Category: Education

DARA-Announces-First-Scholarship-Fellow

DARA Announces First Scholarship Fellow

Education

 

DARA_Lubna_01 In a major step forward in our five-year agreement with Mahidol University’s ASEAN Institute for Health Development, DARA’s leadership team has named Lubna Altaf Husaain as our first DARA Fellow. As the recipient of this fully funded scholarship, Husaain will work hand-in-hand with DARA professionals as part of her master’s degree program in Addiction Studies at Mahidol. When she completes her Mahidol program, she will be offered a staff position at DARA for at least one year.

Martin Peters, DARA’s Treatment Program Director, said Husaain’s “passion and determination” were key factors in her unanimous selection by the interview panel.  Chosen from a wide range of applicants who began a series of interviews in May, Husaain already has completed a Master of Clinical Psychology program and has worked in outpatient rehab programs in the United Arab Emirates.

“We believe that Lubna will be a great role model for future scholarship recipients, as well as a strong representative of DARA,” Peters said.

When presented with the scholarship, Husaain said DARA’s generosity not only is an investment in her, but in the future of addiction treatment.

“I sincerely thank the DARA organization for the generous sponsorship,” Husaain said. “I take the responsibility wholeheartedly and will do everything I can to prove myself.”

Partnership With Mahidol Provides Mutual Benefits

DARA’s five-year partnership with Mahidol University, which began in March 2014, benefits not only Husaain, but all students in the university’s Master of Addiction Studies program. They will have the opportunity for training days with the professional staff at DARA, and they will be able to accompany DARA employees to professional conferences. DARA and Mahidol students will conduct joint research in the field of recovery and cooperate in publishing a scientific journal on addiction. DARA will offer internships to Mahidol students and will provide instructional materials and guest lecturers for Mahidol classes.

If you, or someone you care about, needs help for a drug or alcohol addiction,
contact us at 1-888-457-3518 US, 0-808-120-3633 UK or 1-800-990-523 AU.
We’re here to help you take that first important step.

Loved-Ones-Need-Education-to-Stop-Enabling-an-Alcoho

Loved Ones Need Education to Stop Enabling an Alcoholic

Education

Loved-Ones-Need-Education-to-Stop-Enabling-an-Alcoholic Learning to love alcoholics or drug addicts when struggling with the chaos of their behavior requires awareness and practice. Likewise, it takes some education and training to recognize the difference between showing compassionate understanding of the disease of addiction and enabling an alcoholic or drug addict to continue their addiction. Family members who love alcoholics or addicts need guidance.  They need to change their attitudes and roles just as much as the alcoholics and drug addicts do.

Enabling An Alcoholic Does More Harm Than Good

Families of alcoholics and addicts have the best intentions. When parents allow adult children to move back home because alcoholism or drug addiction has resulted in homelessness, they do it because they can’t bear to think of someone they love living on the streets. Family members who bail adult children or siblings out of jail, who give them money when they have lost their jobs, who call their employers and make excuses, think they are doing the right thing. They are hoping beyond hope that if they help in this way, then the addictive behavior will end. The ironic and unfortunate truth is that manner of help does more harm than good. It enables the alcoholic or addict to continue lies and denial and to continue abusing alcohol or drugs. It continues the dysfunctional family cycle, and it allows the disease of addiction to progress.

Compassion Does Not Mean Control

Showing compassion for an alcoholic or drug addict means understanding that addiction is a disease of the body, mind and spirit. Thinking of addictions with the same kind of sympathetic attitude as one would with severe allergies or migraines or even cancer and other potentially fatal illnesses makes all the difference. It helps families live in peace, knowing they did not cause the addiction, they cannot control the addiction, and they cannot cure the addiction. Offering compassion without enabling an alcoholic or drug addict helps everyone involved.

Hope is a major element of preventing relapse because without hope and connection to others, the lure of addiction remains strong.
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Tools for Living Offer Hope for Those in Recovery

Education

Tools-for-Living-Offer-Hope-for-Those-in-Recovery When alcoholics and drug addicts finally reach the point of seeking help, they usually feel ashamed, guilty and hopeless. They desperately need the tools for living that will give them hope in recovery. The typical pattern of substances abusers includes numerous failed attempts to quit using or drinking on their own. Denial is their No. 1 symptom. They make excuses, tell lies, become increasingly defensive, try desperately to justify their behavior, and believe they can continue to hide their addiction from themselves and others. By the time they make the decision to enter a rehab facility, they need to detox from their substance of choice first and then start to learn a new way of thinking and living.

Maintaining Health and Hope is Important in Sobriety

Achieving and maintaining sobriety is not an easy task, but it is the most worthwhile task an alcoholic or drug addict can undertake. Detox is the first step in regaining health. Depending on many factors, including   the length of time someone has been drinking or using, the severity of withdrawal symptoms varies. Close medical supervision is needed. Once physical balance is on the mend, then emotional, mental and spiritual health comes next. Support groups, education in how to relieve stress without the use of drugs or alcohol, and therapy to explore underlying issues are the avenues to hope.

