Joe looks terrific. He was received by my daughter in SF upon arrival from the UK on Wednesday, spent the night with my mother in Sac (she is very British and the two of them sip tea and chat-it's adorable). I picked him up the following morning and was very, very pleasantly surprised. Joe looks wonderful! His face is full for the first time in 3 decades. Cheeks flush and teeth repaired! I sent an immediate email off to the folks at Focus 12 (I apologise for referring to this place in previous blogs as Focus 2) congratulating them on the amazing job they've done with Joe. He is off: heroin, cocaine, methadone, crack, alcohol, and marijuana. The last of his killer physical addictions is to cigarettes and even those have been cut back considerably. I was pleased to see him with a copy of PREHAB and he has practically memorized the thing! His affect is up and his motivation to press on with his life is forward moving and progressive. This is usually the shape he is in after he spends some time with me. Usually he comes to me looking like Death himself, cheeks hollowed, skin pale, and mood black and nasty (especially if he'd been drinking). I would have to spend 30 days just getting him to the point where he is at the moment. Then, a record company or some musician friend would pounce upon him and get him to go back to London for some BS musical thing and within just a few hours of stepping off the plane, Joe would be up to his old tricks. This time around, though, he's had a really solid 6 weeks of detox and another few weeks of therapy. In PREHAB I discuss allowing patients up to 90 days to really thoroughly explore rehab, and Joe now comes to me at a great starting point. Instead of backtracking with him, I am able to pick up where I have had to leave off twice before and take Joe into the next level of his recovery and rehabilitation.

In the past, I have always had an ethical dilemma when working with someone like Joe. After all, after detoxing a horribly corrupted gentleman like Joe, the very last thing you want to see is him returning to the same environment that hooked him in the first place. We had/have discussed his immagrating here permanently so as to avoid the negative worlds he knows in London. I think, honestly, this would save his life. Since there is considerable interest regarding his actual ability to rehab for any lenght of time, we have decided that he will take that time to reestablish himself as an Novella nominated artist (he's got quite a write up in wikipedia) in the LA area. Since I have also gotten him to agree NOT to go on the road and gig, but instead to stay put here with me and as part of his rehab, to write a whole slew of new works that will better represent who he is now and who he is becoming.

Joe is 41 now. Fortunately for him the 3 decades of hard drug and alcohol use have not completely destroyed his body. We have devised a strict schedule for hi to maintain:

Up by 8 am
morning ADLs
self-meditation
light breakfast - fruit, yogurt, grains, juice, coffee

9:30 am
Hot yoga - continues detox and promotes strength and concentration
2hrs

Breakfast 2
hydrate

12:30pm
Counseling walk/meditation/file sharing

1:30pm
Creative hour - reading, writing, music

2:30-3:30ish
Afternoon exercise: swimming, kayaking, biking, hiking, skating, tennis, fishing...

3:30-4:30
Afternoon meditation and reflections
file sharing

5:00-7:00
AA meeting

7:30
evening meal

8:30
evening run in indoor treadmill
20 mins-1 hour

shower/relax/TV/

Bed 10-11:00pm

As you can see (and as I stae in my book) I stress physical activity as a means of producing those wonderful, natural bodily fluids/chemicals that make us feel soooo good! Our counseling sessions will focus on two man subject areas: Past internal "files". These are past areas that the patients perseverates upon and that cannot be ignored. And, a vocational direction. A way for Joe to earn a living, sober!

Joe is happy and compliant. I believe he has in fact made that internal decision to make his rehab work this time around and I am as excited for him as he is.


www.prehab2rehab.com
PREHAB: The Essentials for Successful Change
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