Joint Commission Accreditation

Today, TLC treatment clinic received notice that it is being accredited by the Joint Commission.

Of course, the entire staff gave each other high-fives because we worked real hard over several months to achieve this honor.

So what is Joint Commission accreditation?

On the Joint Commission's website it, states "Joint Commission accreditation requirements address an organization’s performance in specific areas, and specify requirements to ensure that care, treatment, and services are provided based on quality and in a safe manner..."

The website further states, "The Joint Commission’s accreditation process concentrates on operational systems critical to the safety and quality of care, treatment or services provided to the individual. Surveys are conducted by experienced and licensed behavioral health care professionals, including psychologists, social workers, professional counselors, behavioral health care nurses and administrators. Many Joint Commission surveyors are actively working in a range of behavioral health care settings."

So what does this mean for our treatment program, which is now about five years old?

One of the things it means is that we have a lot more credibility in the marketplace. Some insurance companies don't deal with treatment programs that don't have some type of accreditation. There are only a few types of accreditation that have any meaning across the United States, this being one of the more prominent ones. This accreditation announces to the world that we provide the highest quality of care to all of our clients and adhere to a high standard of operation.

Because our treatment program evolved into what it is today from a small halfway house operation in 1992, we believe it is quite an accomplishment to have this type of recognition in the state of Arizona and across the country.

I'm especially proud of the staff members who spearheaded this project. They worked many long and hard hours doing research, rewriting policies and procedures, and making sure every aspect of the program could withstand the scrutiny of the professionals sent out by the joint commission earlier this year.

They worked long and hard to complete this process. They are an outstanding example of what recovering addicts and alcoholics can accomplish when they set a goal for themselves.

To learn more about the Joint Commission, Click here.

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Resolving Differences

Our clients are of all ages, races, sexual orientations, and educational backgrounds.

So, it's not surprising that sometimes clients have differences with one another. And one of our jobs is to help clients from this pool of diversity to get along. And sometimes it's not easy.

When I'm dealing with differences between clients, clients who have gotten angry enough to threaten one another, I take it back to basics.

The first thing I do is deal with them one at a time in the privacy of my office. And my first question is "why did you come here?"

And the answer is almost always, "I came here to get sober." Or, "I came here to get clean."

Having established that they are in the program to get sober or clean we have a basis to resolve differences.

Once I've talked to both parties, I ask if they'd be willing to meet face-to-face. And usually, unless they were over-the-top angry, they agree to meet and talk through their disagreements. And when they talk face-to-face that's generally the end of the issue.

Rarely have we had to discharge clients because they were unable to get along. I think most of them are able to rise above their differences and recognize that their recovery is the priority, something that takes precedence over petty disagreements with fellow clients.

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Changing our Story

Our clients sometimes tell us stories of the past.

In these narratives, they tell us what happened, what causes them pain. It could've been an abusive childhood. It could be the loss of a family member. They might have been a rape victim. Maybe they were traumatized by their experiences in Iraq or Vietnam. Maybe a family member succumbed to a heroin overdose. Perhaps they were in a bad marriage. Their sad tales cover a spectrum of experiences.

Whatever story they tell, it's always the rationale for their drug use or their alcoholism. They really believe these events damaged them so badly that they have to drink or use drugs to cover up the pain. In fact, some of them have been cycling in and out of treatment programs, jails, or hospitals for years, not knowing how to get beyond what happened to them. And sometimes people tell themselves these stories for the rest of their lives until they die of alcoholism or drug addiction.

But there are a lucky few who are able to change the narrative. Once they get in the program and start getting sober, they begin to view the things that happened in a different light. They learn to change their story of what happened and stop using it as an excuse to drink or drug.

They may edit their narrative in a number of ways. They may tell themselves that horrible things happen to a lot of people, but they don't propel themselves headlong into drugs or alcohol because of them. Or they may realize that they have been using, almost unconsciously, their terrible narrative as an excuse to drink and drug. After all, who wouldn't use drugs or alcohol if they had lived through our experiences? Or they may come to realize that the narrative that they've been playing in their head will kill them if they don't rewrite the plot.

And those who stay sober are those who succeed in changing their story. They no longer want to suffer and thus are able to break the grips of the past by changing their view of what they went through.  And that helps change their outcome.

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Hanging On

In India, hunters have a unique way of capturing monkeys.

They take a coconut, then drill a hole in it just big enough for a monkey's hand to fit through. Then they place an unpeeled banana inside. When a monkey reaches in and clasps the banana in his clenched hand, he finds that it's impossible to remove it from the coconut, which is secured by a rope or chain. No matter how hard he tries, his hand remains firmly inside the coconut. And the hunter can capture him quite easily because he won't let go.

How many of us can relate the monkey's dilemma to our own issues in life? How many things do we cling to that ultimately get us into trouble?

For example, for years I clung firmly to the idea that I could use substances without paying any kind of a price. I would be going through life doing quite well, not using anything at all. Then a crisis would arise that caused me pain. The next thing you know, I'd have a bottle in my hand or a needle in my arm. Somewhere along the way I still clung to the idea that I could use without getting addicted.

I hung on to the idea that I could use successfully for many years, even though I ended up in prison, divorced, broke, and suffering from health issues.

