Susan Rich: Rethink Alcohol, Reframe Ability, Rebuild Futures

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
My name is Dr.

(00:00):
Susan Rich, and my business isTherapeutic and Learning
Centers, PLLC.
I serve a range of children,adolescents, and mostly young
adult, although I do have someadult patients.
Most of my patients have somedegree of neurodiverse
conditions like ADHD,high-functioning autism.

(00:23):
These are kids who are highlyintelligent but have some degree
of social communication issues,fetal alcohol spectrum disorder,
which happens to children whentheir birth moms or dads,
believe it or not, drink alcoholfor the dads before they may
even be pregnant.
And for a lot of the kids in mypractice, they're adopted or

(00:44):
have some degree of trauma intheir history.
It could be a birth parent died,or they had some other kind of
divorce problem that led totrauma in their childhood.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00):
That's amazing.
I can't wait to learn more abouteverything you do to help with
all these things.
So first, take me back to howyou got started in all of this.
Tell me how you got to where youare today.

SPEAKER_00 (01:12):
It took a lot of education.
So I started out after being thefirst person to graduate college
and my family.
I went on from NC StateUniversity, where I studied
microbiology, and uh graduatedat the School of Agriculture and
Life Science.
I worked then four and a halfyears in pharmaceutical
research.

(01:32):
I had paid my way through uh myundergrad working in labs like
the National Institutes onEnvironmental Health Science and
Research Triangle Park, and uhdid an honors research project
in virology at NC State.
Then I went on, worked in thepharmaceutical industry and
research for four and a halfyears.
And along the way, I read a bookcalled The Broken Cord, which is

(01:55):
a book about a Native Americanman who had adopted some
children with fetal alcoholsyndrome before they even knew
what that was.
It was like 1973.
And the book completely changedmy perspective.
I saw what alcohol had done togenerations of people since

(02:15):
colonization.
And it really compelled me, andprobably because of my interest
in science and embryology andjust how could this possibly
happen?
And I was a sexually active, youknow, young woman at that time
in my 20s, uh, having been acollege graduate, traveling a
lot with my job and occasionallydrinking, right?

(02:39):
It was okay, it was legal, butnobody had ever told me that
this problem happens before youfind out you're pregnant.
And so it kind of lit me onfire.
I wrote a letter to the authorof the book, and I decided to
begin teaching in NativeAmerican communities about this
problem.
I reclaimed my roots in theNative American community by

(03:02):
enrolling with the Tuscara tribeof North Carolina and went back
to school.
I did a master's of publichealth and health policy at the
University of North Carolina atChapel Hill.
And uh on weekends, I would goto powwows and festivals
teaching about how birth defectshappen and a lot happens before
you find out you're pregnant,and teaching the grandmothers

(03:24):
and the aunties and the women inthe community.
And then this led to me joiningforces with the March of Dimes
in North Carolina and the ARC ofNorth Carolina to develop a
program called Planning for theSeventh Generation.
We went on from there to umteach in Native American

(03:45):
communities and distribute abrochure that we developed with
these organizations.
And along the way, I got mymaster's of public health and
began working in a ruralcommunity with a community
health consortium called RobisonHealthcare Corporation.
And there we developedadditional programs for women in
recovery and their dependentchildren.

(04:07):
One of these was a um basicallya$1.8 million project we built
from the ground up in about twoyears, where the women in
recovery could live with theirchildren and be reunited, with
the children having been placedin foster care, but the court
would reunite them with theirchildren, where they could live

(04:27):
for up to two years in thisgated community, beautiful
apartments.
And along the way, developingthat project, I decided to go
back to school.
So at the age of 30, I went tomedical school at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hilland completed the uh project
called Grace Court along aroundmy second year of medical

(04:51):
school.
And then that program, believeit or not, has now been
replicated.
There are eight of these now inthe state of North Carolina.
We don't have any in Maryland.
But in 2001, after graduatingmedical school at UNC Chapel
Hill and going into residency atGeorgetown University Medical

