SMART Recovery® Podcast

The SMART Community had the opportunity to hear from Board President Bill Greer and Executive Director Mark Ruth as they shared their perspectives on what the SMART community has accomplished in 2020 and where they are headed in 2021.  

In the United States Army, he was an E-4 Specialist with the 42 INF Div., serving in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  As a private person, Michael Hooper was a man struggling with alcohol abuse and depression.  He didn’t know where to get help until he called the Veteran’s Crisis Hotline.  From there Michael was introduced to SMART Recovery through the VA Hospital.  He knew from the first meeting it was “going to be a life changer,” but it wasn’t until a four-month intensive, inpatient program, that Michael realized how valuable the SMART Recovery program was for his survival. 

The program was effective for Michael because there was a direct sense of purpose and self-empowerment, which resonated with his military training.  After completing the facilitator training, he felt compelled to pay it forward and started facilitating his own meetings to share SMART with more people in his Hackensack, New Jersey, community. 

Now, in his new role as the Ohio State Outreach Director, Michael will bring his authenticity, passion and lived experiences to new audiences that might otherwise never hear of SMART.  He says, “having grown up in a minority neighborhood, the need for non-profit services in these communities is great.  The individuals suffering in these communities deserve the same opportunities as everyone else.” He hopes to get more communities involved with meetings and available resources.  Michael will also continue to expand outreach within the VAs, schools, and prison systems in Ohio.  This is a “boots on the ground position,” he says, that will take him where he is needed because “outreach is here to help save lives.” 

Growing up, Betty Jacobs knew her family and the community would not be open and accepting of her sexual orientation, so she hid her true identity.  She followed the “normal” route and got married and had children because being a mom was something she always wanted.  But there was more to Betty that people needed to know and she was finally ready to tell. 

Betty has used her story as motivation to change the game for the LGBTQ community in Lake County, Ohio.  She earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from Youngtown State University, and taking the experience she received from her internship at the LGBT Community Center Greater Cleveland, she founded LGBTQ+ Allies Lake County.

In just a year, the non-profit organization has grown and accomplished a great deal. Betty offers Safe Space training to teach businesses and organizations to be welcoming to the LGBTQ community.  The SMART Recovery National Office Team will be taking this training in August.

With the climate in the country forcing people to look at things differently, Betty says “it’s easier to have the hard conversations lately.”  This is about mutual respect and breaking down barriers.  No one wants to live in fear.  Betty and the LGBTQ+ Allies Lake County organization are working to end fear and create allies in the community where everyone is welcome. 

Charles True has been building the kind of life he doesn’t want to relapse from for many years. His project work has taken him around the world including China, Russia, and the United Kingdom.  One of his most impactful projects is the InsideOut® program.  InsideOut is a cognitive-based therapy (CBT) program for substance abuse treatment (offender rehab) in correctional settings and is based around the 4-Point Program® of SMART Recovery. 

Charles partnered with Ron Lott and together they facilitate the InsideOut program in the Houston, Texas, prisons.  They have also co-authored the book Successful Life Skills, which they say is the epitome of what the recovery movement represents.  Charles and Ron are adapting the book to reach a broader audience beyond those struggling with addiction.  Charles said people have been asking for a new version of the book and he and Ron are making it happen. 

Charles lives by the motto, “turn your life into a project, always have a purpose, and wake up grateful.”  The SMART community is very grateful for the work he and Ron are doing. 

Molly Magill’s interest in psychology and social work started in high school and grew into her passion and ultimately, her career.  She earned her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts Boston and she earned her M.S.W and Ph.D. from Boston College.  Dr. Magill is an associate research professor in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences and the Director of Biostatistics at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University.  In 2019, Dr. Magill was awarded the Independent Scientist Award from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. 

Her current research is focused on therapist or counselor training methods that are based on common factors of established behavioral interventions.  The training method that is most exciting to Dr. Magill is motivational interviewing (MI).  This technique recognizes there are multiple avenues to change and that the therapist’s job is to activate the natural process for clients.  Dr. Magill believes the “gifts” that MI gave to addictions research and the clinical field are, love, appreciation, acceptance, and compassion for clients and a way to operationalize and train people how to do it.  The training culture had gotten away from providing on-the-spot feedback to therapists. Now, because of motivational interviewing, instant feedback becoming popular again.  According to Dr. Magill, MI forces you to stop, be present, and listen and believe what the clients says matters and is of value.  This is a good practice for people everywhere to follow.   

The results speak for themselves. Alternative treatment programs are as effective as traditional 12-step programs for alcohol recovery.  These results have been identified thanks to Dr. Sarah Zemore’s 2018 research project, A longitudinal study of the comparative efficacy of Women for Sobriety, LifeRing, SMART Recovery, and 12-step groups for those with AUD, published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment.   

