“It’s more important that we regard those suffering from addiction with compassion and that there’s a pragmatic, rather than symbolic, approach to treating addiction.”
Russell Brand, Hollywood’s daft, tall, dark, flamboyant prankster made a an honest appeal to a British parliamentary committee examining UK drug policy, advocating for a more compassionate and rehabilitative approach to treating addiction as opposed to a penal or criminal punishment. Brand who has been very open about his past as a heroin addict and constant sufferer of the judicial consequences of his actions, is an interesting voice in the addiction treatment world. As a film star, he is most commonly seen as an off-beat, often oblivious British rocker, and his roles have sometimes involved copious amounts of drinking and drug use. But now, 8 years sober, Brand has been working hard at getting the word out on how to revamp the way society views addiction. He was also a good friend of the late Amy Winehouse, whose death prompted a lengthy blog post from Brand talking about addiction and how it affects the ones you love. You can read it here. We did a post about Winehouse’s death a while back. You can read that here.
As a sober living house, we cater to all different types of substance abuse, including prescription drug abuse, alcohol abuse, heroin abuse and more. Not to make light of the others, but methamphetamine, or its more common moniker “meth”, is one of the more dangerous street drugs out there. Not only does it have detrimental effects on the body, but it is also dangerous to produce, incites drug-related violence, is extremely addictive, and can be synthesized from household items.
As general information goes on meth, its abundant. You’ve probably seen the harrowing before and after photos of meth users. Methamphetamine exhausts your body’s dopamine production causing feelings of euphoria. The drug’s effect lasts up to 12 hours and more often than not, those who abuse it will do so repeatedly, staying up for days at time without sleep or food. Also, due to the nature of meth’s high, users are more likely to repeat abuse in order to avoid feeling the “crash”.
Meth is no joke. Over the past 10 years, household meth production and abuse has become a country wide epidemic. For more information on methamphetamine addiction and sober living, you can check out our latest resource page on the topic.
On April 5th, 2012, the Hickory Wind Ranch crew sat down with two current male residents and one alumni to discuss their experiences at Hickory Wind Ranch, a sober living community for those recovering from alcohol and drug abuse.
In the video above, learn more about each of these three individual’s experiences with recovery from addiction and how Hickory Wind Ranch played a part in their lives. If you or someone you love needs help, contact us today.
Recently our friends at Recovery Connection developed this interesting infographic that reviews each step and provides some interesting statistics. As noted on their site:
12 Step programs began with Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935. Since that time, the 12 Steps have helped millions remain clean and sober.
Every so often, we like to get together with current and past residents and celebrate the great journeys made through Hickory Wind year after year. Most recently, we hosted HWR’s Family Dinner Night on Thursday April 5th, 2012 with plenty of good company, food, and great music. Some of our friends were kind enough to come out and document the evening. We’ll be posting some resident interviews from the dinner soon, but in the meantime here’s what you missed! xoxo
You’ve probably seen him on his now infamous TV show “Bizarre Foods” eating something like spiders, or cow eyeballs, or raw squids. Andrew Zimmern is the venerable, food-exploring host of Travel Channel’s “Bizarre Foods”. But he wasn’t always the world-hopping travel extraordinaire that he is today. Growing up in Manhattan in his early twenties, Zimmern became a helpless addict, homeless and friendless in the Big Apple.
We regularly hear stories about celebrities overcoming addiction, and Zimmern has a particularly unique one to tell. He sat down with The Fix last year to talk about his early days and you can read the entire post. His was a more debilitating addiction, which as mentioned before, left him homeless and hungry in New York City.
It is an interesting thread that emerges in the food service industry. Statistically, food service employees are one of the most likely occupations to suffer from addiction to drugs or alcohol. Perhaps this is because of the quick pace and energetic atmosphere or the long hours. It could also be because alcohol is in ample supply and within easy access in most restaurant environments. There are also reasons to believe that the micro-culture revolving around the food service industry endorses that kind of behavior.
However, Zimmern (and his Travel Channel colleague Anthony Bourdain) have gone from young talented chefs with substance abuse problems to realizing their potential as cultural ambassadors abroad. Living a sober life after addiction and finding a passion and calling is important in remaining sober and establishing a new livelihood.
Hello all! We’re pleased to announce that our partners at the Gram Parsons Foundation hosted an amazing launch event during SXSW and it will be streaming on Venue One today! This event features performances by Blitzen Trapper, Cory Chisel, Brendan Benson, Eric Burdon and more! The event will begin streaming at 5PM Central Standard Time.
You can watch the performance in its entirety right here at Venue One. Here’s a promo video for the streaming:
Recently, our team had the opportunity to sit down with our good friend Toby LeBlanc. Toby is a licensed counselor practicing in Austin, TX, and in this brief clip, he takes some time to talk about therapy for addiction. We produced this video, which is part of our ongoing Documentary Series, with Daddy Van Productions, and the song featured is “The Drowning Pool” by Charlie Terrell.
Recently, Polly was featured on Recovery People, a weekly podcast about the culture of recovery. Listen to the full podcast right here on our blog, which is full of intimate observations & reflections by Polly on her father and how his legacy inspires her work in the recovery community.
Hey folks! We’ve got another inspirational and heart-warming letter that we would like to share with you. The sentiments shared below are exactly what we are all about: providing a safe haven where our individuals can grow and find that sense of willingness to dream again after addiction takes it away. Enjoy!
It wasn’t so long ago that my life was too dark to dream at all and everyday was the same tired cycle of self abuse and insanity that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I was the kind of undesireable, so-hell-bent-on-self-destruction person that I couldn’t see any other way to live. Recovery wasn’t in my vocabulary and A.A. with its big book and bible-thumping evangelism – well – that just wasn’t for me.
Early on, I romanticized the rock ‘n’ roll rebellion of narcotic inertia. Lou Reed, Keith Richards, Iggy Pop…they played songs that made heroin sound like the coolest thing since central air in the Texas summer. But those are just some of the few who survived, the exceptions, NOT the rule. After a long, hard road of personal experimentation, I can now testify and I am sure they would agree: being a junkie is unequivocally and indisputably NOT COOL!
When I arrived at Hickory Wind fresh out of treatment, I stumbled in with eyes as hollow and empty as the living dead. I had burned every bridge I’d ever travelled. My family, having watched me in my addiction for over a decade, had finally thrown up their hands and given it to god. My friends had fallen by the wayside long ago. But at Hickory Wind, I found a safe haven from myself. The warmth and compassion I have been shown here has given me the srength and courage to shed the scales of my addiction and to remember who and what I want to be.
THANK YOU Polly Parsons and Hickory Wind from the bottom of my heart for giving me back my dreams!!!!!