(05:12):
Center in psychiatry, I moved toMaryland and saw all the
beautiful farmland, much likehere in Leesburg, lots of horse
farms.
Most people don't realize thatone of the biggest industries in
Maryland is equine.
So around the time that I movedto Maryland in 2001, I came up

(05:32):
with this idea.
There must be a farm that I canget for a dollar, somebody
donating, because I'd been inthe nonprofit world for a number
of years.
Somebody may donate a farm.
Little did I know, people arenot so philanthropic.
So I kept on with that uh idea.
I finished residency atGeorgetown in psychiatry, then

(05:55):
did a two-year fellowship atChildren's National Medical
Center in uh child psychiatry,child and adolescent, and then
opened my practice.
But because I had paid my waythrough medical school, I had
three degrees worth of studentloans.
So after that five years ofresidency and fellowship, it
took me nine years to pay offthree degrees worth of student

(06:18):
loans doing a private practicein a home office.
And um after paying off mystudent loans, getting close to
it, I finally decided I'm gonnaestablish my nonprofit.
So that's seventh generationfoundation.
And right after establishing mynonprofit, I um incorporated my
practice as therapeutic andlearning centers in 2015.

(06:42):
And then in 2016, uh I actuallymoved to the farm, which is we
call it Dreamcatcher Meadows.
But um, my practice, therapeuticand learning centers, operates
on one acre of the farm.
And I lease over for zerodollars five and a half of the
six and a half acres.
We've been able to get a statebond bill and two county grants

(07:06):
to rehab the nonprofit farm.
And uh we've rehomed a number ofbaby animals and injured animals
that otherwise would have had tobe put down, many of them, or
they just weren't thriving wherethey were.
And those animals then become,in a way, like therapists for
children with trauma andattachment issues, as well as

(07:29):
neurodevelopmental issues whocome to my uh practice.
Um, but that's how I gotstarted.
It took me from 2001, though,till 2016 to realize this dream
of starting this farm.
And I always tell kids just hangon to your dream.
If it's big enough and strongenough, it's gonna power you

(07:52):
through whatever it takes.
For me, it was uh gettingthrough medical school, then
residency and fellowship.
But also my public health degreewas because I had, you know,
this yearning to help the issueof prenatal alcohol exposure,
which I've written a book about,by the way.

SPEAKER_01 (08:11):
Okay, awesome.
I can't wait to hear hear moreabout it.
And I I'd like to say, you'vedefinitely been around the block
the the amount of years ofexperience you have into this,
it's very fascinating.
But you're doing and especiallythe integration of animals into
these therapeutic practices.
So, to get started, yourpractice focuses on helping

(08:32):
neurodiverse kids and teensrecognize their strengths and
tap into their uniquesuperpowers.
What inspired this mission andhow do you bring that vision to
life at your practice?
I know we kind of got in gotinto this, but if we could dig
in a little more.

SPEAKER_00 (08:47):
Yeah.
Really, how I came to be uhworking with kids who have
neurodiverse conditions is thatI had a real passion for helping
these children who have beenprenatally exposed to alcohol.
And at that time, there were twocamps, one with feto alcohol

(09:07):
spectrum disorder and trying tohammer that as a diagnosis.
And along the way, we were ableto convince the DSM committee,
which is the Diagnostic andStatistical Manual Committee
around 2005 to putneurodevelopmental disorder
associated with prenatal alcoholexposure in DSM.

(09:28):
And when the new DSM came out in2013, it redefined all childhood
mental disorders, what we usedto see as childhood mental
disorders as neurodevelopmental.
So my love for these childrenand my understanding that they
are born in some way withunique, I call them superpowers.

(09:51):
Um, whereas a lot of people seeit as challenges or conditions
that we need to label and weneed to stigmatize them, or we
need to um, you know, maybemedicate the symptoms.
I try to help parents see, well,if you change the environment
and you change your approach, itcan help the child.
Um, with the reframing of DSM,you know, I had opened my

(10:15):
practice in 2006.
And by 2013, with the reframingof DSM, looking at childhood
mental disorders asneurodevelopmental, then it I
was already, you know, kind ofriding that wave as it came in
and helping parents, you know,see the strengths in their
child, not necessarily that theyhave disabilities.

