September 30, 2022 • 30 mins
One of the Reno area’s few substance use, and gambling, addiction treatment facilities is the Bristlecone Recovery Center. The nonprofit is named after bristlecone pine, a tree found in Nevada, Utah and California.
The center uses this analogy: This remarkable tree can fully regenerate itself, even on the brink of death. Just like the Bristlecone Pine, the people who seek help at our facility for addiction, gambling, and mental health issues have experienced negative environments, weathered many storms and come dangerously close to death.
On today’s show we talk with Peter Ott. He is the executive director of the center and he speaks candidly about the realities of addiction in the Reno area. He also discusses his hopes for the future of the community.
Learn more about Bristlecone at https://www.bristleconereno.com/.
Thank you for listening to the show on KWNK Community Radio at 97.7 FM and on your favorite podcast player.
Subscribe and listen to the show here: https://thisisreno.buzzsprout.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:00):
Heroin, meth, some of these other drugs even though
(00:04):
the withdrawal symptoms arepainful and very uncomfortable,
your your body's functionfunctionality or its your bodily
functions actually improveduring with withdrawal. But
that's a very vulnerable timefor somebody because that
uncomfortable feeling, they'regoing to want to go back they
know what will make them notfeel uncomfortable. And getting
(00:27):
to that point is very crucial.
One of Reno's few substance useand gambling addiction treatment
facilities is the bristle coneRecovery Center. The nonprofit
is named after the bristleconepine, a tree found in Nevada,
Utah and California. The centeruses this analogy. This
remarkable tree can fullyregenerate itself even on the
(00:49):
brink of death. Just like thebristlecone pine, the people who
seek help at our facility foraddiction, gambling and mental
health issues, have experiencednegative environments, weathered
many storms and come dangerouslyclose to death. On today's show,
we talk with Peter odd. He isthe Executive Director of the
(01:09):
Center and he speaks candidlyabout the realities of addiction
in the Reno area. He alsodiscusses his hopes for the
future of the community. Forthis week in Reno news, I am Bob
Conrad with this is reno.com.
(01:31):
Thank you for listening to theshow on kW and K community radio
at 97.7. FM and on your favoritepodcast player. Peter recently
became the Executive Director ofthe Bristlecone Recovery Center.
The center offers what is calledsocial model detoxification. It
provides substance use treatmentwith resident and outpatient
(01:53):
services. The Center alsoprovides gambling addiction
treatment. Here is Peter Otte.
I've been a jack of all tradesmost of my life, I've spent 40
years in management 30 yearsago, I got clean and sober. And
I was in the middle of raising afamily and dealing with
(02:14):
California 20 years ago, I wasable to escape California and
moved to Nevada with my familysettled in and and started
working. I was unfulfilled. It.
Everybody knew it. Andeventually, I was divorced. My
(02:34):
stepdaughter had moved out onour own and, and I found myself
looking for purpose. I woke upone morning and it was clear as
mud that I needed to go back tocollege, I needed to finish my
degree in psychology. And thatled me to a master's degree in
addiction treatment that felt athome I felt at peace with where
(02:59):
I was going and what I waslearning. While I was doing
that. I decided that studentloans were probably not the best
idea. So I started working parttime. And I wanted to work in
the industry that I was studyingand I looked and I saw that
bristle cone was hiring forweekend. Treatment AIDS is what
(03:20):
they call them at the time andthe treatment aid we call a
mental health techs now but theythey're there 24/7. They work
with our clients, they providetheir medications, they they get
them to groups, they wake themup in the morning, and they put
them to bed at night. And theyhonestly I think they run the
(03:40):
agency. But I did that for acouple of years as I finished my
degree. I wanted more once Igotten my degree I was able to
become licensed as a counselor.
And I asked bristle cone to giveme more counseling work. They
(04:01):
then made me the administratorof their Veterans Program. And I
built and worked that VeteransProgram for close to four years.
And when Tamra hired me fiveyears ago, during our interview,
she said, Peter, what's yourfive year goal? And I said,
(04:23):
Tamra, don't take offense,please. But in five years, I'd
like your job. And she smiledand she said well, that might be
a possibility. You know? Well,in June of last year, I took
over as executive director. Shehad retired a couple years
before and there was a couple ofinterim executive directors that
(04:45):
didn't quite have bristleconesbest interest in mind, I would
say. And I took over a companythat was months from failing.
Wow. And My heart broke. And Iwent to the board and I said,
you have to give me the abilityto do something. They did. In
(05:10):
January of this year, theyelected me the permanent full
time executive director. And nowwe are lush. We are we've
brought back contracts that werelost. We've engaged with our
community again. Grants are inplace and when I took over we
(05:33):
were at 20 some odd employees 25or six. We're now at 37. Our
beds are full. And you know,it's time to grow.
I mean, most people I'm going toassume as a lay person here, no
bristle cone from the facilityover on Milla McCarran Can you
(05:58):
talk a little bit about that andwhat happened in that facility?
It was I believe, the flickRanch is that
yes. The the old mission Yes,they've changed wind Yes.
