SMART Recovery® Podcast

SMART Recovery was pleased to welcome back Michael Edelstein, Ph.D., author of Three Minute Therapy, who presented to us the surprising truth about self-esteem.

Dr. Edelstein is beyond compare for his ability to explain the concepts of CBT and Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). These, at their core, hold that faulty thinking and beliefs, such as using self-esteem as a measure of “self,” can adversely affect our mood, well-being and ability to enjoy life. Examining our thinking and actively questioning our assumptions allows us to stay aligned with our personal values and goals and live lives that are full and satisfying.

These are the same topics that are the very foundation of SMART and Dr. Edelstein did not disappoint in a webinar that will be highly interesting to SMART participants, facilitators and friends.

Dr. Edelstein is a licensed clinical psychologist in San Francisco. He offers in-person as well as telephone and Skype sessions. He is famous as the author of Three Minute Therapy: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life (1997), with David Ramsay Steele. Recently, Dr. Edelstein created a YouTube channel with Tommy Bateman, featuring podcasts on topics of interest in REBT He also has a long-running website at threeminutetherapy.com.

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A fascinating conversation on Addiction & the Brain: A Focus on Opiates, with Dr. Christopher J. Tuell, Clinical Director of Addiction Services at the Lindner Center of HOPE of UC Health in Cincinnati. 

This was an interesting and far-reaching discussion, beginning with a look at today’s opiate epidemic. Dr. Tuell highlighted the relationship between mental health and addiction and how they intersect. We also discussed a whole range of questions around opiate addiction and addiction in general, approaches and some solid advice. We hope the conversation will add to awareness of the ways in which addiction shows itself – in today’s opiate crisis, but more broadly as well.

Most important, we hope to carry a message of hope and encouragement, and to shine a lens on compassionate and respectful ways to engage people when they have trouble dealing with the pressures of our complicated society. Enjoy!!

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

Ivette Torres, Director of the Office of Consumer Affairs in SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment for almost 20 years, joins SMART to discuss community engagement.

In this lively and engaging talk, Ms. Torres discusses some of the topics of concern today in behavioral health related to addiction, and she shares how SAMHSA can help communities gain access to the resources they need. Within that, the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) promotes community-based substance abuse treatment and recovery services for individuals and families in every community.

One of our favorite initiatives, National Recovery Month takes place in September, and this is a great time to start planning. Ms. Torres is an ardent and enthusiastic supporter and promoter of this initiative and discusses how to get involved. We hope to see more SMART local National Recovery Month events than ever before in 2017. 

Ms. Torres has been with SAMHSA’s (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency) Center for Substance Abuse Treatment for almost 20 years. She oversees the CSAT team responsible for generating and disseminating substance abuse treatment information to SAMHSA’s mission-related constituents. She also develops national communication strategies and campaigns including the observance of the National Recovery Month, celebrated each September. 

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SMART Recovery hosts Reid K. Hester, Ph.D., Creator of Checkup & Choices, SMART's companion web course.

He presents a fascinating overview and discussion of recent scientific findings on addiction treatment and support, including work from his own lab as well as that of others. There are valuable lessons to be learned and new strategies that have real implications for people struggling with their use of alcohol, drugs and behaviors as well as the professionals and families who want to help.

Dr. Hester is the Director of Research at Checkup & Choices and creator of SMART’s Checkup & Choices companion web course. His professional career has included clinical work, program consultation, research, and training in empirically supported approaches to substance abuse treatment. His research focus has been in the development of digital tools to help people with alcohol and drug problems.

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Listen to Joseph F. Gerstein, MD, FACP, SMART’s founding President, share ideas and examples of how to use the SMART tools to get through the Holiday Season -- enjoyably and with as little stress as possible. 

Dr. Gerstein will also spend some time discussing the fundamental importance of motivation in the recovery process and ways to enhance that, and he will introduce an interesting phenomenon observed in study of the change process. It will be a wide-ranging conversation with lots of interesting food for thought.

Dr. Gerstein was just awarded the 2016 Harvard Humanist of the Year Award “for his work over the last 25 years as the founding president of SMART Recovery, which we view among the greatest examples of community service in the history of modern humanism.” 

As a practicing internist, He helped establish SMART Recovery and became its founding president in 1994. He has facilitated over 3,000 meetings and counting, with over 800 in correctional settings.  We are honored to have him, and we are so pleased to be able to share this very special Holiday podcast with you. 

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SMART Recovery is pleased to present a talk with John Kelly, Ph.D., the Elizabeth R. Spallin Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

He emphasizes the need for addiction recovery support programs based on science, such as SMART, as well as the science on traditional and other recovery support services.

In recent years, the models for addiction treatment and support have seen innovation and expansion beyond traditional options. Dr. Kelly shares with us what the research says about some of the options becoming more available, such as recovery community centers, sober housing models, recovery high schools/collegiate recovery programs, recovery management check-ups, recovery community organizations, and of course, peer support/mutual-help organizations including SMART Recovery.

Dr. Kelly is the Elizabeth R. Spallin Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, which is the first professorship in Addiction Medicine at Harvard and will carry his name thereafter. He is the founder and Director of the Recovery Research Institute at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the Program Director of the Addiction Recovery Management Service (ARMS) and the Associate Director of the Center for Addiction Medicine at MGH.

Dr. Kelly is a former President of the American Psychological Association (APA) Society of Addiction Psychology, a Fellow of APA, and a Diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology. He has served as a consultant to U.S. federal agencies such as the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH); to non-Federal institutions, such as the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and Caron Foundation; and internationally to foreign governments. He is also on the editorial board of several addiction journals.

