Many people think a relapse happens in an instant and that it is just an impulse that over comes us and we can’t help ourselves or can’t see it coming, in most cases that is not true and there are many factors and stressors that lead up to the actual event of taking that drug or the first drink. I have seen it firsthand and have learned to watch for the big signs and then begin to watch for smaller ones. The big signs are attitude, isolation and outburst etc. There are othe

Little Eyes Are Watching Have you ever looked at your child and wondered, where did that come from? Why do they say what they say, react the way they react, carry themselves the way they do? It's worth sitting with that question gently, because the answer is usually closer to home than we expect. When our children are born, we become their first teachers. We teach them to talk, to walk, to hold a spoon, to sound out words on a page. We celebrate every bit of it. And then some

So many today are losing hope and they make bad choices and they dig a hole so deep they give up. Given that, I wanted to share a story about this young woman's journey, her name is Brandi and I pray that her life's journey gives others hope. It started when she was only 13 when she started using drugs. So, imagine struggling with a Substance Use Disorder at 13… Yes, I said 13. How does someone that young get addicted to drugs? Well, let's step back and ask the questio

What I Do I work at the seams. That means being useful about specifics. This intake form. That refusal policy. The handoff between the shelter and treatment that quietly drops a third or more of the people who go through it. It means understanding that recovery isn't a three-month problem. The people I work with carry legacies of addiction, trauma, abuse, neglect, and deep struggle. These issues developed over a lifetime. Healing takes years, not quarters. And at the root of

It's all about getting people to see your Service Old man and his hot dog stand- a classic marketing story Selling a Service is not much different than selling hotdogs when you break it down into the fundamentals. You don’t want to get caught up in gimmicks or short cuts. Selling your Service has a couple of things in common with the story below. First, you must make sure everyone knows your Service is for sale and where to find it. Next you must give them a product the

Our Childhood Recordings Just because we grow up and become an adult doesn’t mean that the bad things that happened to us vanish. Unfortunately, the opposite is true, when we are triggered it’s the bad things, those lessons, thoughts, or feelings that come up first in our mind or personal library. What I mean by this is; we store everything for future reference, kind of like a library or in today’s world if you need to know something you Google it. Google list them in prio

Many people think that marijuana and other drug use is harmless and even believe teen use of marijuana doesn't hurt them. Well, that is just not the case, even casual drug use can have long term effects Here is why. We grew up believing that our brain tells us what to do, but actually it is what we do and our life experiences that teach our brain what to do and handle life. It begins at birth and your environment has a lot to do with what your brain tells you later in lif

I find it very disturbing that every time you turn on the radio or the TV all you hear about is the humanitarian crisis unfolding at our Southern Border. How we can turn our back on these poor people fleeing other countries due to poverty and violence. Then you hear our leadership talking about spending nearly $3 billion on these illegal immigrants who snuck across our unsecured border. What about our children? Well, I want to point something out. Do you know that there are

One more time won’t hurt!!! No, it will Kill you!!! I am tired of seeing good people die from addiction, especially drugs. Public officials, rehab directors and judges all put a band-aid on the problem that is continuing to take the lives of the young and old. I've met 15-year old’s, and 50-year old’s who are addicted to drugs and have almost died, some have overdosed more than once. All of them have three things in common. 1. They are all hurting inside 2. They h

Homeless or Hopeless. Many in the US today are homeless and many in society have given up on them. Calling them Hopeless. According to the National Alliance to End Homeless they estimate there are 1.7 million homeless in the US today. The government numbers come in far less at about 700,000. The cause of homeless is not what most people believe, and it could happen to anyone at any time. The major cause of homelessness is job loss and once that happens and you can lose

Spokane's 7-Eleven Isn't the Problem. It's the Symptom. Last month, Spokane officials sent a letter to the owner of the 7-Eleven at Second and Division, informing him that his convenience store had been declared a "chronic nuisance property." The order cites 125 calls for police service in two months — overdoses, drug deals, disorderly conduct, welfare checks — and gives the owner ten days to respond and fifteen to submit a plan to clean the place up, or face civil infraction

Before Spokane Builds Another Youth Shelter, It Should Explain Why the Last One Failed For four years, a converted building on East Augusta Avenue, just off Spokane Community College's campus, was the only place in this city built specifically for homeless 18- to 24-year-olds. Volunteers of America's Young Adult Shelter opened in December 2021 with up to 44 beds, funded by a $2.7 million state Department of Commerce grant and $1.3 million in city and county capital money to b

Is it time for new players? Remember Camp Hope? The encampment was not authorized by the City of Spokane. Instead, it began in December 2021 when protesters, led by Julie Garcia and volunteers with Jewel’s Helping Hands, hijacked the WSDOT property in protest of the city’s lack of low‑barrier shelter space. This unauthorized occupation quickly grew into the state’s largest homeless encampment, with over 600 residents at its peak. Think about this, Julie Garcia, founder and

The Face of Addiction There are 30 million addicts in the United States, costing the taxpayer $600 billion every year and growing. A recent study showed addiction is growing faster than any time in history and drug overdoses have surpassed auto deaths. Our prison system is overwhelmed, 16% of people in state prison and 18% of people in federal prison reported committing their crimes to obtain money for drugs. www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Prisons_and_Drugs#sthash.20NHEuRC.dpuf

Spokane's 7-Eleven Isn't the Problem. It's the Symptom. Last month, Spokane officials sent a letter to the owner of the 7-Eleven at Second and Division, informing him that his convenience store had been declared a "chronic nuisance property." The order cites 125 calls for police service in two months — overdoses, drug deals, disorderly conduct, welfare checks — and gives the owner ten days to respond and fifteen to submit a plan to clean the place up, or face civil infraction

System That Punishes Recovery Walk into any extended care facility. Walk the halls and look into the residents' eyes. What you'll see, more often than not, is an empty shell — the life gone out of them, along with any hope of returning home to their family. We built a system that was supposed to help people recover. Instead, for many, it does the opposite: it strips away the very things — income, assets, independence — that make going home possible. I found this out the hard