Back in the 60s, Sage when andNorth Star were to longterm, are
very old nonprofits in this townthat in 2004 merged to become
(06:23):
bristle cone family resourcesthat took place in the old
mission over on melon McCarran.
And that was a awesome buildingin many ways. But it also had
its challenges. Because of itsproximity to the river would
flood just about every year.
There was mold and sinkage andasbestos and specialists and all
(06:49):
kinds of things in that oldbuilding that just were not
healthy. And about 10 years ago,2012 I believe it was Tamra
decided to move to our currentlocation on the corner of wells
and mill. That building is athree storey building with a
(07:10):
penthouse and had the squarefootage to move over 90% of what
we did. Some of the familyservices were put on hold
temporarily until we could bringcounselors back and such. And in
the 10 years we've been there.
We've developed our women'sprogram, we've developed our
(07:31):
Veterans Program, the men'sprogram has been ongoing. But
the legacy of the mission waswas to involve families, and not
just in substance use treatmentit was you know, mind body and
soul type treatment they want todo involve everything. And this
(07:54):
would include reintegration intothe community and just treating
all sides of an addiction issue.
We are one of the few if I thinkthere's only one or two
residential gambling treatmentfacilities in Nevada, we are one
(08:17):
of them. We've been doinggambling treatment since 2006.
That started back over themission.
You say gambling not gaming. Isay gambling. I do too. But I
want to hear your reason why?
Well,gaming can take on a number of
connotations, it can beeverything from playing on your
(08:39):
phone, you know, Tetris tositting at a computer and, and
playing an MMO or a PPO or a,you know, some kind of a game on
a computer or it can be sittingin a casino. Gambling involves
finances. Okay, it involvesrisk. It involves a number of
(09:03):
things that affect the brain.
And gambling can because of theway the types of gambling that
are available in the state areare designed with intermittent
(09:23):
reinforcement. So you know, youcan pull a handle or push a
button and sometimes you win andsometimes you lose. And that's
very enticing to the brain. Formost people. It doesn't affect
them to the degree that itdestroys their lives and they
gamble away mortgage money andcollege money and so on and so
forth. But for others who do nothave the coping mechanisms or
(09:47):
the resiliency or certainfactors that tell them no, this
is enough, it can becomeproblematic. And we call what we
You do Problem Gamblingtreatment, okay, it's not that
gambling is bad, it's that whenit becomes a problem when it
starts affecting, you know,three main areas of your life,
(10:09):
personal, professional and andhome life, then something needs
to be done about it. How much ofthat and I, maybe we're going to
divert from the discussion alittle bit, but how much of that
involves environmental factorsand, and maybe this is a
discussion about the well, themodalities that sure on with
(10:31):
addiction counseling,the most common assessment tool
we have today is called a biopsychosocial assessment. Okay.
And in its very name, it tellsyou the different modalities or
the different areas of someone'slife that we delve into biology
could be the, the geneticpredisposition to repetition or
(10:53):
chance or substance use, we've,we've seen empirical studies
that show that certain culturesthat have got a long history of,
of drinking have built up moreof a tolerance, you might call
it to alcohol, others have alower tolerance, we know that
(11:16):
women have less tolerance toalcohol than than men. So
there's biological issues thathave to be considered. Then
there's the psycho bio psycho,the Psycho is the psychological
effects. This could berepetition, this could be habit
forming, this can be the way thebrain works with that
information. Then there'ssocial, which can be everything
(11:39):
from the community you live in,if you're living in an area of
town where there is a liquorstore on every corner and a
casino in every liquor store,and so on and so forth. And
maybe it's in an area wherethere's less job opportunities
or lower education levels, or, Imean, there's a lot of societal
(12:03):
factors that can play a parthere. Not that everyone in those
areas succumbs, but we've seenthat societal issues play a part
in raising the numbersand the absence of those
eliciting stimuli. You won'thave those issues for those
people, correct? Yeah.
(12:25):
So bio psychosocial has beenpushed a little further by some.
And they call it bio,psychosocial spiritual, because
they've discovered thatinvolving a spiritual aspect. If
you've seen a a or na programs,they look at higher powers. You
(12:45):
look at houses of faith in thistown that are embracing
treatment. I don't want to callit treatment, social support in
the form of 12 Step stylemeetings that are more
spiritually based. Because whenpeople have hope in something,
it helps them recover. And thisis empirical. This is
(13:07):
information that we've seen foryears, that developing hope in a
human being will help them turnfrom things that are not good
for them. Yeah, so that's theassessment tool that we use the
bio psycho social spiritual.
Gambling has its own assessment,they call it the Gypsy. It's a
(13:28):
gambling placement criteria. Theacronym, they call it Gypsy, but
it it not only covers the samebio, psychosocial, spiritual
aspects of a substance useassessment, but then it goes a
(13:48):
little deeper. And there'sactually an assessment, it's two
questions. And it's 98%effective to see if somebody has
problem gambling traits. It'scalled the lie bet. You know,
have you ever lied aboutgambling? And have you ever bet
increasing amounts to make upfor your losses? And if the
(14:08):
answer yes to both of those 98%of those people have some form
of gambling issue, whether it'sfull blown diagnosable disorder
or whether it's just problemgambling, that live at can, it's
very effective.
