Malibu Beach Recovery Center

It’s common knowledge that some people who chose the recovery field as a career have had a substance abuse problem themselves.  I’ve heard it said that people who’ve “been there” make the best counselors, or maybe they’re the ones  that think they do), for obvious reasons. They understand the cravings, they’ve experienced the stigma, they’ve incurred the legal and financial problems – and they undoubtedly want to help others. But because they’ve been addicted, there’s always a chance of relapse. In fact, a post on www.behavioral.net cited a 40 percent relapse rate among addiction professionals.

When substance-abuse counselor Sherri Wilkins relapsed in November in Los Angeles County, CA, she got behind the wheel and took a life. As a result, she’s facing life in jail because it’s her third strike. She had two burglary convictions from an earlier time when she was abusing drugs.  This time Wilkins hit a pedestrian and drove with him embedded in her windshield for more than two miles.  She had a blood alcohol limit more than double the legal limit.

Two years ago she was charged with DUI after she tore down a power pole and dragged it, although an expert said the level of drugs was so low that he or she couldn’t testify to Wilkins’ being impaired and the case was dismissed.

This time she has racked up a number of serious charges : “felony charges of murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, DUI causing injury, drunken driving while causing injury and leaving the scene of an accident.”

Then there’s David Schubert, a former L.A. drug prosecutor – another professional you’d like to think would be a role model. He handled plea deals for Paris Hilton and Bruno Mars when these celebs were charged with possession of cocaine.

When he was charged with felony crack possession last February, Schubert called his behavior a tragedy and asked for a plea deal that would have meant probation and a chance to clear his record (and thus salvage his career, which he actually may be able to do, the article says at the end).

The judge was having none of it. Not only did he say Schubert wasn’t getting special treatment, he said the prosecutor was a disgrace to his oath. Schubert pled guilty to unlawful possession, and the judge gave him nine months in jail. To his credit, Schubert completed 60 days of inpatient substance abuse treatment and continued as an outpatient (or could that have been court-ordered?). His lawyer was considering an appeal or perhaps asking the judge to set aside the sentence.

I posted about Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers in the past, but I wonder—does the addiction and recovery field have a similar group for counselors? I’ve never heard of one, and in the behavioral.net post, the professional quoted – Dottie Saxon Greene, MSW, LCSW, LCAS, CCS, and assistant professor at Western Carolina University – said that the profession needs to “actively develop” peer assistance programs, so it sounds like none exist.  Wilkins had a certificate in drug and alcohol counseling and wasn’t a physician; I assume someone with that credential would not be turned away. However, she has a prison sentence to serve.

The Fix website has an interesting article on substance abuse counselors relapsing. It’s not easy to see those we trust with our defense and our well-being fall prey to alcohol and other drugs, but as we know, no one’s immune, and relapse is part of the disease.  Still, taking someone else’s life while under the influence is inexcusable.

 

Recently a sports figure and a celebrity came forward to talk about their problems with substance abuse.  I don’t normally write about celebrities’ substance abuse, for several reasons, but when people write about their experience themselves, it’s a different story, pardon the pun.

In June, golfer Robert Garrigus tied for third place at the U.S. Open. But he came in first in his battle against pot smoking.  Fox Sports said  he admitted to Golf Digest that he smoked pot while on a “development” tour in 2002 and he said he wasn’t the only one.  He and his cronies used the Porta John to toke.

Garrigus started smoking while in community college—a lot, sometimes as many as 20 times a day, he revealed. Clean and sober after attending rehab, he now says he realizes it was stupid. And he tells his story like so many before him, because, he says: "If I can help just one person by sharing what I've gone through, then it's worth it," he says.  Garrigus is back—married and a new father, too—and stronger than ever.

