In 2020, I was an outsider!
I was a ‘Normie’ working in addiction treatment.
As an outsider, I was able to see crazy things that to the insiders were normal.
Did you know 90% of people struggling with an addiction will never get help????
WHAT!?
Did you know the vast majority of people who get help, will relapse….estimates are half or more???
WHAT???!!
Did you know that there are treatment facilities that benefit from people relapsing??? AND that pharmaceutical companies benefit from dual diagnosis???
WHAT THE WHAT??!!???
One of my very first conversations was a young woman who went to treatment for one drug and came out on 3 (all prescriptions).
This is NOT OK.
We should NOT be treating this like it is normal.
The graph I attached showed that not only is the U.S. the #1 developed country in suicides… It also shows that our suicide rate is increasing!
This is NOT OK.
We have an addiction crisis.
We have a mental health crisis.
Last year, the Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, in his final address to the nation sought to answer the #1 health crisis facing this country. Here is what he said,
“With every conversation, I saw the stakes more clearly: the fracturing of community in America is driving a deeper spiritual crisis that threatens our fundamental well-being. It is fueling not only illness and despair on an individual level, but also pessimism and distrust across society which have all made it painfully difficult to rise together in response to common challenges.”
We are a country in despair. We are a people in despair. The American Dream is becoming an desperate insomnia.
TO THE INDIVIDUAL: What can you do?
Start with you. Take care of your own mental health. Value what is most important, not what is most advertised. You elevating your own wellbeing will directly impact those around you. Do not wait to get better. Start today. IF NOT NOW, WHEN?
TO THE BUSINESSES: You are responsible!
Do better. Be better. Take care of your community. Leadership = Responsibility. Responsibility to people first. Be the light in the darkness. Stop settling for the status quo. This country was built on democracy (community leadership) and capitalism (business leadership). Lead. Take responsibility, not just for the next quarter, but for the next generation.
To all of us. Stop saying “Ain’t it awful.”
E Pluribus Unum – From many, one. One more person has to take responsibility.
For me. It is not longer about WHAT???!!! And about What now?
Time to pick up the hammer and get to work.
Time to change the story.