(14:30):
Interesting. It's veryintriguing, the
bio psychosocial assessment digsinto other past childhood and
such and what we startedrealizing in tracking data is
that the emotional age of ourclient tends to be very close to
(14:58):
the age at which they startedusing. For instance, if somebody
started using substances at age14, and now they're in their
late 30s. Emotionally, theystill respond to things as if
they were 14, they can be veryimmature, very impulsive. And so
(15:20):
that led us to startinvestigating down a path of
early on when the brain is thatfrontal lobe is still
developing, we know that itdoesn't become fully developed
in adults until 24 to 20 yearsold.
That it can be different alsofor men and women. Yes,
(15:41):
it is. Yeah. And it can, it caninput or implant habits and,
and, and it can stunt emotionalgrowth. That can be very
intelligent, most of them arebut the way they respond to
things is what we would callemotionally stunted or
(16:02):
emotionally in mature. So a lotof our work is in emotion
development, or emotionrecognition, and developing
emotional intelligence. Mostpeople know three or four words
for angry. So if it's upset,angry, pissed, and rage. And if
(16:26):
those are the only four wordsthey know to describe anger,
then if they feel something,they measured against those four
things, and well, I'm a littlemore than irritated, I'm more
than I must be rage, and theywill fly into a rage, where as
people with an increasedemotional vocabulary, and an
understanding, they might have12 or 14 different gradations of
(16:52):
of angry, and when they feelsomething, they're able to more
appropriately choose theresponse. Well, this goes for
all of our emotion is substanceuse or addiction? Is that a
symptom? Or is that the problem?
Or does it depend?
I believe it's a symptom. Okay.
I believe it's an outwardexpression of an inward emotion.
You know, it's a copingmechanism. It is a it is a tool
(17:16):
that people use to adapt or getthrough situations.
You mentioned, beds are full.
They are what I hear a lot frompeople I talk with in this
communities, Reno can be a verypainful place to live. Talk
about Risa con bristlecones rolein the Reno community and what
(17:41):
you're hoping to achieve here inthe near future.
Thank you. That's why I'm here.
This is a passion of mine. WhenI drive through Midtown, and I
see storefront recessed doorwayswith people sleeping in them.
When I walk along the river, andI see people huddled under the
(18:03):
bridges.
And this isn't a homeless issue.
Don't get me wrong, this is asocietal issue. And now that I'm
an executive director and mypeers and I have discussions
over what's going on out there,I've had discussions with the
(18:24):
hospitals in town. And they'rewoefully ill equipped to handle
the the quantity of people thatare struggling out there, and
then you add something like apandemic, to the mix, where now
hospital waiting rooms andemergency rooms, may have may be
(18:47):
overflowing onto the sidewalkwith people with other more
pressing matters. I've seenhospitals actually offer
somebody detoxing from alcohol,a cup of alcohol, you know,
drinking alcohol to keep themfrom going into the DTS or, or
(19:08):
going into, you know, some kindof a seizure while they're
waiting for treatment. This ledme to understand that what
bristle cone does, we bringpeople in, in early recovery.
And we are equipped now to dowhat's called a social model
detox. Social model detox worksfor most substances, almost all
(19:32):
substances except for alcoholand benzodiazepines, alcohol and
benzodiazepines you can actuallydie from the withdrawal effects
Heroin, meth, some of theseother drugs even though the
withdrawal symptoms are painfuland very uncomfortable, your
(19:55):
your body's function functionallergy or it's your bodily
functions actually improveduring with withdrawal. But
that's a very vulnerable timefor somebody because that
uncomfortable feeling, they'regoing to want to go back they
know what will make them notfeel uncomfortable. And getting
to that point is very crucial.
(20:18):
So Bristlecone has long offeredsocial model detox will bring
people in that are not activelyhigh or intoxicated, but are
starting to come down from theeffects of whatever substance
they're on. And we give themspecialized care to get through
that point. Not have a lot ofintensive programming yet,
(20:40):
because mentally, emotionally,their mind is not focused on
that. And once we get throughthat social model, detox, then
treatment can begin. Well, thatworks for some things. But
alcohol is an illegal substance.
And a lot of people strugglewith it. And alcohol detox can
be dangerous. And that's whyhospitals will offer alcohol to
(21:03):
keep them from going into thatheavy detox until they can be
brought in and see a doctor.
Well, most hospitals, the detoxprotocol for alcohol is a
tapered regimen ofbenzodiazepines, because
benzodiazepines mimic alcohol inthe brain. But a benzo can, is
(21:28):
something that can be preciselymeasured, and tapered, you know,
titrated, down to zero over aperiod of time so that the body
can slowly and gradually comeback to a normal state. And that
has to be medically monitored.