(10:37):
These are different abilities.
And, you know, whereas a kidmight be hyper focused and very
intense on certain topics, okay,let's go with that.
Maybe they're going to become ageologist if they know every
type of rock and mineral.
And, you know, how many14-year-olds know that?
I mean, it's usually somebodywho graduates with their PhD

(10:59):
that knows all that, you know,information or dinosaurs, like
some kids being like incrediblyknowledgeable about dinosaurs,
even at the age of six, seven.
Okay, let's go with that.
Let's keep working with thatskill and ability.
And it may be by the timethey're in uh high school or
college, like they are an experton that.

(11:21):
Instead of like dinging thembecause they don't put their
shoes in the proper place whenthey come in the door.
Okay, what about putting a placethere that say shoes and, you
know, labeling it?
Hey, this is Jimmy's shoes orthis is Susie's shoes.
Let's put them there.
And repeating over and over thesame sort of rituals and habits,

(11:44):
you know, daily habits to helpwith their executive functions
and having the parents helpscaffold that.
So that's kind of how I evolved,you know, what I'm doing.
I mean, it just happened alongthe way with all the education.
And every two years, wephysicians have to do 50
credits.
That's 50 hours of continuingmedical education.

(12:08):
So I would make sure that themedical education credits I did
were related to topics thatreally would help improve the
lives of the kids and mypractice.

SPEAKER_01 (12:19):
Absolutely.
And I love your termsuperpowers.
And I I just think it's a greatthing that you're standing for
in kind of trying to change theopinions on the stigma that it's
an obstacle.
It's more of something that theycan unlock and see where it
leads them.
Yeah, it's a gift.

SPEAKER_00 (12:38):
These are gifts.
We're all born with uniquegifts.
And I tell my patients, look, mygifts is that I see you when
you're 24 years old.
I see you when you've alreadylaunched into your life and
you're living this bountifullife with joy and goodness.

(12:59):
And that's one of mysuperpowers.
I don't see them for thedeficits they have.
I see them for their strengths.
And by helping them unlock thatin themselves and really own
their gifts instead of shunningfrom them and being ashamed
that, oh, I know every gem andevery mineral, you know, on the

(13:21):
eastern seaboard.
And, you know, or, you know, Iknow the name I was talking
before about dinosaurs, becausesome kids are really locked in
on that.
Or trains is another one.
Some kids are like so fascinatedby trains and engines and
motors.
But it's it's really great tosee kids and how they progress.
And I've been in practice, I'mgonna tell you in March, it'll

(13:43):
be 20 years.
Wow.
20 years I've been in privatepractice.
So I started medical school whenI was 30.
I graduated residency andfellowship when I was 40.
And I started my farm when I was50.
I bought my farm.
So, and I'll be 60 next year.
And my next phase is going to beto do what I wanted to do since

(14:07):
2001.
So it will have been 25 years,but I'm going to launch a new, a
new program under my practice.

SPEAKER_01 (14:15):
Okay.
Well, that's super exciting.
I cannot wait for this for you.
And also something I wanted totouch on was your motto,
strengthening mind, body, andspirit for life captures such a
powerful vision.
What does it mean to you totreat the whole person rather
than just the symptoms?

SPEAKER_00 (14:34):
Well, I mean, we humans, we ourselves are so
neurodiverse, like all humansare.
And I feel like it'sstrengthening the person so that
they can embrace that part ofthemselves that is good and is
uh happy and confident andhopeful.

(14:56):
So it's strengthening our mind,our body, and our spirit.
So we we have like multipledimensions of ourselves.
We're not just what we see,we're not just the biochemicals
that make us up or our genetics.
Um, we're also partly theenvironment we put ourselves in.
We're the things we think about.

(15:18):
We, you know, we can shift ourthoughts from negative to
positive.
And it's just about helpingempower the person to live their
authentic self, to be authenticwith others instead of pulling
within and being afraid toexpress who they are.
Sometimes that meansunderstanding yourself in a

(15:39):
different way from a mind pointof view, like perspective, yes,
like looking at, you know, whattheir thoughts are and when
emotions come up, what they makethose emotions mean with those
uh automatic thoughts andshifting from automatic thoughts
to positive self-talk.

