InterAct LifeLine Audio Journal

Give Yourself the Gift of Community. 

Make connections to help support you as you battle addiction.

If you are struggling with addiction or have an addict in your family, going it alone is never a good idea.  I was fortunate in many ways that when my 14-year old daughter began her struggle, I had close friends that were there for me who had watched Laura grow up and knew I needed help.  And people were there for me througho...

Give Yourself the Gift of Self-Care

How to keep yourself healthy, centered, balanced & connected when you struggle with an addicted loved one

This will be my second Christmas without my daughter Laura who struggled for 15 years with addiction but lost her life to overdose on December 21, 2017, right before the holidays. In the two years since her death, I’ve taken care of myself in some ways, but not in others.   Battling addicti...

One of the bests gifts to give yourself during the holidays, forgiveness.

Why it’s important to forgive yourself, your family and friends and your addicted loved one 

This will be my second Christmas without my daughter Laura who struggled for 15 years with addiction but lost her life to overdose on December 21, 2017, right before the holidays.  But even when Laura was with us, holidays were often stressful because I never ...

The holidays can be a dreaded time of the year if someone you love is suffering or has lost their battle with the disease of addiction.  This will be my second Christmas without my daughter Laura who struggled for 15 years with addiction but lost her life to overdose on December 21, 2017, right before the holidays.  

It’s hard to think about gift giving during this time of year, because the holidays may be filled with regret, grief,...

How to bring joy back into what can be a difficult time of year.

The holidays are the most wonderful, but often the most dreadful time of the year if someone you love is suffering from or has lost their battle with the disease of addiction.  This will be my second Christmas without my daughter Laura who struggled for 15 years with addiction but lost her life to overdose on December 21, 2017, right before the holidays.  But even when...

How to avoid mistakes that put your parenting game at risk. 

This Audio Journal series focuses on what it takes to coach your family through the Opioid Crisis with the right game plan, a playbook, an understanding of your opponent and help from your “assistants” when it’s called for.  This episode will focus on how to avoid unforced errors that put your parenting game at risk.

I watched Auburn and Alabama slug it out in the Iron Bowl...

The “When”, “Who” and “How” to get help for a struggling teen.

This Audio Journal series focuses on what it takes to coach your family through the Opioid Crisis with the right game plan, a playbook, an understanding of your opponent and help from your “assistants” when it’s called for.  This episode will focus on why you need a good staff around you because no game is winnable if you are the only coach calling the plays.

Football coa...

Why a Focus on Prevention is so Critical 

If you listened to the last Audio Journal, we focused on what it takes to coach your family through the Opioid Crisis with a game plan, a playbook, an understanding of your opponent and help from your “assistants” when it’s called for.  This episode will focus on what every successful college football coach knows and understand, that it’s much easier to play offense vs. always be o...

Know the facts to help you make good decisions

This Audio Journal series focuses on what it takes to coach your family through the Opioid Crisis with the right game plan, a parent playbook, an understanding of your opponent and help from your “assistants” when it’s called for.  This episode will focus on the value of analyzing the data to understand the facts so you can make the right play calls.

Nick Saban at Alabama implemented a G...

The Game Against the Opioid and Addiction Crisis that Parents Must Win

We’re coming to the end of the college football season where an elite group of teams will realize their dreams of winning their division, being tapped for a bowl game or being selected for the national championship playoffs.  Every one of the teams had one thing in common; they started their season with a game plan, did their research and homework to create the p...

Audio Journal

Technology to Take on the Opioid Crisis

When I look at my iPhone or open up my laptop, I’m like most people going to Facebook.  But unlike most people, I’m not spending very much time checking in with my friends or searching for the latest products I can’t do without.  I’m watching the posts of families in Facebook groups that I belong to that are expressing profound grief, sadness and despair over losing a loved one to...

Audio Journal

The Elderly, the Forgotten Victims of Addiction 

For 20 years, my mother in law had a great relationship with the man she fell in love with when she met him on a cruise at age 74.  But things changed dramatically a few years ago.  As he aged, he experienced a number of health issues that plague so many of the elderly.  His joints started to fail, his health declined, and he began to experience persistent pain.  Enter a ...

Audio Journal

The Power of Gratitude

You may be struck that the topic of this audio journal is gratitude, especially in the midst of the opioid crisis, the deaths of 70,000 people each year from overdose and the ravages of an addiction pandemic. After the loss of my daughter Laura to overdose 2 years ago gratitude has been the one thing that has helped me through what could have been an unbearable loss.  I am grateful for the time I ...

Transcript

How My Company Transformed to Take On the Opioid Crisis

If there ever was a charmed life, I was sure that I was living it.  I grew up in the perfect small town, raised by the picture-perfect parents.  My grades were outstanding, and I breezed through college, married the popular guy from my hometown and settled into having it all....2 beautiful kids, a loving husband and a technology career.  

But sometimes life t...

Transcript

Every president since Bill Clinton has tried to tackle the question of how to improve healthcare in America, but the government can’t seem to find its footing with a solution that pleases everyone.  But quietly, private enterprise has been advancing the ball in medical care by introducing new insurance models, concierge medicine and technology solutions to make access to healthcare more streamlined and cost effe...

Transcript

We live in a world of urban myths.  You’ve heard the stories that we never really landed on the moon; it was all shot in a sound studio. Or what about the myth that we are storing aliens in Roswell, New Mexico after their space crafts cashed on Earth?  Myths seem to be part of our culture, but unfortunately, they exist in the way people view others who struggle with addiction.

Let’s look at some of the more commo...

September was National Recovery Month, created by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration otherwise known as SAMHSA. Held every September the focus is to educate people that substance use treatment and mental health services can enable those with mental and substance use disorders to live healthy and rewarding lives.

I’d like to dig into addiction and the concept of recovery in the way we treat people that are ...

Years ago, my 15-year old daughter Laura became a danger to herself as her drug use escalated out of control. I got professional advice, enrolled her in a wilderness therapy program, followed by a long-term commitment to a therapeutic boarding school. Right after enrollment in the school, 20 families gather for our orientation. It took us 4 hours to go around the room, introduce ourselves and share why are child had enrolled.

The ro...