We've seen people go intoseizure or have the DTS as much
as a week or two weeks aftertheir last drink. So it depends
(21:52):
on how long and so on and soforth. Well, we brought people
into treatment, and a week downthe road, they start to have
alcohol detox syndrome. And Idiscovered that bristle cone has
long offered a fairly completecontinuum of care. The two
(22:13):
things that we have lacked, havebeen medical detox, and
aftercare. Okay, once they getthere, we can treat them but
it's dealing with the medicaldetox part of things. And then
what happens post treatment? Howdo we keep them engaged? As I
(22:36):
said earlier, the longertreatment lasts, the longer the
engagement is, the better theoutcomes. They can't stay in our
facility forever. They have tomove on at some point and it's
that aftercare that becomesvitally important. So that's
where I'm currently at. We havea built Go ahead,
is that considered an outpatienttreatment? Outpatient Treatment
(22:59):
is not aftercare. It is whatleads to aftercare. Okay. So
once you've gone throughresidential treatment, if it's
needed, residential andoutpatient are all based on
what's called ASAM. It'sAmerican Society of Addiction
(23:19):
Medicine, possibly I'm quotingmy textbooks, and I messed that
up all the time. But it's, itwas a group of doctors that
said, you know, we're seeingpeople coming into the hospital
with this, we're going to haveto create some kind of a rating
system, so we know what to do.
And those ratings systems arebased on six criteria that we
(23:41):
can do an assessment to figureout and that tells us, which is
the least obstructive or LeastRestrictive, clinically
appropriate level of treatmentfor that client. So it may not
be appropriate for a father ormother that has kids and a job
(24:02):
and, and a safe place to live todo residential treatment,
because we're going to keep themthere for for three to 12 weeks,
you know, and not all employersare understanding and, you know,
partners and spouses need helpand such. So it's not always
(24:23):
clinically indicated for that.
So outpatient treatment with aregular outpatient or intensive
outpatient may be better becausethen the person can live at home
in that safe, supportiveenvironment. That safe
supportive environment doesn'texist for everybody. Some people
are homeless, some people arecouchsurfing. Some people might
(24:44):
live in a place where there'sactive drug use or active drug
trafficking. When the livingenvironment becomes toxic, that
same person with the same levelsof use that we just said would
be okay for outpatient nowbecause their living environment
is toxic resident Initialtreatment might be clinically
indicated. Maybe they're out ofwork, maybe their their living
(25:05):
situation is toxic. So thatwould, would indicate that they
need that residential care. Withthe same amount of usage the
same everything. The level ofcare is determined by looking at
all six of these criteria.
You're full? Yes. Soconsequently, we end up with a
waiting list.
(25:29):
And that was going to be my nextquestion is how long is your
waiting yet? Well,it varies daily. Yeah, we're
taking. We had four people leaveyesterday, we have four people
coming in today. So ouradmissions department is the
busiest department there.
They're constantly working withall of our partners with outside
(25:51):
sources, we partner with thecourts, we partner with
companies, we partner with otheragencies in town, to develop
this continuum, so that we canget people in we work with the
cares campus, we have counselorsout there during the week to be
available, should somebody wanttreatment. So we work with all
(26:14):
of our partners in town to keepthem aware, there's a an online
system called open beds thattracks how many beds are
available. And when that justmaxed itself out, then it's kind
of hard to use. But as we workdown our list, we, you know, we
(26:38):
have a criteria. And ourcriteria, this is all on our
website that our criteria sayspregnant IV users are our top
priority. Okay, then it would bepregnant. Okay, then it would be
IV, then it would be veteransthat don't fit in the above
(26:59):
category, and then all others.
If you doubled your capacitytomorrow, would you still be
full? Yes.
Expanding beds is a priority.
The cost of that can beoverwhelming. But we have a
(27:19):
little print shop that's been inReno for many, many years.
That's nestled in next to ourbuilding there. And that's big
enough inside for us to create awoman's mental health wing, and
it will open up 12 more beds forwomen to come into treatment.
Our second floor is our men'sfloor, and it's the whole
(27:40):
footprint of the building. Buton the third floor or women's
floor, it's only half of thatbuilding was very oddly built.
So expanding our women'sprogramming will help with the
women's waitlist. As I said,pregnant IV users pregnant, you
know, and then IV use, so ourhighest intensity as far as
(28:02):
priority or majority women. Andso expanding our women's
programming was vitallyimportant to me.
What can the community do? Whatdo you need from the community?
The needs of a nonprofittreatment facility are many. We
(28:27):
have grants that help pay fortreatment, we have contracts
that will help pay fortreatment. And those grants and
contracts will typically covercounseling counselor wages, pays
the mortgage pays our insurance.
But those grants are subject towhatever administration is in
(28:47):
place. So if the community wouldlike to be involved, there you
go. It's monetary, it'stangible. It's putting your
boots on and getting on theboard so that you can be a part
of what this amazing agency isbuilding in Reno.
What's the best way for peopleto contact you?
They can call bristle cone.
(29:08):
What's the website URL?