In addition to publishing more than 150 peer-reviewed articles, reviews, and chapters in the field of addiction, his clinical and research work has focused on addiction treatment and the recovery process which has included specific research on the effectiveness of mutual-help groups such as SMART Recovery, as adjuncts to formal care.

He has also served as SMART’s Director of Research for the past 5 years. Additional research endeavors have focused on the implementation of evidence-based practice, addiction and criminal justice, and reducing stigma associated with addiction. John is also a licensed clinical psychologist actively working with individuals and families with alcohol and other drug use disorders.

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SMART Recovery is honored to bring you Dr. Carlo DiClemente, PhD, ABPP, co-creator of the the Stages of Change, speaking about how people maintain change and ways in which to support that in the field of addiction and recovery.

Carlo C. DiClemente's Stages of Change, or the Transtheoretical Model of behavior change (TTM), are foundational to SMART's approach to supporting people where they are as they embark in the process of change with regard to addictive behavior. Dr. DiClemente is most widely known for his co-authorship of the self-help book, Changing for Good.

Dr. DiClemente's career-long passion and dedication to create and research a functional, multidimensional and integrated care model for treating addictions has influenced the practice of providers from multiple disciplines. His thoughtful articles are highly cited in the field of addictive behavior. His pioneering views on motivation, mechanisms of change and natural recovery have transformed clinical practice and influenced research in psychology, health and mental health.

He has used stages and processes of change to understand how risk and protective factors influence initiation and recovery from addictions and created an innovative framework for linking prevention and treatment. In this talk, he emphasizes that the locus of change lies within the individual's personal processes, even while counselors, therapists, and facilitators may offer a variety of helpful methods and choices for healthy change.  

Dr. Carlo DiClemente is currently University of Maryland, Baltimore County presidential research professor of psychology, Director of MDQuit, Tobacco Resource Center, the Center for Community Collaboration. For his work in the addictions, Dr. DiClemente was given the Innovators Combating Substance Abuse award by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the John P. McGovern Award from the American Society on Addiction Medicine (ASAM), and a Distinguished Contribution to Scientific Psychology award by the Maryland Psychological Association and the American Psychological Association Division on Addictions. He has served as president of the APA Division on Addictions (50) and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science. In 2007 he was named the first Lipitz Professor of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at UMBC, in 2011 he was named as Presidential Research Professor at UMBC. He serves on SMART Recovery's International Advisory Board.

SMART Recovery was privileged to host this private presentation with Dr. Carlo DiClemente for professionals in mental health and addiction treatment: Graciously, Dr. DiClemente allowed us to record and present that talk, free, as a service to the general public. 

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Nicole Kosanke, Ph.D., is a Clinical Psychologist and the Director of Family Services at the Center for Motivation and Change, and she speaks to SMART about the issues faced by those whose partners or other adult loved ones may be having trouble with addiction

What partners and concerned signifcant others can do to help themselves while encouraging loved ones to seek help. The discussion was open, friendly and informal, and packed with information, reassurance, and exciting new ways to think about our interactions with those we love in order to be truly helpful.

The CRAFT approach emphasizes kindness and compassion rather than coercion, tough love or aggressive confrontation. It is an approach that is refreshing, hopeful and proven by science. 

Nicole Kosanke, Ph.D., is a Clinical Psychologist and the Director of Family Services at the Center for Motivation and Change, where she specializes in working with family members of people abusing substances and in the assessment process for families and individuals with substance abuse issues.

Dr. Kosanke has been working in the research and clinical practice of substance abuse treatment for many years and recently co-authored an award-winning book called Beyond Addiction: How Science and Kindness Help People Change that is a compassionate and science-based family guide for navigating the addiction treatment world, understanding motivation, and training in the use of CRAFT (Community Reinforcement and Family Training) skills.

Check out the20minuteguide.com for additional information for Partners and Parents.  And of course, join us in our Family and Friends meetings listed on the meeting schedule.  

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SMART Recovery® is pleased to present a talk with author

We are interested in learning how to engage youth who have

In implementing The Seven Challenges Program, many practical

The Seven Challenges are:

We decided to open up and talk honestly about ourselves and

The Seven Challenges provide a framework for helping youth

The Seven Challenges is listed as an evidence-based program in

Robert Schwebel, Ph.D., a psychologist specializing in couples

This is a wide-ranging talk about addiction and today’s youth and teens. Dr. Horvath, SMART’s President, interviews Dr. Stanton Peele on what is needed in society, in public policy, for parents, and for those in the caring and justice professions, to better help our young people. For young adults, we want to show you the power of making your own choices and having solid resources for decision-making readily available, so you can assess what’s best for you and live lives of freedom and power.

How do we know if our children are in trouble or not? How does support fit into the picture of addiction? How does treatment and support for teens and young people differ from that for adults? What about social media, smartphones, video/games? How can we incorporate sensible, helpful, empowering approaches into our homes and our parenting? Dr. Peele has turned his attention over the years to a number of areas in the field of addiction. In 2007, he described that while “addiction can be especially debilitating for the young, young people are more likely than not to outgrow it. The way out of addiction is to develop a range of skills and engage fully in life.”

Stanton Peele has been in the vanguard of advocating for science-based addiction policy, treatment recovery approaches for over 40 years. (His breakthrough book Love and Addiction, was published in 1975!) His views have gone from highly controversial to widely accepted, and we are grateful for his continuous efforts to provide context and facts, always facts, to his examination of addiction. He wrote Addiction-Proof Your Child in 2007 and most recently wrote: Recover! An Empowering Program to Help You Stop Thinking Like an Addict and Reclaim Your Life. His Life Process Program is available online.

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