(15:59):
So that's one aspect that's veryCBT-oriented cognitive
behavioral therapy.
Another approach is uh lookingat the biology or the body,
right?
And uh sometimes it means doinggenetic testing for kids who are
neurodiverse.
That's what we will uhrecommend, which is these

(16:21):
microarrays.
And now the American Academy ofChild and Adolescent Psychiatry,
American Academy of Pediatrics,and American Academy of
Neurology all recommend thistype of genetic testing for uh
microarray analysis forindividuals who have uh
neurodiverse conditions.
The other aspect is genetictesting to see if the

(16:43):
medications they're taking aremaybe not the best ones for
them.
And there's actually a wholeseries of tests we can do that I
won't name any companies outthere, but there's a company I I
uh refer people to get testingthrough, which does these
analyses of their CYP450 enzymesand like looking to see if their

(17:06):
serotonin receptor ortransporter are variants in a
way that they're not going to beable to use serotonin, which is
one of the filling goodchemicals in their body.
There's also lab tests forlooking at whether or not they
have certain deficiencies ofnutrients, micronutrients, you
know, minerals.

(17:26):
There's uh certain vitamins thatwe can see in their blood tests,
whether or not they may needsupplements for.
Sleep is very important.
I have an acronym, which is SNOWwith the E on the end.
And it's sleep.
We need, you know, adults needeight hours, but kids, even
through college, still need9.25.

(17:48):
And sleep is medicine.
Nutrition is medicine, threehealthy meals a day.
Sometimes college students leaveout, or even high school
students leave out, they don'teat breakfast, and then they're
wondering why their energy isrunning out by say lunchtime.
They eat a big lunch, but thenthey're tired, and then they go
back and they go to sleep, andthen that ruins their nighttime

(18:10):
sleep.
Um, oxygen, the breath.
Calming yourself, right, withthe breath.
It gets oxygen to your brainfaster by breathing through the
nose.
And it helps relax and calm.
Water.
We need six to eight,eight-ounce cups of water a day.

(18:31):
Most people don't get that much.
It's about 48 to 64 ounces.
A lot of students are uh highlytrained athletes.
Their parents have them inmultiple um different kinds of
sports.
They need more than that.
I have one girl who swims liketwo, three hours a day, every
day of the week.
She's in the junior Olympics.
Her coach told her she needs 120ounces a day, right?

(18:55):
Even though she's in the water.
Exercise.
In our area, not a lot of kidsare in the category of needing
more exercise, except for thosewho are really not exercise and
sports oriented.
So you get some kids who arestuck on video games a lot of
the day.
They get, you know, they comehome from school, maybe do their

(19:16):
homework, maybe not.
And then they they get verylittle exercise.
So getting the family dog, goingout for walks, teaching the
family to do these regularexercise routines is helpful.
And then the last two things aresunlight and nature for your
body, but it's also really good.
Sunlight and nature have beenshown to be great for your
mental uh well-being and your uhphysic, your spiritual

(19:40):
well-being as well.
So strengthening mind, body, andspirit for life.
Uh, spirit would be like, whatis your faith?
What is your faith?

SPEAKER_01 (19:49):
I would be Christian.
Okay.
You're asking you.
Well, okay.

SPEAKER_00 (19:52):
Yeah.
So so asking people, do you havefaith?
Do you have faith in insomething?
And it could be faith in thelove that you have with your
parents.
It could be faith that, youknow, things are gonna work out
for you.
Or it could be your yourfaith-based tradition based on
your religion, right?

SPEAKER_01 (20:10):
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 (20:11):
And um, so what is your belief?
Meaning and purpose, we know ifyou have meaning and purpose in
your life, you have a healthiermental frame of reference, and
you have uh a healthier physicalframe of reference.
If you faith can give that toyou, it can give you meaning and

(20:32):
purpose, but so can kind of likethe idea that you have uh a
purpose here on the planet.
So teaching kids to look forthat, teaching parents to help
honor that in their kids andhelp support that along the way
with all the check boxes they'redoing in this race to nowhere to
be at the best college or to geta scholarship to go to college,

(20:56):
that kind of thing.
I think it's important to honorthese um these callings that
kids might have or these specialgifts.
And and it is different whenyou're working with an adult
versus when you're working witha child uh in these ways.