Hope in Recovery Means Developing a New Purpose in Life

Learning to develop a purpose in life gives life new meaning. Expanding one’s thinking beyond the self-absorption of substance abuse brings hope in recovery. The best way to change negative thinking into positive is to build confidence by sharing with others who have conquered their addictions. A support group can provide a guiding hand of hope on the pathway to sobriety. As confidence grows, so does the ability to discover one’s personal attributes and talents. These discoveries may take place within the family unit, with colleagues, with spiritual advisors, and even spending time outdoors communing with nature.

Hope is a major element of preventing relapse because without hope and connection to others, the lure of addiction remains strong.
For more information on recovery, follow us on Facebook.

Teen Drug Abuse

Education, Understanding Addiction

Teen-Drug-Abuse A parent’s worst nightmare came true for Rod Bridge, of Perth, Australia, when his son Preston died in a drug-related accident. In this particular case, the drug had been sold as LSD when in fact it was a counterfeit psychedelic called NBOM-e. The high-school student was killed in a fall from a hotel balcony while under the influence.

The substance, originally a research chemical, has been duplicated by underground chemists. It’s hard enough to enforce existing drug laws; authorities around the world are having difficulty stemming the tide of new drugs that evade being listed as illegal.

From a parent’s perspective, the fact of the drug world being as open and available as a candy store (Preston Bridge bought his alleged LSD online via “the Silk Road” for two dollars) is frightening. Parents are cautioned to watch for signs that may indicate experimentation with drugs, but adolescent behavior can have so many challenging aspects—rebellion, secrecy, recklessness, etc.—that it’s difficult to discern what is normal behavior and what might be incipient teenage drug abuse.

Until it becomes not so difficult. A young person’s drug problem can be chalked off to “typical teen behavior” for only so long before reality sets in—reality that has to be acknowledged, understood, coped with, and responded to.

The initially most agonizing thing for parents of drug-abusing children is that the parents will know something is going on, but the child will deny it. The parents, in the early stage, want so badly to believe that this problem hasn’t intruded into their lives that they will deny what common sense tells them. This is a setup for eventual disappointment, resentment, and alienation for the parents (the child is already experiencing alienation and resentment).

Here are a few signs that teenage drug abuse may be occurring:

  • School performance drops suddenly
  • Change of friends
  • Sleep patterns change (can’t get up in morning, sleeps in afternoon, or—conversely—is wide awake for inappropriately long times)
  • Deceptive and furtive behavior, dishonesty
  • Argumentative or sullen and withdrawn
  • Loses interest in formerly loved sports or hobbies
  • Sudden weight loss and/or change of appearance

As with a physical illness, parents will—if the above signs are present—need to enter into an entirely new world of awareness, education, and coping strategies. There will be conflicting advice. There will be internal conflicts between the parents, and the drug-abusing teen will exploit these conflicts.

Resources are available for parents entering this new world (or already immersed in it). Al-Anon Family Groups has meetings and valuable printed material.

If you, or someone you care about, needs help for a drug or alcohol addiction,
contact us at 1-888-457-3518 US, 0-808-120-3633 UK or 1-800-990-523 AU.
We’re here to help you take that first important step.

Nitrous Oxide Abuse on the Rise in United States and Abroad

Education, United States

Nitrous-Oxide-Abuse-on-the-Rise-in-United-States-and-Abroad The common name for nitrous oxide is “laughing gas.” Often used by dentists to reduce anxiety, it has been the subject of spoofs on stage and television. It also has been used to ease the pain of childbirth. The very name makes it sound like fun: take a whiff, kick back, start a giggle fit, and enjoy. That oversimplification belies the fact that nitrous oxide abuse is on the rise internationally. Illegal use of the drug, while perhaps not yet common, has the potential to become a serious health risk. Media reports show use and abuse of nitrous oxide is on the rise, particularly at concerts, raves and on college campuses. Dealers often sell balloons filled with nitrous oxide. It also is easy to obtain nitrous oxide cartridges from aerosol cans on grocery store shelves.

Nitrous Oxide Mistakenly Seen As Safe “High”

Britain, in particular, is experiencing a rapid rise in the abuse of nitrous oxide, which social media sites are calling “hippy crack.” Some reports estimate the number of users in the millions. Users have the mistaken notion that nitrous oxide abuse is safe and legal; nevertheless, officials continue to confiscate large numbers of “laughing gas” canisters across the nation. Health professionals are concerned that misinformation on the Internet is glamourizing the use of nitrous oxide.

Abuse of Nitrous Oxide Can Have Serious Consequences

Misuse of nitrous oxide can have tragic consequences because it enters the bloodstream rapidly. Someone who uses it can become unconscious and quit breathing quickly. Death can occur when abusers continue to seek an increased “high” by repeated inhalation in a confined space in a short amount of time. Nitrous oxide can cause lack of motor control, so users risk dangerous falls. In some cases, people can exhibit symptoms that resemble seizures after inhaling too much nitrous oxide.

Spotting Symptoms of Nitrous Oxide Abuse Could Save a Life

Nitrous oxide abuse has observable symptoms. Abusers often break open aerosol cans to find the cartridges and then try to hide the cans. Physical symptoms include nerve damage and anemia. Lack of oxygen in the bloodstream also depletes vitamins, including B12. Abusers may begin to lose weight because of experiencing nausea and appetite loss.

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