Good News Notes: “A Southern Oregon nonprofit organization that provides services to those struggling with addiction will receive a $2.2 million grant over the next four years to create a program that will train future counselors in behavioral health and addiction treatment. The executive director of OnTrack Rogue Valley, Sommer Wolcott said the organization will use the federal funding to…
Category: addiction
Kit Harington reveals depression and alcohol struggles
Good News Notes: “Former Game of Thrones star Kit Harington is opening up about some of the darker moments over the past few years, including his addiction struggles. In an interview with the Sunday Times Magazine, Harington confessed that “things that have happened to me since Thrones ended, and that were happening during Thrones, were of a pretty traumatic nature and they did…
How magic mushroom ingredient psilocybin helps patients with depression or PTSD change how they feel, by rewiring the brain with more connections
Good News Notes: “The use of psychedelic drugs such as LSD and psilocybin was a legitimate field of medical research in the 1940s and 1950s, and LSD was even employed as a psychiatric medicine. But such research stopped in the mid-1960s when they were declared Schedule 1 illegal drugs in the United States. Over the…
California spending billions to house homeless in hotels
Good News Notes: “When homeless outreach workers first visited her encampment under a Los Angeles highway overpass last fall, Veronica Perez was skeptical of their offer of not just a bed, but a furnished apartment complete with meals, counseling and the promise of some stability in her life. “They said they had housing for me,…
How one social worker is giving back to his childhood community
Good News Notes: “When he worked as a student advocate at Fort Vancouver High School, Damien Wheeler connected with a student who was at risk of failing. Wheeler said the student wasn’t asking his teacher for help, so he stepped in. “He felt comfortable because he had someone on his side,” Wheeler said. “And he…
Former addict shares message of hope after college graduation: ‘Stop selling yourself short’
Good News Notes: “Virginia “Ginny” Burton was 6 years old when she was introduced to marijuana by her drug-addicted mother. At the age of 12, she was usingcrystal meth. By 14, Burton, a student in an accelerated learning program, had dropped out of school and was smoking crack. “I went from being a really sweet…
Getting sober: The benefits of meditation through Dry July
Good News Notes: “Meditation is a good bridge between partying and sobriety because it takes you out of your mind and your thoughts into a place of peace,” Sydney-based Kinsella says. “It brings you to a state of balance, which means that compulsive behaviours will likely naturally start falling away.” He says Dry July, where people take…
He Lost Nearly Everything To Addiction. Then An Arrest Changed His Life
Good News Notes: “Heroin started rewiring and taking control of Will’s brain in the early 2000s, as he turned 40. “Back then, if you used drugs people didn’t want anything to do with you,” Will recalls. “People gave up on me.” Will lost almost everything: jobs, his driver’s license, his car, his marriage and his…
Safeway, Ideal Option team to break addiction stigma
Good News Notes: “The opioid crisis was an issue before the pandemic, and the need for addiction services is even more desperate now. The Washington State Department of Health said overdose deaths accelerated during the pandemic, jumping 38% in the first half of 2020. And most of that came from deaths involving fentanyl. Susan Mitchell,…
MHA Nation opens Healing Hearts Lodge to help those in recovery
Good News Notes: “Cianna Rabbithead knows firsthand the effects of addiction. “I have family members that struggle with it, and I really wanted to get into this field to be able to help them,” Rabbithead said. She’s the director at Bismarck’s newest recovery center, MHA Healing Hearts Lodge. The $7 million housing facility has 24…