The Next Chapter

“10 million lives were impacted for good and I think that is really what we need to focus on.” Darleen Santore is the U.S. Ambassador for Pay It Forward Day, which is celebrated worldwide on April 28th.  It’s a mission that started 10 years ago by Blake Beattie in Australia. “I am very blessed to…

"I can tell you from the standpoint of the healthcare field, we have never seen this type of epidemic at the numbers we see with opiate addiction and heroine," says Bob Vickrey, Director of the Las Vegas Community Triage Center.

Vickrey has worked with recovering addicts for decades. In fact, he is a recovered addict himself.

"When I found heroine it changed my life forever — I lost all resemblance of who I was. I became homeless and helpless. That is typical of what happens to folks who get caught up in this drug dependence."

Vickrey considers himself lucky. When he hit rock bottom he was surrounded by people who wanted to see him get clean. That was 25 years ago. Since that time he says he's "been able to live a wonderful life free of addiction" and he credits WestCare, his now employer, for helping him take his life back.

But things have changed dramatically since the time Vickrey became addicted to heroine. Today's addicts, many of them, begin with prescription pain pills and soon find themselves on a slippery slope.

According to a recent article published in LoHud, part of the USA Today network:

From 2000 to 2014, nearly 500,000 people have died from drug overdoses, including nearly 29,000 in 2014 alone. A majority of the deaths involved opioids. Now, the CDC estimates that 78 people are dying every day from an overdose tied to painkillers and heroin. Just last year, that figure stood at 44 deaths per day.

"We know that drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the United States — and that is a new phenomenon," according to Vickrey.

In an effort to react to growing concerns about this opioid epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued new guidelines for doctors prescribing pain medication.

The guidelines, aimed at primary care prescribers, state that opioids should not be considered as first-line therapy for chronic pain and that doctors should first consider alternatives such as exercise, meditation, and cognitive-behavioral therapy.

"We are experiencing an over-prescribing of pain medication," VIckrey says. "The prescription painkiller is not always the first remedy."

It is a tough situation for many doctors who find themselves under increasing pressure from patients seeking pain meds, and from insurance companies not always supportive — or willing to pay for — alternative treatments as a first line of defense.

Still, many in the healthcare and addiction recovery field feel this is a good first step. "I see it as a powerful tool if we can find a way to enforce it," he says. "When we have that many people dying everyday because of an overdose, we have to take notice It's a crisis, a public health crisis and an epidemic that we all have to go to work on."

The post Addiction Expert: We Have Never Seen This Type Of Opioid Epidemic appeared first on Inspired Media 360 TV - Inform | Inspire | Engage.

“I can tell you from the standpoint of the healthcare field, we have never seen this type of epidemic at the numbers we see with opiate addiction and heroine,” says Bob Vickrey, Director of the Las Vegas Community Triage Center. Vickrey has worked with recovering addicts for decades.  In fact, he is a recovered addict…

"At some point I threatened to kill my partner and myself. I was put in the psych ward and

diagnosed with PTSD."

Cleo DeLoner has a very powerful story to share. She is an Army Veteran and former police officer who sunk so deep into depression and PTSD, that she tried to take her own life.

"I took a long rifle and a loaded magazine, drove out to a river (… ) held the rifle to my face and pulled the trigger. It broke all of the bones in my face and I never lost consciousness," DeLoner explains. "I walked around for a while and ended up driving to get help."

Remarkably, DeLoner was able to get behind the wheel and flag down a woman for help.

"After the impact and I realized I was alive and I thought to myself — wow, I did it. Oh my God I am still alive," DeLoner says. "I think the human spirit goes into survival mode and I started taking steps to get myself help."

Never before had she seen someone walking on that remote road near the river 15 minutes from her home, and DeLoner says in that moment she thought the woman might be an angel.

It seems, in many ways, she was.

"I stumbled toward her kind of like the characters on Walking Dead."

The woman drove DeLoner to the hospital and while her life was spared, there was an agonizing journey ahead.

DeLoner says she was hospitalized 32 times, endured electric shock therapy, and was on multiple psych pills. She was alive — yes, but she was far from healed. Nothing was working.

And then DeLoner received a phone call about bio-feedback and neuro-feedback therapy. She flew to Bethesda, Maryland to check it out and says it changed everything.

After 25 treatments, DeLoner says all of her symptoms, including debilitating PTSD, were eliminated and she weaned herself off of what she calls "zombie dope", the psych meds and painkillers that she thought she'd be taking for the rest of her life.

After that, DeLoner was put in touch with AJ Richards, owner of CrossFit Mesa and founder of Rush Club. Richards, a fellow Veteran, embraced the mission of healing and welcomed DeLoner into his community of veterans and civilians who are all seeking out health and purpose in their lives.

"What we keep hearing over and over is that painkillers don't work they just dull you until you are just done. These medicines don't seem to be working for most people," Richards says.