It's www dot bristle conereno.com. By the end of the
week, the bristle cone rino.orgwill target the.com But we've
had that.com back before therewas a.org I think so and then
they can always call the775954 1400 and ask for me.
(29:34):
Peter rod thank you so much.
Appreciate you coming on theshow.
Thank you but I mean this isamazing. This this is what
Russell co needsthat's it for this week in Reno
news, please visit us online atthis is reno.com. If you liked
(29:54):
the show, please leave us areview online through your
favorite podcast app.
Heroin, meth, some of these other drugs even though
(00:04):
the withdrawal symptoms arepainful and very uncomfortable,
your your body's functionfunctionality or its your bodily
functions actually improveduring with withdrawal. But
that's a very vulnerable timefor somebody because that
uncomfortable feeling, they'regoing to want to go back they
know what will make them notfeel uncomfortable. And getting
(00:27):
to that point is very crucial.
One of Reno's few substance useand gambling addiction treatment
facilities is the bristle coneRecovery Center. The nonprofit
is named after the bristleconepine, a tree found in Nevada,
Utah and California. The centeruses this analogy. This
remarkable tree can fullyregenerate itself even on the
(00:49):
brink of death. Just like thebristlecone pine, the people who
seek help at our facility foraddiction, gambling and mental
health issues, have experiencednegative environments, weathered
many storms and come dangerouslyclose to death. On today's show,
we talk with Peter odd. He isthe Executive Director of the
(01:09):
Center and he speaks candidlyabout the realities of addiction
in the Reno area. He alsodiscusses his hopes for the
future of the community. Forthis week in Reno news, I am Bob
Conrad with this is reno.com.
(01:31):
Thank you for listening to theshow on kW and K community radio
at 97.7. FM and on your favoritepodcast player. Peter recently
became the Executive Director ofthe Bristlecone Recovery Center.
The center offers what is calledsocial model detoxification. It
provides substance use treatmentwith resident and outpatient
(01:53):
services. The Center alsoprovides gambling addiction
treatment. Here is Peter Otte.
I've been a jack of all tradesmost of my life, I've spent 40
years in management 30 yearsago, I got clean and sober. And
I was in the middle of raising afamily and dealing with
(02:14):
California 20 years ago, I wasable to escape California and
moved to Nevada with my familysettled in and and started
working. I was unfulfilled. It.
Everybody knew it. Andeventually, I was divorced. My
(02:34):
stepdaughter had moved out onour own and, and I found myself
looking for purpose. I woke upone morning and it was clear as
mud that I needed to go back tocollege, I needed to finish my
degree in psychology. And thatled me to a master's degree in
addiction treatment that felt athome I felt at peace with where
(02:59):
I was going and what I waslearning. While I was doing
that. I decided that studentloans were probably not the best
idea. So I started working parttime. And I wanted to work in
the industry that I was studyingand I looked and I saw that
bristle cone was hiring forweekend. Treatment AIDS is what
(03:20):
they call them at the time andthe treatment aid we call a
mental health techs now but theythey're there 24/7. They work
with our clients, they providetheir medications, they they get
them to groups, they wake themup in the morning, and they put
them to bed at night. And theyhonestly I think they run the
(03:40):
agency. But I did that for acouple of years as I finished my
degree. I wanted more once Igotten my degree I was able to
become licensed as a counselor.
And I asked bristle cone to giveme more counseling work. They
(04:01):
then made me the administratorof their Veterans Program. And I
built and worked that VeteransProgram for close to four years.
And when Tamra hired me fiveyears ago, during our interview,
she said, Peter, what's yourfive year goal? And I said,
(04:23):
Tamra, don't take offense,please. But in five years, I'd
like your job. And she smiledand she said well, that might be
a possibility. You know? Well,in June of last year, I took
over as executive director. Shehad retired a couple years
before and there was a couple ofinterim executive directors that
(04:45):
didn't quite have bristleconesbest interest in mind, I would
say. And I took over a companythat was months from failing.
Wow. And My heart broke. And Iwent to the board and I said,
you have to give me the abilityto do something. They did. In
(05:10):
January of this year, theyelected me the permanent full
time executive director. And nowwe are lush. We are we've
brought back contracts that werelost. We've engaged with our
community again. Grants are inplace and when I took over we
(05:33):
were at 20 some odd employees 25or six. We're now at 37. Our
beds are full. And you know,it's time to grow.
I mean, most people I'm going toassume as a lay person here, no
bristle cone from the facilityover on Milla McCarran Can you
(05:58):
talk a little bit about that andwhat happened in that facility?
It was I believe, the flickRanch is that
yes. The the old mission Yes,they've changed wind Yes.
Back in the 60s, Sage when andNorth Star were to longterm, are
very old nonprofits in this townthat in 2004 merged to become
(06:23):
bristle cone family resourcesthat took place in the old
mission over on melon McCarran.
And that was a awesome buildingin many ways. But it also had
its challenges. Because of itsproximity to the river would
flood just about every year.