SPEAKER_01 (21:11):
Absolutely.
I love how you mentioned havingthose core building blocks and
also just having those familyties in to really help support
the child and and and set themup for for the best.

SPEAKER_00 (21:21):
And success, yeah.
Yes.
Setting them them up for successin the future, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 (21:27):
For sure.
And you've highlighted thatprenatal alcohol exposure is a
leading cause ofneurodevelopment disorders
impacting one in 20 children.
Why is this public health issueso underrecognized?
And what steps can we take toincrease awareness and
prevention?

SPEAKER_00 (21:44):
I think it comes down to money.
I'm gonna be sad to tell you.
Um, I've been looking at thisissue since 1992 when I found
out about April '92, when I toldyou I read the book, The Broken
Cord.
And I had a mentor at UNC ChapelHill, Dr.
Kathleen Sulik, whose work wentinto the original Surgeon
General's warning in 1981.

(22:09):
She her work was published inthe journal Science.
She showed that it's the latethird to early fourth week
post-conception that the majormalformations associated with
the what's called fetal alcoholsyndrome happen.
And it's with its little as fourto five drinks.
So that's one of the problems,is that it's happening so early

(22:32):
in pregnancy that most women areunaware they're pregnant.
But the label on the alcoholbottle says pregnant women
should avoid alcohol because ofthe risk of birth defects.
But if you're sexually activeand using alcohol, you could
become pregnant and not know it.
So that's why with my nonprofit,we started a campaign called

(22:56):
Better Safe Than Sorry Project,which is alcohol and unprotected
sex don't mix.
It's the idea that if you'resexually active and using
alcohol, you need to contracept.
So I think we need to reframeour policy around alcohol the
way we do for search andprescription medications to say
that if you're using thisproduct, you need to contracept.

(23:19):
The other problem is that we'renot including males in this
category of public healthpromotion.
So we're not including sexuallyactive childbearing age alcohol
consumers in it who may not bethinking about pregnancy, and
those are the most vulnerable,as well as young men who are

(23:41):
going out there drinking, and upto three months prior to
conception, their sperm arebeing epigenetically modified by
um these products.
It's a product of the alcoholindustry.
So if you look at the industryitself, it's a I'm saying all
the way back when I wrote mybook, it was about a 20, I think

(24:03):
it was, I'm not even gonna quotethe figures.
I I it's coming up as like a$2.2billion a year industry, but I
think that's very low comparedto what it really is.
So maybe my memory is wrong.
I'm gonna have to go back andlook.
But it's a big industry, let'sput it that way, right?
Even just in this country, I'mnot saying worldwide.

(24:25):
Um, the alcohol industry ishuge.
And the lobby that they have isthe same as the cigarette
industry back in the 1970s, 80s,and 90s.
And I happen to have been at UNCChapel Hill uh working on my
Master of Public Health when alot of the tobacco industry came

(24:48):
crashing down.
And there was evidence that theyhad shredded documents and that
they knew about cancer and allof the problems.
Well, it turns out Maryland wasone of five states that took on
big tobacco all the way back inthe 80s and 90s.
They're still getting paybackfrom the tobacco industry.

(25:11):
And they get annual proceedsfrom the settlements that five
states had.
And the reason was that thestates realized they were paying
a lot of money for people whohad emphysema and chronic heart
and lung disease and cancersbecause the insurance companies,

(25:32):
people were underinsured.
And, you know, the state thenhad to take over to do the
payments through like Medicaid,but what the federal government
didn't pay.
So it became a numbers game.
It became financially importantfor states to take that on.
I think part of the issue isthat, and I don't want to throw

(25:53):
anybody under the bus, butalcohol is our very favorite
bedfellow.
It is the thing that people for10,000 years, and I've written a
paper on this, have gotteninebriated and then gone to bed
with other people.
Well, it turns out there is athing called being in the bed

(26:15):
with big alcohol if you're apolitician.
So you can't actually go toalmost any fundraising event.
And even I was on the board ofthe National Organization on
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, it's nowcalled FASD United.
I'm not throwing them under thebus.
Most nonprofits are like thistoo.

