcohol. Here are some of our favorite recipes for holiday cheer without the negative side effects.

Coco Manila

• 3 oz.                papaya juice
• 3 oz                 mango juice
• 1 1/2 oz           cream of coconut or Coco Lopez
• 1/2 tsp             orange zest
• 2 oz                 heavy cream
• 2 scoops          French vanilla ice cream
• Blend all ingredients together until desired thickness. Top with whip cream and two slices of mandarin orange slices.

Cranberry Burst

• 1 oz                 cranberry juice
• ½ oz                grenadine
• ½ oz                cherry juice
• 2 oz                 Sprite
• 2 oz                 Squirt
• Blend ingredients and pour over ice. Makes 1 serving.

Yuletide Royal

• 4 oz.           nonalcoholic sparkling wine
• 2 oz.           unsweetened pomegranate juice
• 1 oz.                    mango puree
• 1 oz.           raspberry puree
• 4 each         frozen raspberries
• In a champagne flute, spoon raspberry puree first, then mango puree. Add pomegranate juice, slowly. Fill with nonalcoholic sparkling wine. Garnish with frozen raspberries.

Whether you serve alcohol or not at your parties, these drinks can spice up the night with something new and different. For a copy of the AAA “Great Pretenders Party Guide,” click here.

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Many folks in early recovery ask: “Now what? How can I go out to dinner, play golf or go on vacation? How do I get back into life?”

Many folks in later recovery ask: “How can I get more out of my relationships? How can I get to the next level?”

We say: Dive into Recovery!

Sober activities, good food, great people and amazing locations. All combined with surprising talks on the topics recovering people care about. Whether it’s a weekend on Catalina Island or a high-end vacation in Maui or an island getaway in the Bahamas, we craft special occasions in a first-class environment.

Are you ready to take your recovery to the next level? Best-selling author Jeff Jay and nationally-known therapist Jamie Loffredo are working together to build unforgettable experiences for people who want more. Dive into Recovery programs are open to singles and couples. They Focus on relationships, personal fulfillment and the spirituality of recovery.

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Dive into Recovery includes world-class scuba diving, golf, nature, boating and meetings. The programs are grounded in the 12 Steps and help people find more, do more and be more. Scuba diving,  golfing, sight-seeing, boating and a full curriculum are just the beginning.

Daily meditation, 12 Step meetings, stimulating talks and discussion are also part of the package. First-class accommodations, marvelous food and every detail covered in advance. That’s Dive into Recovery.

Want more info? Contact us by email or call us 888-220-4400 and get on our email list.

–Jamie Loffredo

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Dr. Patricia Maryland (on left) and Debra Jay

The Love First family is so proud of Debra. She was recently honored at the 54^th Annual Detroit Bishop’s for her work in the field of addiction and recovery. She received the Sister Letitia Close Award, which recognized her efforts in helping women affected by the disease of addiction.

Dr. Patricia Maryland, President and CEO of St. John Providence Health System, presented the honor at a sold-out fundraiser. The event was held in the Grand Dining room the Detroit Athletic Club in support of treatment for Catholic clergy at Guest House.

Debra Jay is the author of No More Letting Go (Bantam 2006). She is also co-author of the best-selling Love First (Hazelden 2008) and Aging and Addiction (Hazelden 2002). She continues to work with families whose loved ones struggle with addiction or are in early recovery. Debra remains committed to moving the field of addiction treatment forward by developing trainings for clinical interventionists. She continues to work with the treatment community to develop new programs. For those of us who work with her every day we are in awe of her energy and creativity. She holds herself to a high standard and expects those who work with her to hold themselves to a similar standard. The next few years will be an exciting time for all of us who work with Debra Jay and Love First.

–Jamie Loffredo

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I’m proud to announce that Matt Grace has joined our clinical practice as a recovery mentor. Over the years Matt has helped scores of young men find a new life in sobriety. ––A life beyond their wildest dreams.

One of the things I like most about Matt is his enthusiasm. After taking a terrible pounding with his own addiction, he’s come back better than ever and now helps other people do the same. In his own words: “I used to wonder why I never died.  I came to believe that my life was spared for the sole purpose of helping others just like me.”