There was mold and sinkage andasbestos and specialists and all
(06:49):
kinds of things in that oldbuilding that just were not
healthy. And about 10 years ago,2012 I believe it was Tamra
decided to move to our currentlocation on the corner of wells
and mill. That building is athree storey building with a
(07:10):
penthouse and had the squarefootage to move over 90% of what
we did. Some of the familyservices were put on hold
temporarily until we could bringcounselors back and such. And in
the 10 years we've been there.
We've developed our women'sprogram, we've developed our
(07:31):
Veterans Program, the men'sprogram has been ongoing. But
the legacy of the mission waswas to involve families, and not
just in substance use treatmentit was you know, mind body and
soul type treatment they want todo involve everything. And this
(07:54):
would include reintegration intothe community and just treating
all sides of an addiction issue.
We are one of the few if I thinkthere's only one or two
residential gambling treatmentfacilities in Nevada, we are one
(08:17):
of them. We've been doinggambling treatment since 2006.
That started back over themission.
You say gambling not gaming. Isay gambling. I do too. But I
want to hear your reason why?
Well,gaming can take on a number of
connotations, it can beeverything from playing on your
(08:39):
phone, you know, Tetris tositting at a computer and, and
playing an MMO or a PPO or a,you know, some kind of a game on
a computer or it can be sittingin a casino. Gambling involves
finances. Okay, it involvesrisk. It involves a number of
(09:03):
things that affect the brain.
And gambling can because of theway the types of gambling that
are available in the state areare designed with intermittent
(09:23):
reinforcement. So you know, youcan pull a handle or push a
button and sometimes you win andsometimes you lose. And that's
very enticing to the brain. Formost people. It doesn't affect
them to the degree that itdestroys their lives and they
gamble away mortgage money andcollege money and so on and so
forth. But for others who do nothave the coping mechanisms or
(09:47):
the resiliency or certainfactors that tell them no, this
is enough, it can becomeproblematic. And we call what we
You do Problem Gamblingtreatment, okay, it's not that
gambling is bad, it's that whenit becomes a problem when it
starts affecting, you know,three main areas of your life,
(10:09):
personal, professional and andhome life, then something needs
to be done about it. How much ofthat and I, maybe we're going to
divert from the discussion alittle bit, but how much of that
involves environmental factorsand, and maybe this is a
discussion about the well, themodalities that sure on with
(10:31):
addiction counseling,the most common assessment tool
we have today is called a biopsychosocial assessment. Okay.
And in its very name, it tellsyou the different modalities or
the different areas of someone'slife that we delve into biology
could be the, the geneticpredisposition to repetition or
(10:53):
chance or substance use, we've,we've seen empirical studies
that show that certain culturesthat have got a long history of,
of drinking have built up moreof a tolerance, you might call
it to alcohol, others have alower tolerance, we know that
(11:16):
women have less tolerance toalcohol than than men. So
there's biological issues thathave to be considered. Then
there's the psycho bio psycho,the Psycho is the psychological
effects. This could berepetition, this could be habit
forming, this can be the way thebrain works with that
information. Then there'ssocial, which can be everything
(11:39):
from the community you live in,if you're living in an area of
town where there is a liquorstore on every corner and a
casino in every liquor store,and so on and so forth. And
maybe it's in an area wherethere's less job opportunities
or lower education levels, or, Imean, there's a lot of societal
(12:03):
factors that can play a parthere. Not that everyone in those
areas succumbs, but we've seenthat societal issues play a part
in raising the numbersand the absence of those
eliciting stimuli. You won'thave those issues for those
people, correct? Yeah.
(12:25):
So bio psychosocial has beenpushed a little further by some.
And they call it bio,psychosocial spiritual, because
they've discovered thatinvolving a spiritual aspect. If
you've seen a a or na programs,they look at higher powers. You
(12:45):
look at houses of faith in thistown that are embracing
treatment. I don't want to callit treatment, social support in
the form of 12 Step stylemeetings that are more
spiritually based. Because whenpeople have hope in something,
it helps them recover. And thisis empirical. This is
(13:07):
information that we've seen foryears, that developing hope in a
human being will help them turnfrom things that are not good
for them. Yeah, so that's theassessment tool that we use the
bio psycho social spiritual.
Gambling has its own assessment,they call it the Gypsy. It's a
(13:28):
gambling placement criteria. Theacronym, they call it Gypsy, but
it it not only covers the samebio, psychosocial, spiritual
aspects of a substance useassessment, but then it goes a
(13:48):
little deeper. And there'sactually an assessment, it's two
questions. And it's 98%effective to see if somebody has
problem gambling traits. It'scalled the lie bet. You know,
have you ever lied aboutgambling? And have you ever bet
increasing amounts to make upfor your losses? And if the
(14:08):
answer yes to both of those 98%of those people have some form
of gambling issue, whether it'sfull blown diagnosable disorder
or whether it's just problemgambling, that live at can, it's
very effective.
