Daily Message 4/30/08

Sometimes, letting go...becomes the only way...to hold on to ourselves.

Video: The Joy of Being Normal

AATOD has produced a video on the benefits of methadone treatment called "The Joy of Being Normal." They hope to get the message out to a large audience that methadone helps people lead normal lives, and dispel the myths that persist. 3 patients and family members tell how their lives were saved. Nice work, AATOD, and hopefully this video will help change minds.

Daily Message 4/29/08

I find it interesting, that a mirror is also called a "Looking Glass". When we gaze into it... are we looking At something? Into something? For something? And...will we know it... when we see it?

Volunteer Project: Creating a Welcoming Entrance

CREATING A WELCOMING ENTRANCE
Alpha Program, 2814 West 2nd Street, Wilmington

First impressions matter in drug and alcohol treatment! Do you want to help us create a more attractive treatment environment? Brandywine Counseling seeks volunteers to do some odd jobs around the Alpha Center. Interior and exterior painting, and decoration of the outside entrance. Cynthia would love to have her office painted! Also, Evelyn would love to have the old ratty carpet in her reception area torn out and replaced with a new tile floor. Great for a group of 3-5 who want to give back to the community.

Flexible weekday hours. We will provide materials, but would also welcome donations toward the new flooring.

Apply for this project

Daily Message 4/28/06

Dear Lord, we ask that you reach into the darkest part of our addictions. Show us the way through, with the light of your promised love for us.

5 Questions for Monalee West, Senior Counselor

5 Questions is our ongoing feature where we introduce you to the people who make Brandywine Counseling run, spotlighting a different staff member every two weeks.

Name: Monalee West
Job: Senior Counselor, Alpha North Wilmington Center
Time with BCI: 2 years

1. The Claymont Center is BCI’s smallest office, with 3 staff and 49 clients. How does that affect your treatment environment and your role as supervisor?
Because we’re small, it’s really family-oriented. [Our clients] seem to be very motivated. They just seem more connected, and I think it’s because our groups are smaller. Within three weeks of clients attending groups and getting involved with Claymont Alpha, they exchange numbers, they get involved with 12 step programs, they set up transportation. It’s very supportive here. If a staff member goes out sick for even a few days, the clients are very worried! “Are they okay?” And they’ll leave get well cards, it’s kind of funny!

My job here is unusual, because it’s a first. I’m a senior counselor, and it’s the first time that BCI has had a senior counselor position. It’s kind of unique, but basically it’s similar to a supervisor. I monitor the day-to-day flow of the work that we do here, urines, I do training, and one of the major job responsibilities I have is staff morale.

Communication and patience have always been my two greatest challenges. As people will say, I hit the door moving 190 miles an hour and I never stop! I have to remind myself, “Slow down, you’re not only person here! You don’t have to do it all by yourself!” And my staff is great at reminding me of that.

2. You were very involved in rolling out Alpha’s motivational incentives program last year. You wrote the training manual, you were the first counselor to do a test run, and you ran a focus group to get feedback from the counselors. Why was it important to you to be so involved in this project?
I understand the difficulties with motivation. I’ve found that it’s not that people don’t have the desire to achieve abstinence, there’s just a lot of life factors that get in the way. And I know that anything we can do as professionals to help encourage or support motivation makes a world of difference. When the motivational program was explained to me, I thought, oh, this is great! This is just something else we can do as treatment providers to help clients accomplish their goal of becoming abstinent. And I find it’s been a great help. I’ve seen a big difference in clients. They really like it! And when they come for their assessment, and you explain it to them, and they get to draw that first bead, it really does encourage them to come back.

3. Many of our staff decorate their office with personal items. Tell us what you have in your office.
As soon as someone walks into my office, they know exactly what my ethnic background is. I have a lot of Native American artifacts on my wall, including my Medicine drum. That seems to draw everybody’s attention the most, and they usually ask me about it. When I explain it to them, they really like the concept of what it represents, and how they can use it in recovery. I have actually been asked on more than one occasion to bring my drum into group and to explain it in group, because it talks about the Four Elements of Self, in relation to the four elements of the environment, and how that helps serve as a support network.

And, I had to order a bookcase to hold all of my family pictures, because I have pictures of all my children and my grandchildren. Because I have to have them with me, that’s my family. And everybody likes that I’m family-oriented, and they can tell when they walk in and see my bookshelf with all my pictures.

4. If you had $30,000 to donate to BCI, what would you do with it?
One thing would be a scholarship program. There are quite a few clients who would like to continue their education and cannot. Something as simple as a GED program, they don’t have the money for that. Finding other ways to enhance motivational programs for clients, would be another thing.