Of course, in this blog, I use the example of drug use because that is what has caused me the most pain in my life.

But we can also apply this example to other areas of life. How many of us think that we can eat whatever we want whenever we want without turning into a lard ass? I've known people all my life who spend good money and hours at the gym because they try to lose weight that they don't have to put on the first place. For some reason, they have the idea that if they just work out hard enough the pounds won't stay with them. But the reality is that exercise – while beneficial – is a hard way to lose weight. While selecting the right food and eating the right amount is the easiest way to maintain weight. But because they hang onto their ideas about weight loss they keep going through a cycle of losing and gaining.

Same thing applies to anything in our life that gets us into difficulty. Maybe we have a habit of overspending. Or perhaps, we are a gambler or a smoker. Maybe we're addicted to bad relationships. Whatever gets us into trouble repeatedly, happens because we ignore the evidence that what we're doing doesn't work.

We must get rid of the old ideas that we hang on to. The ones we can't let go of. The ones that keep us trapped in a cycle that eventually ruins our lives.

Click here to email John

Medical Help

When addicts and alcoholics are in the middle of their addictions very few pay much attention to their health.

If it comes down to a choice between glasses, dental work, or a physical checkup, getting high comes first.  So we get a lot of clients who need their teeth worked on or eye exams and glasses.

Part of helping addicts and alcoholics regain their lives is to help whenever possible with their medical care. And over the years we've been able to help a lot of addicts and alcoholics resolve their health issues. Particularly when it comes to getting them dental or vision care.

And the nice thing about it is that it costs TLC very little to help.

That's because we have a staff member who's been with us for many years who's able to find dentists and eye doctors to help us. At any given time we have 30 to 40 of them who provide assistance. And sometimes we have doctors who are willing to help us with other kinds of physical problems. Though usually, clients are able to help themselves by going to the emergency room or using their state insurance. But in the case of glasses and dental work, state insurance usually doesn't provide coverage.

We never thank these doctors publicly because we like to keep their donations private so they're not inundated with requests for help. But they know who they are. And they know that we're grateful for the help they give to our clients.

There is nothing better than for an addict's self-esteem than to be able to smile once again. Or to be able to see where they're going.

Our thanks to all those anonymous medical people for their generosity.

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A Protective Shield

I was at a meeting today where the topic was gratitude.

This is a topic that at one time would make me groan because it ended up being the subject at many meetings. It had become, to me, almost like a cliché. And that's because I was still in new recovery and I didn't realize the protective power of gratitude.

You see, gratitude is almost like a magic potion. What do I mean by that?

Well, gratitude is one of those things that can keep us from getting drunk or high. After all, it's not easy to have gratitude, and also want to pick up a drink or a drug. In my mind, those two things are incompatible. When we live in a state of gratitude it's almost as if we have a protective shield around us. When we have gratitude we no longer slip into depression about what we don't have.

And an easy way to find gratitude is to simply look around. You can start by looking close and nearby. If you're observant, you'll see many people who are not nearly as blessed as you are. No matter what your circumstances.

For example, if you're having difficulty finding a job you can take solace in the fact that there are some people who are unable to work at all, even if they have the opportunity. You can also think about the three-quarters of the people in the world who live on just a few dollars a day because they live in a country where there is little economic opportunity.

If you wake up and have the blues you might slip into depression and find yourself feeling down for a day or two. But that's something you can also be grateful for. Because how many people have you met were chronically depressed all the time? So much so, that they have to live under the burden of heavy medication all their lives.

Just now I had an experience of gratitude when I was thinking about going outside to the swimming pool and realized that at 109° it's probably too hot to even swim. I quickly got over that by realizing that there are people in parts of Texas who are living in floodwaters right now, their whole lives disrupted.

In other words, no matter how tough your life might seem you can always find someone else in worse circumstances.

I've found that most of the time when people slip out gratitude it's because their mind is either in the past or in the future. And the past can be a dark place, just as the future can be a scary place. But if I examine my circumstances and my life at this moment, everything is perfect.

If we live in the moment we find much to be grateful for. Try it.

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Embracing Emotion

In my hypnosis practice with clients, they often have a common goal. They want to remove unpleasant emotions from their lives.

Many of them don't want to feel any kind of pain. Fear. Anxiety. Grief. Sadness. Loneliness. Anything negative.

What they're looking for is a life full of happy and joyful emotions. That is totally unrealistic. Kind of like heaven on earth.

Some seem surprised when I ask them to think of their emotions in a different way. Because aour emotions are telling us something about our lives.

We may be sad because we've experienced loss or else we're not getting something we think we should have.

I often make suggestions when they're under hypnosis that they learn to face their emotions. To embrace their emotions and integrate them into their lives. I suggest that if they're suffering from fear they should face it, they should bring it close and see if it's based on anything real.

If they are plagued with anxiety they shouldn't try to run from it or cover it up with a drug. Instead, they should bring their anxiety close, see what it's based on. They may learn something about their thinking.

Once I started facing my own emotions – whether good or bad – I began to live a much more fulfilling life. My emotions were no longer an enemy that I had to hide from. Instead, once I examined them they gave me an idea of what I needed to work on.

Click here to email John