(14:30):
Interesting. It's veryintriguing, the
bio psychosocial assessment digsinto other past childhood and
such and what we startedrealizing in tracking data is
that the emotional age of ourclient tends to be very close to
(14:58):
the age at which they startedusing. For instance, if somebody
started using substances at age14, and now they're in their
late 30s. Emotionally, theystill respond to things as if
they were 14, they can be veryimmature, very impulsive. And so
(15:20):
that led us to startinvestigating down a path of
early on when the brain is thatfrontal lobe is still
developing, we know that itdoesn't become fully developed
in adults until 24 to 20 yearsold.
That it can be different alsofor men and women. Yes,
(15:41):
it is. Yeah. And it can, it caninput or implant habits and,
and, and it can stunt emotionalgrowth. That can be very
intelligent, most of them arebut the way they respond to
things is what we would callemotionally stunted or
(16:02):
emotionally in mature. So a lotof our work is in emotion
development, or emotionrecognition, and developing
emotional intelligence. Mostpeople know three or four words
for angry. So if it's upset,angry, pissed, and rage. And if
(16:26):
those are the only four wordsthey know to describe anger,
then if they feel something,they measured against those four
things, and well, I'm a littlemore than irritated, I'm more
than I must be rage, and theywill fly into a rage, where as
people with an increasedemotional vocabulary, and an
understanding, they might have12 or 14 different gradations of
(16:52):
of angry, and when they feelsomething, they're able to more
appropriately choose theresponse. Well, this goes for
all of our emotion is substanceuse or addiction? Is that a
symptom? Or is that the problem?
Or does it depend?
I believe it's a symptom. Okay.
I believe it's an outwardexpression of an inward emotion.
You know, it's a copingmechanism. It is a it is a tool
(17:16):
that people use to adapt or getthrough situations.
You mentioned, beds are full.
They are what I hear a lot frompeople I talk with in this
communities, Reno can be a verypainful place to live. Talk
about Risa con bristlecones rolein the Reno community and what
(17:41):
you're hoping to achieve here inthe near future.
Thank you. That's why I'm here.
This is a passion of mine. WhenI drive through Midtown, and I
see storefront recessed doorwayswith people sleeping in them.
When I walk along the river, andI see people huddled under the
(18:03):
bridges.
And this isn't a homeless issue.
Don't get me wrong, this is asocietal issue. And now that I'm
an executive director and mypeers and I have discussions
over what's going on out there,I've had discussions with the
(18:24):
hospitals in town. And they'rewoefully ill equipped to handle
the the quantity of people thatare struggling out there, and
then you add something like apandemic, to the mix, where now
hospital waiting rooms andemergency rooms, may have may be
(18:47):
overflowing onto the sidewalkwith people with other more
pressing matters. I've seenhospitals actually offer
somebody detoxing from alcohol,a cup of alcohol, you know,
drinking alcohol to keep themfrom going into the DTS or, or
(19:08):
going into, you know, some kindof a seizure while they're
waiting for treatment. This ledme to understand that what
bristle cone does, we bringpeople in, in early recovery.
And we are equipped now to dowhat's called a social model
detox. Social model detox worksfor most substances, almost all
(19:32):
substances except for alcoholand benzodiazepines, alcohol and
benzodiazepines you can actuallydie from the withdrawal effects
Heroin, meth, some of theseother drugs even though the
withdrawal symptoms are painfuland very uncomfortable, your
(19:55):
your body's function functionallergy or it's your bodily
functions actually improveduring with withdrawal. But
that's a very vulnerable timefor somebody because that
uncomfortable feeling, they'regoing to want to go back they
know what will make them notfeel uncomfortable. And getting
to that point is very crucial.
(20:18):
So Bristlecone has long offeredsocial model detox will bring
people in that are not activelyhigh or intoxicated, but are
starting to come down from theeffects of whatever substance
they're on. And we give themspecialized care to get through
that point. Not have a lot ofintensive programming yet,
(20:40):
because mentally, emotionally,their mind is not focused on
that. And once we get throughthat social model, detox, then
treatment can begin. Well, thatworks for some things. But
alcohol is an illegal substance.
And a lot of people strugglewith it. And alcohol detox can
be dangerous. And that's whyhospitals will offer alcohol to
(21:03):
keep them from going into thatheavy detox until they can be
brought in and see a doctor.
Well, most hospitals, the detoxprotocol for alcohol is a
tapered regimen ofbenzodiazepines, because
benzodiazepines mimic alcohol inthe brain. But a benzo can, is
(21:28):
something that can be preciselymeasured, and tapered, you know,
titrated, down to zero over aperiod of time so that the body
can slowly and gradually comeback to a normal state. And that
has to be medically monitored.