The findings were positive and confirmed that the same level of involvement has the same level of benefit no matter which program is used: people have a choice of treatment.  This research has set the foundation for future studies.   

Dr. Zemore is the Senior Scientist, Center Associate Director, and Training Grant Director, for the Alcohol Research Group in Emeryville, California. She is also the 2019 SMART Recovery Science Award recipient. In this podcast she talks with SMART Recovery about her project, the findings, and what it means for the future of alternative treatment options.   

Hear the full conversation with Dr. Zemore and to learn about her meaningful work in advancing addiction recovery.

Words matter to Richard Saitz, M.D., who edits medical journals and publications for accuracy surrounding addiction terminology. In this talk, borrowed from our collection of 2019 SMART Recovery National Conference presentations, Dr. Saitz discusses substance use disorders as health conditions, how traditional language can promote stigma and affects policy and care, and the emergence of accurate, non-stigmatizing terminology.

While this terminology change may seem minimal to some, it is certainly not to Board President Bill Greer. To provide some added context to an important announcement the organization has recently made, we sat down with Bill to discuss SMART's larger focus on reducing stigma that often comes with addiction terminology, why SMART's new stance in moving toward abstinence-oriented is so important, and the impact we hope it will have in helping those who utilize or wish to utilize medication-assisted-treatment (MAT) in their recovery.

To read the full article, please visit: https://www.smartrecovery.org/smart-abstinence…recovery-support/

Stanton Peele and Archie Brodsky joined SMART Recovery for a webinar discussing concepts of addictions with a focus on love and relationships. At the the forefront of redefining addiction as something that goes beyond any particular substance and is, rather, a human phenomenon that can develop along a spectrum of severity in the relationships we form with others, with substances, or with behaviors and activities.

In 1975, the ideas in their ground-breaking book, Love and Addiction, were shocking. More recently, much of their work has come to be accepted as common knowledge in the fields of psychology and addiction treatment professions. As the general public recognizes that emotional, cognitive, social and cultural factors all play a role, we will continue to see an evolution in thought regarding addiction, and the best approaches to helping people.

Stanton Peele, Ph.D., J.D., is a seminal figure in the field of addiction and recovery. Dr. Peele is a pioneer in applying addiction concepts to include self-cure, harm reduction, and social-environmental causes of addiction. His online Life Process Program has been developed to extend availability of treatment by leveraging technology.  His most recent book, with Ilse Thompson, is Recover! Stop Thinking Like an Addict and Reclaim Your Life with The Life Process. Since publication of Love and Addiction in 1975, he has written twelve books and over 250 professional and popular articles. He continues to lecture internationally on the meaning, treatment, and future of addiction. Additional information and a huge archive of articles can be found at Dr. Peele’s online addiction recovery treatment program website: www.lifeprocessprogram.com.

Archie Brodsky is co-founder of the Program in Psychiatry and the Law at Harvard Medical School. In addition to Love and Addiction he has co-authored 15 books, including The Truth about Addiction and Recovery (with Stanton Peele), Preventing Boundary Violations in Clinical Practice, and Clinical Supervision in Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counseling. Mr. Brodsky is on the board of directors of The Influence Foundation, which recently launched the website www.filtermag.org to advocate for rational and compassionate approaches to drug use, drug policy, and human rights. He is a former chair of the Human Rights Committee at Massachusetts Mental Health Center.

DON'T FORGET! SMART Recovery depends on your Donations!

Please visit SMART Recovery or Click the Donate button below.

© 2018 SMART Recovery®.  Music created and copyright 2017 Donald Sheeley with unlimited use as is donated to SMART Recovery. 

SMART Recovery was thrilled to host Dr. Don Sheeley, in a conversation about MAT: Medication for Opiates, Alcohol and More, the medical options now available to help address opiate and alcohol use disorders.  Don is uniquely positioned to speak with us, as a long-time volunteer at SMART, as an Emergency Room physician, and as a practitioner in his own practice: www.actsmartnewyork.com.

Donald Sheeley, MD, ABIM, ABEM, ASAM, is currently principal of an outpatient practice for Addiction and ACT Psychotherapy in Saratoga Springs, NY, utilizing a unique combination of Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) and addiction counseling based on ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy).

Don’s contributions to SMART Recovery have been immense in his 8 years of service.  He has facilitated the SMART Recovery meeting in Saratoga Springs, NY since 2010 and has been a frequent contributor to SMART's Blog, a voice for SMART excellence, and mentor to the facilitator community.  He was awarded the Joseph Gerstein Award for Exemplary Service to SMART Recovery in 2017, SMART's highest honor. 

DON'T FORGET! SMART Recovery depends on your Donations!

Please visit SMART Recovery or Click the Donate button below.

© 2018 SMART Recovery®.  Music created and copyright 2017 Donald Sheeley with unlimited use as is donated to SMART Recovery.