(26:36):
But they represented people whohave this condition, and yet
they would have alcohol at allof their fundraisers, they would
have them at places like the umEmbassy of Italy, and then have
all this Italian wine and giftbaskets to be auctioned for

(27:01):
people.
I, after 11 years on that board,stepped down because they
weren't practicing what theypreached.
I felt that way.
I'm a I'm a physician, I'm apsychiatrist, I'm not allowed to
do certain things.
I've in fact been dinged by thestate medical board for certain
things.
And I'm not going to defend, youknow, that.
But you know, as a physician, Ican't take money from big

(27:26):
pharma.
I can't represent apharmaceutical industry if I
don't then go to a conferenceand say, hey, I took however
much money from thispharmaceutical company to
promote their product.
I can't do that.
We have to have full disclosure.
Um, I think full disclosure is abig deal.

(27:47):
The big alcohol needs to beginbeing held accountable for.
And I've written a paper onthat.
Uh, the alcohol industry's dutyto warn about neurodevelopmental
disorder associated withprenatal alcohol exposure.
It's the industry has a duty towarn, just like back in the 80s,

(28:08):
90s.
Guess what happened?
Orange juice labeled freshsqueezed that was from
concentrate, had to be changedwith the label, right?
They had to change it toaccurately reflect it is not
fresh squeezed, it's fromconcentrate.

(28:31):
I'm talking about orange juice.
Very misleading.
Ver okay.
And how many people died becausethey drank out orange juice from
fresh that was from concentrate,not fresh squeezed?
How many people do you thinkdied from that?

SPEAKER_01 (28:46):
I don't think anybody did.

SPEAKER_00 (28:47):
But it's a misleading advertising.
And if you look at big alcohol,I'm just going to start with,
and you know, this might be thelast thing we talk about, but
during COVID, during COVID, thepublic health community, Centers
for Disease Control, like themor not, believe them or not,
came out with a mandate that ifyou use alcohol during and

(29:12):
during COVID, it's going tocreate higher risk because it's
an immunosuppressant.
But we kept all the liquorstores open, including
Montgomery County, Maryland,where I live, and they regulate
the sales of their own alcohol.
They actually own all thealcohol distributors.
Montgomery County, Marylanddoes.

(29:33):
We're one of very few countiesin the nation that do.
And they make about 37.4 millionin the sales of alcohol every
year.
And they kept the doors open,they closed the schools, causing
mental health detriment tochildren, and they closed the
churches, synagogues, andmosques so nobody could go and

(29:54):
and practice their faith basedbeliefs.
Okay.
So the CDC.
Said that.
The CDC also said that NativeAmerican, African American, and
people of Hispanic origin are athigher risk of COVID.
We knew that for certain healthreasons.

(30:14):
But who were the ones that thealcohol industry had on their
advertising during COVID?
And I'll never forget it.
I was sitting there and likeeveryone else, sometimes
watching Netflix, which I neverhad a subscription for until
then.
And there would be ads.
This, you know, handsome, youknow, Hispanic guy saying, Oh,

(30:37):
I'm gonna take, you know,alcohol to my grandma, Abuelita.
And, you know, how he's got thisreally great type of rum he's
now gifting to his grandma.
Well, those are subliminalmessages.
And African American people thenput to the forefront.
During COVID, the onlyindustries with enough money,

(30:59):
not even cars, because theyweren't selling cars then.
The only people with enoughmoney to promote advertising was
healthcare, pharmaceuticals, andalcohol.
Okay.
And they weren't having to putright underneath it any type of
warnings.
I'm not saying let's go back toprohibition.

