As the years go by, and the opiate epidemic continues to claim lives, we see more and more people in recovery at younger ages.

When I got sober I was 33. And I felt like I was the youngest person in the room by 20 years. Imagine being twenty-something and walking into recovery. The challenges to face and overcome, and the level of commitment necessary to stay sober.

I am so grateful I had this opportunity to talk to Geffen about all of these challenges and where his sobriety has taken him. Another miracle of recovery.

Geffen's company:  midwestrecoverycenters.com

877.630.0539

Kirsten Oelklaus specializes in treatment for teens and adults with eating disorders including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder and emotional eating.

In the field for more than 23 years, she offers insight to  disordered eating, some of the challenges people face with anorexia and/or bulimia, and how to recover.

Just like everything in life, recovery is a process. I have been very open throughout my sobriety about other issues I have struggled with, and food is definitely one of them for me.

In this episode, I talk with Kirsten about some of the similarities in the recovery process between substance abuse and eating disorders, and the challenges I have faced in my personal life with eating, shame, and weight.

As an addicted person, I have to always be aware of compulsive behaviors because I have a tendency to be compulsive and I can overdo almost anything. These last few years I have found myself in a battle with food, not only physically with some weight gain, but mentally suffering with the shame of being out of control with food and using it as a means to comfort myself. I isolate with food so no one will know how or what I am eating, or how much.

For me, the first thing I noticed was I gained weight and I was having a hard time losing it. I have fluctuated weight a little bit my whole life- nothing drastic, maybe 5-7 pounds here and there, and it was always easy for me to reel myself in and lose the weight quickly and easily. But not this time.

I found myself a little depressed and feeling bad about myself. I noticed that different foods would affect my mood and my energy, and I continued to eat poorly and gain weight. I felt disgusting, out of control, and awful.

For the past two years I have started almost every day in tears. Standing in my closet searching for something to wear among racks of clothing that no longer fit. Every day I was getting more sad and angry and resentful at myself.

Finally, I had to take action. I signed up for a program that taught me about food and how to balance meals and eat regularly. I first had to change my mindset to not focus on how I looked, but to focus on how I felt. I know when I eat certain foods I don't feel good, and other foods make me tired. I started to cut out those things.

At this point, I am happy to say I have developed a healthier understanding of food. And this made me so excited to do this interview with Kirsten. I wanted to learn more about myself and my struggles, and of course I want to help others do the same.

There are moments in this interview that Kirsten breaks things down where it feels like she has seen my life and my habits, and she knows what I am battling. And for me, I know I'm not alone.

My journey continues, let me know if you relate to some of this, too.

Dr. Louise Stanger is passionate about helping families whose loved ones experience substance abuse, mental health, process addictions and chronic pain.

She is committed to showing up for her clients and facilitating lasting change.

Her passion for intervention success has led her around the world, performing family interventions, delivering keynote speeches, and developing family programs for some of the top treatment centers in the US. (allaboutinterventions.com)

Dr. Louise Stanger is the recipient of the Excellence in Service Award at the 29th annual awards luncheon for the Peggy Albrecht Friendly House in Los Angeles.

Serving her community, families, and treatment centers across the nation this is an episode, and a dynamic person you don't want to miss!

I can’t tell you how impressed I am with Chris Marshall.  I came across Sans Bar in Austin, TX and was immediately intrigued. A sober bar. I thought it was a bar for sober people. But what Chris has brought to the table is so much more! This is a person who is passionate about the product and service he provides, and he is mindful how he does it.

Hear his fascinating take on the ‘Sobriety Spectrum’, who is showing up at Sans Bar, and what they are serving. It is definitely more than I expected!

FB:  https://www.facebook.com/thesansbar

IG:  @sans_bar

Wes Geer | Rock to Recovery

Find Rock to Recovery here:  https://www.facebook.com/rocktorecovery/

Former (hed) P.E. and Korn guitarist Wes Geer founded Rock to Recovery on 12-12-2012 in an effort to bring a new and unique type of music expression group into treatment centers -by forming a band! Together the band writes and performs a song, finally recording it at the end of each session. The program is designed so that ‘non-musicians’ can access the magic, healing, uplifting powers of writing and playing music. "Music is a language we are encoded with before we even exit the womb. Put on a song and a toddler will start singing, even dancing.” -Wes

Rock to Recovery gives people the outlet to challenge themselves and channel the music that’s deep in their soul, many for the first time. Rock to Recovery is the vehicle to help bring it out of them. Connecting to this creative, Higher-Self force reminds participants that there is a hopeful, happy, playful, part of their Self still inside. For those struggling with PTSD, TBI, addiction, mental health, etc., it may have been years since having this part of Self activated. Those in the early days of recovery can enjoy the therapeutic release that only music can provide. The participants feel a part of, grow self esteem, walk through fears, inhibitions, escape their woes, to come out the other side with a totally new vibration.