DeLoner, now a writer and public speaker, wants to share her story with the masses.

Recently Richards and DeLoner teamed up to speak to the Arizona Coalition, a group of Veterans who wanted to hear more of DeLoner's story — and who embraced the message, "you are not your diagnosis."

"I actually prayed to God and thanked him for not letting me die. I forgave myself for such a brutal assault on myself," DeLoner says. "I feel a sense of responsibility to my Warrior brothers and sisters. I am living proof that there is hope that if they take that step into the light from the darkness. There is hope."

Links mentioned in this podcast

www.deserttodesert.com

www.azcoalition.org

www.brainwellnessandbiofeedback.com

www.rushclubnation.com

Here is a poem from DeLoner's book, "Trigger Pieces":

I Am PTSD

I have many aliases

Soldier's Heart

Battle Fatigue

Shell Shock

Broken

I am like no enemy you have ever fought

I control you

I own you

I insert horrific memories in your head at my beck and call

I watch you from a distance

As your eyes stare at nothing

I startle you back to reality

I freeze the most graphic images in your mind

Forcing you to witness the horror over and over again

I fuel your rage

I fuel your hatred

I take you close in my arms

Away from everyone who cares about you

I am jealous

When I have you isolated, all to myself

My relentless assault intensifies

My voice is all that you will hear

I will convince you that you are

Worthless

Guilty

A burden

Unloved and

Unlovable

I will bring you to your knees

You will try to crawl your way out of the maze of confusion

Until you collapse face down

All the while I scream at you to end it

I will drive you to a depth of darkness so deep

No amount of light will penetrate

I will envelope you in total and utter unimaginable despair

The emptiness you feel carries a thousand echoes of the suffering that I inflict

You will make futile attempts to silence me

With your pathetic pills

Your bottles of booze

You will believe that I have retreated

But I am still with you

Waiting, watching, patiently

Your staggering drunkenness

Brings you to a state of unconsciousness

You are right where I want you

I now bring you the images in full color

I add the sounds of screams

Hovering over you

I watch as you twitch

Toss and turn

Punch the air

Cling to your blankets

And scream, "No!"

I drench you in cold sweat

Forcing you to awaken sitting straight up

As you gasp for air

You don't like to talk about me to your loved ones

Why would you want to?

How would you describe me?

Am I just a voice in your head?

Am I the monster who has taken up residence in your mind?

Better to just stay quiet

Keep this affair between us

I have convinced you that they don't care

That I'm the only one who cares

I'll never leave you alone

This road that we stumble down together

Is a road I walk with many

I sabotage every relationship they have

Their loved ones retreat

Leaving them lonely

They fought me

They fought hard

In the end they all succumb to me

You will to

You have embraced me without even knowing it

I have you in the corner of darkness

Providing you with an instrument of death

I have encouraged you

Guided you

Defeated you

Now I can sit back

And watch your sad finale

I Am PTSD!

Cleo DeLoner

27, Sept. 2015

1709-1811 hrs.

The post Army Veteran Shoots Herself In The Face And Lives To Tell The Story: How She Took On Her PTSD. And Won. appeared first on Inspired Media 360 TV - Inform | Inspire | Engage.

“At some point I threatened to kill my partner and myself.  I was put in the psych ward and  diagnosed with PTSD.” Cleo DeLoner has a very powerful story to share. She is an Army Veteran and former police officer who sunk so deep into depression and PTSD, that she tried to take her own…

“You really have to understand the steps and what you want to do.  Stay focused on the steps you need to take to get there.” Brian Burns has mastered the art of sales.  He wrote the book, “The Maverick Selling Method: Simplifying The Complex Sale” to teach people how to build habits instead of looking…

"You really have to understand the steps and what you want to do. Stay focused on the steps you need to take to get there."

Brian Burns has mastered the art of sales. He wrote the book, "The Maverick Selling Method: Simplifying The Complex Sale" to teach people how to build habits instead of looking for a "eureka moment".

"I'm more focused on trying to teach people to understand how companies make decisions and how to manage that," Burns says.

He built his own success by selling security products to big companies and found that he was good, very good, at sales and frequently closing, in his words, multi-million dollar deals.

"Once you understand how an organization makes a decision to change, you can determine how to make it happen."

The greatest paradox in business, according to Burns, is that everybody is visible but nobody wants to be contacted by a salesperson.

So, the key, he says, is finding a way to connect on a personal level no matter what you are trying to sell — including yourself.

"I think you have to start with the end in mind and put yourself in their place. What would they get out of it. What am I bringing to them. Why would they care," Burns says.

Over the past few years, he has also grown a podcast, "The Brutal Truth About Sales & Selling".

Burns has amassed a massive social media following including more than 90,000 Twitter followers (Twitter is his favorite social media platform). He says a big part of his success is to always keep the big picture in mind.

