scott's blog

the topic is leadership and advocacy in alcohol and drug treatment. Should be fascinating.

I am doing a mini-poll over at our Facebook site. Click over and share your favorite! http://bit.ly/cHU2Cc

The following is the beginning of a book review on a site I just found, Guess What Normal Is.

Can You Grow Up from Being the Child of an Alcoholic?

Yes. Yes, you absolutely can. (You already are, just by reading this.)

Growing up as an adult child requires 3 steps:

1. Processing your pain
2. Learning about healthy living
3. Putting new behaviors into practice

Each of these three aspects will deliver you into your own version of true adulthood.

Click here to read the rest of this book review.

There is a lot more content - I've just started digging through the site. I will post more later.

I am humbled, and a bit scared, by the opportunity to work with veterans at the Veterans Outreach Center. These are guys who’ve served our country as recently as Iraq and Afghanistan and as far back as Vietnam and Korea.

Why I am humbled seems obvious. These are guys who went off to serve our country, and then came back broken. Shrapnel buried in their bodies, invisible wounds to their heads, their families broken apart, many taking their solace in heroin or booze. HealingPath can be one small part of their recovery process.

Recent research has shown that just over 25% of kids under 21 drank alcohol in the past month (source: SAMHSA).
 
Is this number high or low?
 

According to recent research on drunk driving amongst binge drinkers, 12 percent drove drunk the last time they drank. My guess is this understates the number, but let's go with it.

One of the things I hear frequently is that it took courage for Mary and I to start Families in Recovery. People say it is brave for me to go out and share my story with others.

Step 1. Go the http://www.paddleforfamilies.com.

Step 2. Be wonderful and make a donation. Any size. You can sponsor me, Scott Stamper, or my wife, or one of my kids. Or you can sponsor any of the wonderful paddlers.

I've started a blog at a personal site. I am blogging mostly personal stuff, but occasionally I will have an entry on my work on FIR. When I do, I will link here for those of you who are interested in learning about the backstory for the organization. The link is here.

From The Sun Sentinel

Dallas Adkins Jr., the Kings Point resident whom deputies shot last week after he pointed a rifle at them, is an Air Force veteran who struggled since he returned from Vietnam, his mother said Friday.

...He struggled with post-traumatic stress and alcoholism, and moved to Florida to get his life together, they said.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and alcoholism go together all too frequently. Today, with soldiers coming home from two wars, these problems threaten to be worse than ever. Help is out there for families. In Rochester, we are lucky enough to have the Veterans Outreach Center (VOC).

But resources are never sufficient and more and more soldiers are returning from the war to fight their own battles.

Families in Recovery is dedicated to working with veterans in the Rochester region on their family alcoholism issues. We will be partnering with the VOC, hopefully in the coming year, to start offering services both for veterans and for their families.

We send soldiers off to fight our wars, to keep us safe. It is time we all returned the favor.