People in recovery can start becoming activated, re-connecting to people thru the process, as playing music does organically, what psych meds do, helping to stimulate serotonin, dopamine, endorphins, and oxytocin (the ‘’love molecule’) naturally. Rock to Recovery typically operates as an adjunct service to a treatment center's curriculum. Since it’s inception, Rock to Recovery has been integrated as part of over one hundred treatment programs.

"I went through a rehab program, I know what it feels like. Playing my guitar was such a vibe changer for our whole milieu. We would get so silly writing songs, singing dancing on breaks. Walls would come down. The day’s struggle would fade away. I wanted a way to bring that energy to everyone that enters a treatment program. The results have been beyond anything we ever could have imagined. Watching the hopeless find hope, the lost feel purpose, the self-loathing find confidence, the miserable, dark-minded find their light and laughter again; these transformations are nothing short of magic.” -Wes

Rock to Recovery has for-profit and non-profit entities. The company uses the NPO to donate services to treatment programs that otherwise would not be able to access their services. As a result Rock to Recovery has started doing fundraising concerts and holiday events.

The concerts honor rockstars with the ‘Rock to Recovery Award’ for their service, and success in overcoming addiction, and assisting others in the community. Past recipients have been Mike Ness (Social Distortion), Wayne Kramer (MC5) and Corey Taylor (Slipknot, Stonesour). These sober events have provided a unique resource for hope and fun in the recovery community as well as been supported by members from Guns n Roses, Stone Temple Pilots, Billy Idol, Jane’s Addiction, Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit), Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray) and the late Chester Bennington (Linkin Park) to name a few.

 

Freddy Negrete Bio

Legendary tattoo artist Freddy Negrete is best known for his pioneering black-and-gray tattoo style, honed while serving time in the California State Prison system during a youth mired in abuse, gang life, and drug addiction. His “prison-style” designs eventually found their way out onto the streets of East LA and, in 1980, he created a piece that earned him a Tattoo Artist of the Year award. Freddy has been featured in the History Channel’s Marked series, in the documentary Tattoo Nation, on Spike TV’s Inkmaster as a guest judge, and in numerous print and online media. He has worked as a technical consultant and tattoo artist on over 30 Hollywood films including Batman, Blade, Con Air, Falling Down and Austin Powers. He currently works at The Shamrock Social Club on the Sunset Strip with his son, Isaiah and has been a volunteer counselor at the Beit T'Shuvah residential treatment center for almost 10 years. His memoir, Smile Now, Cry Later, cowritten with Steve Jones, was released in 2016.

Freddy Negrete Wiki:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddy_Negrete

Social:

Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreddyNegreteSmileNowCryLater/

Instagram: freddy_negrete

Web: freddynegrete.com

 

Addiction Unlimited Podcast Full Transcript: 

Angela Pugh: 

Hey everybody, welcome to the Addiction Unlimited podcast. I'm your host, Angela Pugh, recording today from the beautiful Hollywood California and I want to say thank you to La Fuenta Hollywood Treatment Center for giving us a space to record. We appreciate that. You might hear some traffic noise in the background. We are in the heart of Hollywood so there's nothing we can do about the traffic.

Angela Pugh:

Today's guest, I'm so excited for you guys to hear a little bit of this story. It's so good. Freddy Negrete is joining us. Freddy's book is Smile Now, Cry Later: Guns, Gangs, and Tattoos-My Life in Black and Gray.

Angela Pugh:                   Freddy, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being here with us.

Freddy Negrete:              Thank you for having me.

Angela Pugh:                   Absolutely. Tell us a little about you and what you do.

Freddy Negrete: 

You got that tattoo artist part right, but I'm actually best known for pioneering the style of tattoo called black and gray realism. It's has it's roots in Chicano, [Cholo 00:01:01], [Vario 00:01:01] scene of East LA in the 70s. That was my life. I was a Chicano gang member. We gave the world,

Freddy Negrete Bio

Legendary tattoo artist Freddy Negrete is best known for his pioneering black-and-gray tattoo style, honed while serving time in the California State Prison system during a youth mired in abuse, gang life, and drug addiction. His “prison-style” designs eventually found their way out onto the streets of East LA and, in 1980, he created a piece that earned him a Tattoo Artist of the Year award. Freddy has been featured in the History Channel’s Marked series, in the documentary Tattoo Nation, on Spike TV’s Inkmaster as a guest judge, and in numerous print and online media. He has worked as a technical consultant and tattoo artist on over 30 Hollywood films including Batman, Blade, Con Air, Falling Down and Austin Powers. He currently works at The Shamrock Social Club on the Sunset Strip with his son, Isaiah and has been a volunteer counselor at the Beit T'Shuvah residential treatment center for almost 10 years. His memoir, Smile Now, Cry Later, cowritten with Steve Jones, was released in 2016.