In July, Daniel Radcliffe, aka Harry Potter, child star at 11, revealed that he gave up alcohol last August because he felt he had become dependent on it. Radcliffe admitted to the U.K. Daily News that he couldn’t go to a party and stop at a couple of drinks and he was lucky he hadn’t gotten caught inebriated  by the paparazzi many times, because he had given them ample opportunity. Radcliffe didn’t attend rehab, or at least he didn’t mention going. More power to him for realizing he had a problem and deciding to do something about it.

As I’ve said before, I love these stories because they show that there’s life after substance abuse, that you can stop making bad choices. 

 

 

I wrote in an earlier post that there’s something about addiction that makes many people want to write about their feelings. Then I learned about Tim Conley, an assistant professor of Social Work at the University of Montana who teaches two courses on addiction and counsels addicts.  He writes songs from the other side of the fence, capturing his clients’ experiences.  In The Journal of Poetry Therapy, Conley says this about his song writing:

"Through the music I was able to achieve a heightened sense of empathy and more fully experience the feelings associated with these events, finding meaning and place for them in a way that allowed me to remain emotionally resilient enough so I could continue to see other addicted clients day-by-day."

You can feel the empathy in the following two poems of Conley’s, once again proving my thesis…there’s something about addiction that makes people want to write about their feelings.

Relapse

It’s easy to get lazy, when the pain goes away.

Memories growing hazy, of the price we’ve had to pay.

Like children who will wander__from the safety of a home;

A never-ending nightmare, wakin’ up and all alone.

It’s crazy to go easy, on the things that keep us sane.

To look and find a reason, to turn and walk away.

Feeling like we’ve made it__like our wounded mind has healed itself somehow;

Even though we hate it, slipping back into that cloud . . .

People who would love us lose, leaving in the guilt regrets and shame;

Lost somewhere so far between, believing lies and feeling all the pain.

Relapse to the bottle, to the wickedness and hollow place inside;

Wandering in Madness__from the spirit poured within__you cannot hide . . .

Cannot hide.

It’s easy to get lazy, when the pain goes away.

Memories growing hazy, of the price we’ve had to pay.

 

Early sobriety

Now that I am sober I just don’t know how to behave

Time goes by much slower and I always seem to crave

They tell me to get numbers, to reach out and to call

I think if I don’t take 12 steps I’m surely gonna fall

Where is everybody, who said they loved me?

Have they all gone running? like I went running too?

Where is everybody, who said they loved me?

Can they see me now? Can I see them too?

If I could just forget who I was and what I’ve done

Today might be another clean__a clean and sober one

If I could just forget the hurt, the people and the pain

I might be able now to start my life again

Where is everybody, who said they loved me?

Have they all gone running? Like I went running too?

Where is everybody, who said they loved me?

Can they see me now? Can I see them too?

Now there are the meetings of my mostly sober friends

AA coffee talk in places we just don’t pretend

There’s hope in here conflicting, conflicting with despair

I think how long it took to get my ass in this chair . . .

Where is everybody, who said they loved me?

Have they all gone running? Like I went running too?

Where is everybody, who said they loved me?

Can they see me now? Can I see them too?

It’s hard to know how to start when introducing Candy because she's so accomplished.  Say that she’s part of the cast of the Emmy-winning A&E show “Intervention,” televised Mondays since 2005? Or that she’s written a self-help book, When Enough is Enough: A Comprehensive Guide to Successful Intervention? That she’s in recovery herself, celebrating 25 years of sobriety? 

Joan introduced Candy to me by saying she’s privately helped many people get into treatment, including singers, actors, and politicians, but she has also educated millions about addiction and recovery through her regular appearances on “Intervention,”  inspiring them to seek treatment for themselves or their loved ones.

 

Her credentials are listed on Amazon:  “She received her certification in chemical dependency from UCLA and completed her internship at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She trained with the man who developed the intervention process, Vernon Johnson, and she has been affiliated as an interventionist with the Betty Ford Center, The Meadows, Hazelden, and many other treatment centers.”