5. Tell us your favorite client success story.
It was a gentleman who had been using marijuana every day, about a half an ounce daily. He smoked it like most people smoke cigarettes, for twenty years. He had a lot of medical problems, and he got involved with [BCI] because his doctor said, “If you’re using marijuana, we can’t give you your pain medication.” When he first came into treatment, his view was, “Marijuana should be legalized, I don’t see it as a problem.”

And as he stopped using, and started coming to groups and learning, and as he got education in his individual sessions, it was nice to see that light bulb go off, and hear him be able to tell us what he had learned, and why he felt that he was glad his doctor had said he needed to stop using marijuana, and just getting his life back together. And getting more involved with his son, who he didn’t have a good relationship with when he first started treatment. When he left, he was going fishing with his son, he was doing a lot of activities, and it was really great to see him have that.

Seeing the light bulb go off over someone’s head, when they find themselves again and they start realizing that there is hope, that’s such a great thing to see. That’s a great feeling, and no amount of money can replace that for me.

Daily Message 4/25/08

How easily we accept the judgement of others....as if they had the right, to make that judgement. Who we are and who we want to be, is between each of us and our God.

Daily Message 4/24/08

It' s amazing, just how easy it is to keep our goals in sight, when we stop looking for our limits.

Daily Message 4/24/08

In a society that expects instant gratification, it's difficult to understand why the "easier" decision to seek sobriety, needs to be followed by the "harder" work of maintaining it.

Daily Message 4/22/08

The greatest commodity this nation has, is it's children...for they are the future. Invest in them...through money, time, attention and love. This investment will be the best you ever make and with the highest return. There truly is something to be said about villages and their children.

Playground Update: Donors Large and Small Show Their Support

BCI has taken a big step toward our goal of building a playground at the Lighthouse Program, thanks to a major gift from the Miriam and Robert Zadek Charitable Gift Fund as well as all the smaller contributions that have come in. We are almost three-quarters of the way to our $10,000 goal!

Now that the weather's getting warm, it would be great to get the construction started and give the kids a place to play outside. We've met with playground salesmen and had some plans designed. But we need to reach our goal before we can get underway. You can help make it happen!

If you would like to donate, you can send a check using our mail-in form, or give online through JustGive or American Express. No gift is too small, because the more dollars we raise, the better the playground. Thank you!

Daily Message 4/21/08

Dear Lord,
We ask that you guide us through our recovery and keep us mindful that we are not in this alone, though at times, it may feel that way. Stay close if we feel alone and continue to touch us, with your calming strength.

Daily Message

Having an addiction does not dictate, that you have a character defect. Having an addiction does not dictate that you are a lessor person, than anyone else. Having an addiction "does" dictate one thing... that you are still a child of God and deserve all of the blessings that He can bring to you, through His love for you.

2007 Patient Satisfaction Survey

The results of BCI's 2007 patient satisfaction survey are now posted on our website. Thanks to the 313 patients who responded and rated us in areas such as environment of the clinic, confidentiality, and how much counseling is helping you.

While the ratings in all areas were in the acceptable range, we generally saw lower scores than in past years. The area of most concern to us is whether psychiatric/psychological services were helpful. Mental health services are an area we know needs improvement, which these scores confirm. You will be glad to know we are already taking steps to reduce the wait time, increase our staff training, and move closer to a "seamless continuum" of treatment for co-occurring disorders.

Survey results have been communicated to our staff, who will be working with our Continuous Quality Improvement committee to address the most important needs of you, our customers.

Daily Message 4/17/08

Being true to your own heart, your own beliefs and your own mind, will make it easier to be true, to your own recovery.

Join Us May 31 for "Old Skool" Outreach

Volunteer your time to save lives! It's our 2nd Annual "Old Skool" Outreach Blitz!

Please join BCI Saturday, May 31, 2008 from 11 am - 3 pm for a Mega Outreach Blitz in the City of Wilmington to promote the Needle Exchange Program. We need former outreach workers and people who have never done it before but want to give back. Walk through the city spreading a message of hope, recovery, health, and safety. Encourage drug users to enter treatment, enroll in the needle exchange program and most importantly get tested for HIV.

Refreshments will be provided.

Last year's event was a big success and we can't wait to do it again.

If interested please sign up with Rochelle Booker at 757-3821 or apply online.

Daily Message 4/16/08

In watching "The Biggest Loser" on TV, I was influenced to believe that no matter what it is, Pounds, Problems or our Past, it is up to each of us, as individuals, to choose whether we lose it or carry the weight of it. The Biggest Losers in life, are obviously the ones that choose to lose it or put it down.

Daily Message 4/15/08

If you aren't willing to "change things today", how can you expect anything, to be different tomorrow?

Daily Message 4/14/08

It's been said that the more a person goes through, the stronger they become. It's not the "suffering" that gives you the strength but "overcoming" those times, that gives that strength to you.

5 Questions for Cynthia Dale, Processing Technician

5 Questions is our ongoing feature where we introduce you to the people who make Brandywine Counseling run, spotlighting a different staff member every two weeks.