Freddy Negrete Wiki:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddy_Negrete

Social:

Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreddyNegreteSmileNowCryLater/

Instagram: freddy_negrete

Web: freddynegrete.com

 

Addiction Unlimited Podcast Full Transcript: 

Angela Pugh: 

Hey everybody, welcome to the Addiction Unlimited podcast. I'm your host, Angela Pugh, recording today from the beautiful Hollywood California and I want to say thank you to La Fuenta Hollywood Treatment Center for giving us a space to record. We appreciate that. You might hear some traffic noise in the background. We are in the heart of Hollywood so there's nothing we can do about the traffic.

Angela Pugh:

Today's guest, I'm so excited for you guys to hear a little bit of this story. It's so good. Freddy Negrete is joining us. Freddy's book is Smile Now, Cry Later: Guns, Gangs, and Tattoos-My Life in Black and Gray.

Angela Pugh:                   Freddy, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being here with us.

Freddy Negrete:              Thank you for having me.

Angela Pugh:                   Absolutely. Tell us a little about you and what you do.

Freddy Negrete: 

You got that tattoo artist part right, but I'm actually best known for pioneering the style of tattoo called black and gray realism. It's has it's roots in Chicano, [Cholo 00:01:01], [Vario 00:01:01] scene of East LA in the 70s. That was my life. I was a Chicano gang member. We gave the world, khakis and pendletons and bandannas, graffiti and tattoos.

Angela Pugh:                   And tattoos, there you go.

Freddy Negrete:

I was born with art ability so ... and as a young Chicano, we had certain images that were really important to us like the clown girl and the Charo girl with the sombrero and the gun belt. Aztec imagery, religious Catholic images, crosses, roses, Jesus, Mary, things like that. And writing. Because we were very big on who you were and where we were from. And then spending most of my life in institutions, I developed my own style of art and then in prison learned how to tattoo with the homie tattoo machine in there. And when I got out, I started tattooing out of my apartment, meanwhile a tattoo shop opened up in East LA and found that everybody wanted tattoos, but they wanted their tattoos to look like they were done in prison. They wanted the Chicano style.

Angela Pugh:                   Right. You actually learned to tattoo in prison?

Freddy Negrete:              Yes.

Angela Pugh:                   Okay. What is the ... how do you tattoo? What is a tattoo gun like in prison?

Freddy Negrete: 

It's funny because the machine that they use most today is...

A former professional football player with the Denver Broncos,  three Super Bowl appearances, a world class athlete, and a recovering alcoholic/addict.

Vance's Mission (vanceinspires.com):

Reclaiming my faith and redeemed, It is my purpose and passion to Inspire those who like me, found themselves powerless broken and looking for a breakthrough. After growing up around addiction and domestic violence as an adolescent, I struggled with substance abuse throughout and after my NFL career. After a near death experience, in an induced coma in 2009 for 28 days in ICU, I am now Drug-free and alcohol-free since Sept, 2013. I've spent the last few years speaking at a variety of venues, including four Super Bowls, Executive Conferences, Keynote, Church, College, Schools, Municipal, and Town Hall meetings. Everyone deserves a second Chance. Inspired by true faith in a risen savior, sobriety I look to inspire others to take back control of their lives.

Learn More at : vanceinspires.com

 

When you think about a non-profit organization to help women with addiction, your first thoughts aren't typically Robert Shapiro and Katey Segal. But you never know who will show up to support Friendly House LA.

The Peggy Albrecht Friendly House has been helping women find recovery from drug and alcohol addiction since 1951.

Monica Phillips, Executive Director, proudly speaks about the services Friendly House provides to treat women in addiction. Friendly House, the first residential substance abuse program in the country for women, has a mission to help women, with dignity and respect, but also in an affordable way.

Learn More:  https://friendlyhousela.org/

La Fuente Hollywood Treatment Center is an inpatient drug rehab dedicated to the LGBT community. An intimate program that provides hands-on care, community-driven, with a clear mission.

Manny Rodriguez, Co-Founder and CEO,  talks about his personal recovery, how he landed in the LGBT treatment industry, and the importance of being grounded in your community and giving back.

For more information on La Fuente, follow the link here:  http://lafuentehollywood.com/