(31:20):
It did not work.
I know the data.
I have studied the data.
I have the data in my book,right?
Did not work.
What does work?
Consumer protection.
And if we hold the industryaccountable for its duty to
warn, which we have not, thatlittle label on the back that on

(31:42):
a brown label with goldlettering, you can't even read.
If you're two sheets to thewind, certainly not.

SPEAKER_01 (31:50):
You make a great point about holding the industry
accountable.
And I think that this isknowledge that really needs to
be shared and more well-known,especially for the younger
generations.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (32:01):
Yeah.
And your generation is doing agreat job.
I say, say, millennials and theyounger or the Gen Z, they're
doing a wonderful job becauseguess what?
There are craft breweries havingto close doors.
And in DC, I read not long agothat they were closing this

(32:23):
really big brewery that had arestaurant associated with it.
They were closing the brewerypart because nobody was drinking
the alcohol.
Yay, you, you know, yay, yourgeneration.
You're learning that alcohol isa mutagen, a teratogen, a
neuroteratogen, a neurotoxin, ahepatotoxin, and a toxin, right?

(32:47):
Not just affecting your liver,it affects every organ system in
the body.
It's linked to dementia, earlyonset dementia, cancers, all
kinds of cancers.
It causes mutations.
And that's one of the ways thatit affects um children, babies,
is that your genome is actuallyaffected by your use of alcohol.

(33:12):
When I I told you I've workedfor years in and I paid my way
through public health school oractually undergrad, my degree
was in microbiology, but uh Iworked at a lab and we denature
DNA using what?
Alcohol, 70% alcohol.
You denature DNA using alcohol.

(33:33):
So you you immerse all yourcells with alcohol, and pretty
soon you're going to get somemutations.
That's why it's linked tocancer.
It's a carcinogen, but it'slinked to certain kinds of birth
defects because we're actuallyinfluencing the genome and the
these epigenetic effects thatmen cause when they drink up to

(33:55):
three months prior toconception.
That's why the CDC is saying ifyou're going to plan a
pregnancy, start six monthsbefore you get pregnant, before
you stop your contraception,start six months and don't have
any alcohol.

SPEAKER_01 (34:10):
Absolutely.
I think this is a great, a greatfew key takeaways for the
younger generations, as well asthat be informed and be cautious
of what you put in your bodybecause it can have lasting
effects, not just on yourself,but on your future children and
your family.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Costly.
Very costly.
Wrapping up, looking ahead,what's your long-term vision for

(34:32):
therapeutic and learning centersand for your broader legacy in
psychiatry and neurodevelopmenthealth?

SPEAKER_00 (34:40):
That's a very good question.
So the first answer in the nextyear, and I'm working, you know,
between the Department ofEducation in the state of
Maryland as well as BehavioralHealth Administration to figure
out where my new venture isgoing to fit to get licensed.
But it is OMSpace, so One HealthMindful Space.

(35:02):
And it's a place whereneurodiverse, very intelligent
children, they're called twiceexceptional, meaning they have
some degree of either learningchallenges or ADHD, but they're
very bright.
We'll be able to come on a dailybasis and have school.
So there'll be 10 children whocome to, we're calling it

(35:23):
OMSpace, so One Health MindfulSpace, and taking the resistance
out of attending school byhaving them interact with the
animals and learn about natureand restorative agriculture.
And particularly for thosechildren who we've now
identified as having climateanxiety.
So I just finished a CME,continuing medical education on

(35:47):
climate anxiety.
And it is a new diagnosis in thepsychiatric community.
I don't like to see it as adiagnosis.
I like to see it as a naturalconsequence of worry about
something that we all should beconcerned about.
So teaching kids aboutenvironmental restoration,

(36:07):
restorative agriculture, at thesame time, they're getting a um
homeschool curriculum.

SPEAKER_01 (36:14):
These are some amazing things that you're
doing.
It is such a a breakthrough, Ithink, for the psychiatric
field.
And I want to thank you so muchfor the knowledge that you've
shared.
And thank you for joining me onthe podcast today.
It was a pleasure to hear astory and a super inspiring
story.

SPEAKER_00 (36:32):
Thank you.
Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 (36:33):
Thank you.