Name: Cynthia Dale
Job: Processing Technician, Drug Court Diversion Program
Time with BCI: 3 years

1. Some people would say observing urine drug screens all day must be one of the most unpleasant jobs out there! Is that accurate?
No, not really. I talk to all my clients. I try to make them comfortable. I know it’s hard on them, I know that, and I do feel bad for them. A lot of them, especially when they do their baseline, they’re really afraid. They don’t know what to expect. Sometimes I feel like I’m their mother, all their moms! I just go along, talk to them, keep talking to them. And out of all the clients I have, I only have maybe two that I have a problem with, so that’s not too bad.

2. Explain how the random screening works.
The clients are court ordered to come in. I have some clients that are once a week, and some clients that are twice a week. Superior Court does more urines than the Court of Common Pleas. They have to make their urines when they’re designated. They start calling [a recorded message of the next day’s colors] on Sunday night, and if their color doesn’t come up on Monday, they have to keep on calling, and so on and so on.

3. What's a typical workday like for you?
Very heavy. [Compared to] when I first started here almost three years ago, I have a lot more clients than I did. In a week, maybe I did 120, now I’m up to 190, 200 a week if they all show. Some days I can have a lot of clients, other days a few, but then all of sudden I can have ten clients at a time. I also take care of the [Alpha] clients’ urines, and now they also have me doing all the employee urines, so it’s a lot for one person. But I have everything prepared. I have to make up all the bottles and the papers. It’s not as easy as it looks, it really isn’t. There’s a lot involved.

4. What do you enjoy about your work?
I love to talk! And you have to be able to talk to clients. You have to talk to them. And a lot of them, they really feel bad. They’re waiting for me to talk, and then they’ll start talking. I’ll ask them, “Are you working?” Then one client last week said, “I got a new job,” and he told me exactly how much he made. I said, “Oh! That’s wonderful!” I can relate to them. And plus, I love kids, and they are young kids, the majority of them are. They’re young.

5. What has been the most rewarding moment for you at BCI?
When my clients finish the program. I always tell all of them, I treat them all the same. I tell them, “I’ll run into you, maybe at Cowtown or the grocery store,” and they laugh! I tell them all the same thing.

And this was a few months ago, I was out to dinner with my sister and my niece and a little girl my niece baby-sits. And this young man came up to me and he said, “Hello.” And my sister sat there, and she didn’t know who this person was. And he said, “Thank you for being so nice to me.” My sister said she felt like crying. She said, “I didn’t realize how much your clients do like you.” I said, “Well, Susan, the thing is, the majority of them do. They do.”

Daily Message 4/11/08

The sobriety that we have achieved should be nurtured and protected. It is something of substance, it belongs to us, like anything else that we own. It's ours. We worked hard for it, we earned it. Don't let anyone try to take it, don't lose it, don't give it away. It's the greatest investment you will ever make in your future.

Daily Message 4/10/08

What is "perfect" or "quality" or"beauty"? Is it one person's "perception" of those things, or is it an other person's "projection" of those things?" Often you can find the quality of something or someone with just a glance. Then again sometimes you have to be willing to look below the surface and facade. Always project your quality.

Daily Message 4/9/08

If you look too closely at yesterday and begin anticipating tomorrow, you will easily lose sight of today. You can only live "one day at a time".

Daily Message 4/8/08

Sometimes we have to do something repeatedly in order to succeed. True failure comes, when we "aren't" willing to try again...and again...and again...and maybe again, giving our all and doing all that it takes.

Video: BCI and the "Whole Patient" Approach

BCI is featured in a new video on SAMHSA's Recovery Month website called "Medication Assisted Therapies: Providing a 'Whole Patient' Approach to Treatment." Several patients talk about how methadone saved their life, plus comments from James Harrison and Dr. Glick. Also, a panel of experts discusses the many benefits of medication-assisted therapy. The BCI portion begins about 13 minutes in.

Daily Message 4/7/08

Before you criticize me for my actions...consider my "intentions". Each of my days, start with the very best of "intentions" and I trust that "my God" will eventually give me the strength, so that I am able to follow my "intentions" with my actions.

Daily Message 4/4/08

The weight and measure of a man should not be judged by the "depth" of his addiction, but by the "height" of his recovery.

Daily Message 4/3/08

The ability to step into the light, is often just a matter of taking ONE step out of the shadows.

Daily Message 4/2/08

As children, we all had a friend, that wanted to take his / her toys and go home ...if they couldn't win. What if God thought that way ?

The Daily Message 4/1/08

Hello !
Due to the many requests that have been made, to make the "daily reading" more widely available, we will now post a reading here on most days. It has been a tradition for many years to know that there was a daily reading available. We hope you enjoy them and pass them on.

In order to promote tolerance.....We first need to practice it.