"It does take time and it was what I wanted to do. I see my platform and my network as a journey."

The post The Brutal Truth About Sales & Selling – Brian Burns appeared first on Inspired Media 360 TV - Inform | Inspire | Engage.

"It's a public health epidemic because it is linked to child welfare. Millions of dollars are lost to this issue. We haven't uncovered the real impact, the trauma to men, women, children, and pets."

Dr. Maria Garay-Serratos is the CEO of Sojourner Center, a domestic violence shelter in Phoenix, Arizona that is breaking new ground both in principal and in practice.

"I believe a world can be created free from domestic violence because it happened in my family and we did it by ourselves. We shouldn't allow people to walk this journey alone," she says. "We are developing better solutions by asking deeper questions."

Garay-Serratos is trying to change the way people think about and talk about domestic violence. She has teamed up with the University of Arizona College of Medicine, USC, and Alliance Bank to put on a first-of-its-kind symposium, bringing together leaders in various fields to address the root causes of domestic violence, break down boundaries, and talk about intervention and treatment programs that help disrupt the cycle.

The Sojourner Center has gained national attention for its "BRAIN Program", which focuses on women and children who have Traumatic Brain Injuries.

"20 million women are walking around with undiagnosed TBI," Garray-Serratos says. "A lot of children are walking around in our school systems [unable to focus and learn]."

The Center has also started a pet program.

"We found that 40% of women who were in a domestic violence situation did not leave because there was no accommodations for their pet," Garay-Serratos says.

And in situations where women did leave their animals, she says a high percentage ended up maimed, injured or killed.

"You come and bring your pet with you. It's a pilot program that has been so successful because the demand is so immense. We are also fostering, so if you are in another facility, you can bring your pet and we will foster for you."

The programs that Sojourner points to as successful will be discussed at the Symposium titled "A World Free From Domestic: Moving the Conversation". It takes place April 14th.

"We have the Huffington Post, Forbes, Arizona Republic, Univision all talking about the issue. Getting it to the global level takes away the stigma and gets people talking," says Arizona State Senator Robert Meza, who is one of the featured speakers.

Meza believes behavioral health needs to be a priority as well as early intervention.

"Getting kids at a young age will break the pattern of behavior and heal them so it doesn't reoccur in their lifetime, and their cycle here on Earth."

For Garay-Serratos, moving the conversation is very personal. She only recently began to open up about her personal family story of domestic violence. And, she says, it gives her hope.

"It's been important for me to realize the significance of sharing a story and coming out of the shadows. And I learned that by sharing my unique story, I have opened up a discussion. I have brought humanity to my father who was the abuser. Let's stop judging."

To find out more about the Symposium, The Sojourner Center or if you need help for yourself or your family, go to http://www.sojournercenter.org

The post How To Solve America's Deadly Domestic Violence Problem. And Why The Solution Might Be Found In Phoenix. appeared first on Inspired Media 360 TV - Inform | Inspire | Engage.

“It’s a public health epidemic because it is linked to child welfare.   Millions of dollars are lost to this issue.  We haven’t uncovered the real impact, the trauma to men, women, children, and pets.” Dr. Maria Garay-Serratos is the CEO of Sojourner Center, a domestic violence shelter in Phoenix, Arizona that is breaking new ground…

"He still leads by a couple hundred delegates and he has the home court advantage coming up, so it should be a good couple of weeks for Donald Trump."

Barry Dill, a Democratic strategist from the political strategy firm First Strategic in Phoenix, Arizona says a brokered convention is all but certain for the GOP.

Still, Dill says he has a hard time understanding the appeal that brought Mr. Trump to where he is today.

"In my mind he epitomizes why business people make such bad candidates. The campaign needs to become a political campaign and not Donald Trump's empire."

A new Associated Press-GfK poll shows seven in 10 people, including close to half of Republican voters, have an unfavorable view of Trump.

Even in the South, a region where Trump has won GOP primaries decisively, close to 70 percent view him unfavorably. And among whites without a college education, one of Trump's most loyal voting blocks, 55 percent have a negative opinion.

Marcus Dell'Artino, a Republican strategist from First Strategic says he is shocked to see the number of people — especially women — who remain supportive. "It stuns my imagination that women aren't more amped up," says Dell'Artino.

Trump still leads the Republican field in delegates and has built a loyal following with a steady share of the Republican primary electorate.

But the depth of his unpopularity raises questions about how he could bring together enough support in the general election to win the White House.

It also underscores the trouble he may still face in the Republican race, which appears headed to a brokered convention where party insiders would have their say about who will represent the GOP.

Whether or not Trump becomes the nominee, Dell'Artino is bracing himself for what's to come, "We are going to go into a brokered convention which is a disaster amongst itself."

The post Longtime Political Strategist: We are going to go into a brokered convention and it will be a disaster. appeared first on Inspired Media 360 TV - Inform | Inspire | Engage.