Matt is smart, resourceful and down to earth. Learn more about his story and his special talents here.

––Jeff Jay

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I’ll admit it. When I got sober, my diet was lousy. Fast food, doughnuts, cookies, ice cream and way too much coffee. The idea of eating right meant getting a salad to go with a full slab of ribs.

Although I was doing a good job of going to meetings, I was still beating my brain up. A constant flow of sugar and caffeine kept me on an energy roller coaster. I’d often stay out late at night talking with people from the meetings at the local greasy spoon, eating apple pie a la mode and drinking coffee until midnight. When I got up for work early the next morning, I often felt as bad as I did in my drinking days.

There’s a brief article on this subject here: Drew Ramsey, M.D.: To Fight Addiction, Feed Your Brain. One of the most important things people in early recovery can do is to start

Here are my top three physical things people should do to bolster early recovery.

1. Eat three healthy meals a day. The real thing. Just like momma taught you. Watch the sugar, especially if it’s not part of a meal. Rebuild the body and brain you’ve been hammering the last few years.
2. Limit caffeine after noon. And don’t expect to get a decent night’s sleep if you drink any coffee after dinner. You don’t need to be a speed freak. Eight hours of sleep will revolutionize your life. And if you read something in bed, you’ll sleep like a baby.
3. Get some exercise every day. I don’t care how embarrassingly puny the exercise is, at first. Take a walk around the block, ride a bike, anything. If you want to give your body a treat, get a few sessions with a personal trainer at a gym to get you going. Or a yoga place. Whatever.

I’m in the best shape of my life now. I feel better, think more clearly and have more energy than I did at 30. I wish I hadn’t waited so long to follow all the directions.

-Jeff Jay

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Painkiller abuse in the USA: Opana overtakes OxyContin. Good article in USA Today about the next wave of prescription drug abuse in the US. But as with Oxycontin, a new formulation may cause addicts to adapt a different strategy.

-Jeff Jay

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The media is finally highlighting and doing a pretty good job in discussing the dangers of opiate dependence in relation to pain management. The Fine Line Between Pain Management And Opiate Addiction Those of use working in the chemical dependency field have been watching this snowball over the past decade. In the late 1990′s there were news articles about hilly billy heroin (otherwise known as OxyContin) overrunning rural counties in Maine and Kentucky. Celebrities have been dying from their dependence to prescription medications for years, i.e. Heath Ledger. The media and publicists refer to it as medication mismanagement or an unfortunate interaction with medications. One of my favorite surfers, Andy Irons, died in 2010 from a prescription drug overdose. At the time, and to this day, no one speaks of Irons as an addict. Just that he died of an overdose related to prescription medications.

As a therapist in this field I am witness to the struggle of hundreds of addicts as they fight for their recovery. Some come by the disease innocently, hooked by an open script from a dentist, multiple knee surgeries, and so forth. Others use the relationship with the doctor as a means to protect their disease. “I am not going to stop taking the xanax, my doctor ordered it” or “I still need one vicodin because my back is really damaged and the doctor says that is all that will help.” My personal approach to those responses is simple, please sign the release of information and let us call your doctor together. The disease informs the client that there is no way that Jamie is going to talk to my doctor. This becomes a wonderful opportunity to educate the client about the disease of addiction and how it continues to try to protect itself, even when the client knows that they want to get healthy.

So knowing that there continues to be an increase in prescription drug dependence were do we go from here. I believe that the chemical dependence field must take charge and become a leader in how we treat chronic pain. Our counselors should take an active role in the development and use of non-narcotic pain management programs. The author of this article does a nice job identifying some effective approaches to treating pain without the use of opiates. There needs to be additional programing using EMDR and the mindfulness based therapies. Our field must educate medical professionals and share our knowledge on chemical dependence. Our national groups like NAADAC  and ACA and government agencies like SAMSHA and NIDA need to fund campaigns educating the public and professionals to break away from the “pill a day” mentality that fuels our healthcare system. Change is possible but it will require groups of professionals to saying there is a different way to do this.

–Jamie Loffredo, MA LPC NCC CAADC
 

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