 

Malibu Beach Recovery Center is not listed there, but Candy told me, when I interviewed her, that the Malibu Beach Recovery Center holds a special place in her heart because it treats the whole person. “[The Malibu Beach Recovery System] reprograms the brain not to have the drug be your reward,” she said. 

Candy has sent two clients from the TV show “Intervention” to Malibu Beach Recovery Center, both by chance from New Jersey.  

The most recent is Rachel whose segment will launch Intervention’s 10^th season on December 13, 2010.  When Candy intervened on her she was homeless, sleeping on the steps of a Fifth Avenue Manhattan church.  Neither Joan nor Candy would give away the ending but both describe Rachel’s story as reality TV at its best, filled with fireworks and drama.

 

The first was Angelina, who arrived in September 2009 and never looked back. Followers of “Intervention”’s Facebook page recently voted Angelia’s episode one of their three favorite shows of all time.   Both A&E and Malibu Beach Recovery Center have done video follow ups on Angelina’s remarkable

transformation from a down-and-out New Jersey heroin addict to a vibrant young woman who now lives in West Los Angeles, holds down a steady job, has reconnected with her family, is involved in a committed long term relationship, and participates fully in the 12 step community.

 

Here’s more of my interview with Candy:

Pat: How did you get your start?

 

Candy: I actually started helping people in 12-step programs and then I went for training. Vernon Johnson, a minister who introduced interventions in the 1960’s, had a big influence on me. He also wrote I’ll Quit Tomorrow. Johnson got the idea for intervention at funerals. People would get up and talk about the deceased, and he wondered why they didn’t do that when the person was alive.

 

Pat: Briefly—I know you wrote a whole book about intervention—but how can you make someone go to treatment who doesn’t want to go?

 

Candy: The primary symptom is denial. Addicts think everyone around them is making things up. But when the family gets together and talks to their loved one, each one holds a mirror up to his or her actions. They talk about how they see addiction affecting the addict, and what it has meant to them. If the addict chooses not to go, you can talk about consequences, but you can’t really give someone consequences when it’s a disease, any more than you would give a heart disease patient consequences. As I say in my book, intervention is successful about 80% of the time.

 

Pat: Please tell us what made you join the cast of “Intervention.”

 

Candy: (Laughs.) I actually signed on because I didn’t think it would fly. But Sam Mettler, the series creator, knew exactly what he wanted to do. I’ve asked people why they let the film crew film the experience, and they say “Because I never want anyone else to have to go through this.” The families have such generosity.

 

Pat:. How’s the program going?

 

Candy: We’re approaching our 175^th show and over 90,000 people have applied to appear on it.   It’s more important than ever to get people into treatment. More people die today from accidental prescription pill overdose than from gunshot wounds.

 

NOTE from Joan Borsten:  The Intervention TV website is an excellent resource for locating treatment centers, sober living houses, and finding information about the disease of addiction.

On September 11, 2010 my husband Oleg Vidov and I attended a posh Beverly Hills evening hosted by the Brent Shapiro Foundation for Alcohol and Drug Awareness.  We applaud the Foundation’s work, especially its commitment to support “new and extensive research, in the hopes of identifying a genetic basis for this disease and developing methods of early identification, prevention and treatment.”  This is entirely in sync with the existing Malibu Beach Recovery System for Treating Addiction, and our vision of the future.  

Those invited to the Foundation’s “Summer Spectacular” event, elegantly dressed in “black & white cocktail attire” as mandated by the invitation, were shuttled from downtown Beverly Hills up a winding road to a glittering, stately mansion which boasts a 360 degree view of Los Angeles.  Robert Shapiro and his wife greeted most of the guests personally.  For the first part of the evening everyone mingled at the entrance to the house, which was big enough for a real Ferris wheel, several non-alcoholic bars and seating areas, a disc jockey, a catering unit and a black carpet for arriving film, television, and music stars, still photographers and news crews.