We've seen people go intoseizure or have the DTS as much
as a week or two weeks aftertheir last drink. So it depends
(21:52):
on how long and so on and soforth. Well, we brought people
into treatment, and a week downthe road, they start to have
alcohol detox syndrome. And Idiscovered that bristle cone has
long offered a fairly completecontinuum of care. The two
(22:13):
things that we have lacked, havebeen medical detox, and
aftercare. Okay, once they getthere, we can treat them but
it's dealing with the medicaldetox part of things. And then
what happens post treatment? Howdo we keep them engaged? As I
(22:36):
said earlier, the longertreatment lasts, the longer the
engagement is, the better theoutcomes. They can't stay in our
facility forever. They have tomove on at some point and it's
that aftercare that becomesvitally important. So that's
where I'm currently at. We havea built Go ahead,
is that considered an outpatienttreatment? Outpatient Treatment
(22:59):
is not aftercare. It is whatleads to aftercare. Okay. So
once you've gone throughresidential treatment, if it's
needed, residential andoutpatient are all based on
what's called ASAM. It'sAmerican Society of Addiction
(23:19):
Medicine, possibly I'm quotingmy textbooks, and I messed that
up all the time. But it's, itwas a group of doctors that
said, you know, we're seeingpeople coming into the hospital
with this, we're going to haveto create some kind of a rating
system, so we know what to do.
And those ratings systems arebased on six criteria that we
(23:41):
can do an assessment to figureout and that tells us, which is
the least obstructive or LeastRestrictive, clinically
appropriate level of treatmentfor that client. So it may not
be appropriate for a father ormother that has kids and a job
(24:02):
and, and a safe place to live todo residential treatment,
because we're going to keep themthere for for three to 12 weeks,
you know, and not all employersare understanding and, you know,
partners and spouses need helpand such. So it's not always
(24:23):
clinically indicated for that.
So outpatient treatment with aregular outpatient or intensive
outpatient may be better becausethen the person can live at home
in that safe, supportiveenvironment. That safe
supportive environment doesn'texist for everybody. Some people
are homeless, some people arecouchsurfing. Some people might
(24:44):
live in a place where there'sactive drug use or active drug
trafficking. When the livingenvironment becomes toxic, that
same person with the same levelsof use that we just said would
be okay for outpatient nowbecause their living environment
is toxic resident Initialtreatment might be clinically
indicated. Maybe they're out ofwork, maybe their their living
(25:05):
situation is toxic. So thatwould, would indicate that they
need that residential care. Withthe same amount of usage the
same everything. The level ofcare is determined by looking at
all six of these criteria.
You're full? Yes. Soconsequently, we end up with a
waiting list.
(25:29):
And that was going to be my nextquestion is how long is your
waiting yet? Well,it varies daily. Yeah, we're
taking. We had four people leaveyesterday, we have four people
coming in today. So ouradmissions department is the
busiest department there.
They're constantly working withall of our partners with outside
(25:51):
sources, we partner with thecourts, we partner with
companies, we partner with otheragencies in town, to develop
this continuum, so that we canget people in we work with the
cares campus, we have counselorsout there during the week to be
available, should somebody wanttreatment. So we work with all
(26:14):
of our partners in town to keepthem aware, there's a an online
system called open beds thattracks how many beds are
available. And when that justmaxed itself out, then it's kind
of hard to use. But as we workdown our list, we, you know, we
(26:38):
have a criteria. And ourcriteria, this is all on our
website that our criteria sayspregnant IV users are our top
priority. Okay, then it would bepregnant. Okay, then it would be
IV, then it would be veteransthat don't fit in the above
(26:59):
category, and then all others.
If you doubled your capacitytomorrow, would you still be
full? Yes.
Expanding beds is a priority.
The cost of that can beoverwhelming. But we have a
(27:19):
little print shop that's been inReno for many, many years.
That's nestled in next to ourbuilding there. And that's big
enough inside for us to create awoman's mental health wing, and
it will open up 12 more beds forwomen to come into treatment.
Our second floor is our men'sfloor, and it's the whole
(27:40):
footprint of the building. Buton the third floor or women's
floor, it's only half of thatbuilding was very oddly built.
So expanding our women'sprogramming will help with the
women's waitlist. As I said,pregnant IV users pregnant, you
know, and then IV use, so ourhighest intensity as far as
(28:02):
priority or majority women. Andso expanding our women's
programming was vitallyimportant to me.
What can the community do? Whatdo you need from the community?
The needs of a nonprofittreatment facility are many. We
(28:27):
have grants that help pay fortreatment, we have contracts
that will help pay fortreatment. And those grants and
contracts will typically covercounseling counselor wages, pays
the mortgage pays our insurance.
But those grants are subject towhatever administration is in
(28:47):
place. So if the community wouldlike to be involved, there you
go. It's monetary, it'stangible. It's putting your
boots on and getting on theboard so that you can be a part
of what this amazing agency isbuilding in Reno.
What's the best way for peopleto contact you?
They can call bristle cone.
(29:08):
What's the website URL?
It's www dot bristle conereno.com. By the end of the
week, the bristle cone rino.orgwill target the.com But we've
had that.com back before therewas a.org I think so and then
they can always call the775954 1400 and ask for me.
(29:34):
Peter rod thank you so much.
Appreciate you coming on theshow.
Thank you but I mean this isamazing. This this is what
Russell co needsthat's it for this week in Reno
news, please visit us online atthis is reno.com. If you liked
(29:54):
the show, please leave us areview online through your
favorite podcast app.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.