After several rounds of pizza slices and tuna tartar hors d’oeuvres we moved to the back of the house for a sit-down dinner.  A long runway, later used for a swank fashion show, covered most of the pool area.  On each side were approximately one hundred tables.  While waiting to be served, guests heard from Larry King and the Shapiro family who spoke eloquently about a just and important cause, and the nature of an incurable disease.  Foundation Board member Gary Richmond, a prominent addiction counselor, showed off “Somo” a very cute plush monkey and “Somo Says No,” a book about drug awareness just created by the Foundation for young children around the world.  Comedian Sarge told jokes about being a half-Jewish half-black addict in recovery.  Bob Shapiro auctioned off everything from African safaris to haute couture gowns.  

There were a lot of tears and emotion, especially when the family presented their friend -- and Brent’s friend – Kelly Osborne with an award honoring the sobriety she achieved during her fourth stint in rehab.   Two years ago Kelly, 25, was a prescription pill addict, taking 50 vicodin a day.  Now she is svelte, glamorous and sober. 

Surprisingly most of the guests were not familiar faces from the recovery community. They were the well-heeled and wealthy of Los Angeles, people who donate to good causes. Among those we knew were international TV distributor Michael Solomon and his lovely actress wife Luciana Paluzzi (a former "Bond Girl"), financier Russell Armstrong and his super-smart wife Taylor who stars in the new reality show "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills."  

This was the fanciest "addiction" event we've ever attended.  It was right up there with the $25,000/plate gatherings which raise money for presidential hopefuls, and the post-premiere dinners for big new Hollywood movies.  Personally I hope the Foundation made a lot of money and will continue its outreach because as Gary Richmond told the crowd: "We are in a battle to stop an epidemic, and at the moment, we are losing."

 

Every month we ask Michelle Mangione, a really talented Los Angeles-based musician with a lot of recovery under her belt, to end our long, emotional family weekends with an upbeat musical send-off.  She usually arrives in an SUV filled with drums of all kinds of shapes (she is a drummer first and foremost), a cello, and percussion instruments ranging from gourds to maracas to boxes of doggie treats.    Everyone – clients, family members, friends, and staff -- participates, even if they have never played an instrument in their lives, let’s loose and leaves feeling good. 

Me, I like the old Indian harmonium.

Last family weekend I heard for the first time “The Edge of Madness,” as yet unmixed.  The Edge of Madness clip.mp3

Michelle wrote it with Grace Slick, the former Jefferson Airplane/Starship lead singer, also in recovery from addiction, to benefit Louisiana fishermen and musicians impacted by the BP oil spill.   By the time it went for its final mix, 20 different musicians from a variety of genres and generations had travelled to Michelle’s bedroom studio in Long Beach to add their music and voices to the track, including  Bill Medley (Righteous Brothers), Tom Dumont (No Doubt), Billy Zoom (X), Martha Davis (The Motels), Kid Ramos (The Fabulous Thunderbirds). Larry Hanson (Alabama), Terri Nunn (Berlin) and Steve Hodges (Tom Waits, Smashing Pumpkins).   And although Grace has a new rock ‘n roll inspired career as a fine artist, she’s so concerned about the people of Louisiana that she came out of musical retirement to accompany Michelle as a background singer.   I think the song has a great sound, which I am told by Michelle is “Zydeco fused with second-line and pop.”

The song had its debut at a Grammy Museum Grace Slick art exhibit and reception earlier this week on July 24th.  Now it’s available for download from the Grammy Museum website; proceeds will be donated directly to The Greater New Orleans Foundation’s Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund, and to the MusiCares Foundation® which provides emergency financial assistance to members of the music community.    

From a normie’s perspective (in “Recovery Speak” a “normie” is someone like me, i.e.  not an addict ) Michelle perfectly embodies the 12^th Step of Alcoholics Anonymous.  She is all about “giving back,” whether to our clients or to the less fortunate.    I hope lots of people download “The Edge of Madness.” It’s definitely more constructive than watching the constant cable news coverage of the gulf and feeling utterly useless.