Help Us Reframe the National Dialogue on Addiction and Recovery

Reach Out Recovery has a big dream. We want to become the United Way of Recovery, raising funds to support the thousands of existing programs all across the country that currently are unknown to the general public. How can we do it? ROR is creating the media tools to raise awareness and create the recovery friendly environment that is crucial to make Recovery Giving a national priority. The first step is to show the nation that recovery is worth the investment. We believe, as with cancer, HIV, diabetes, heart disease, the public will support treatment for a chronic disease that is manageable. Partnership of Drug Free American reported last week that 23 million Americans are in recovery. If each gave a dollar back for their lives, a new feeling of “national” community would be launched. Corporations that now stay away from recovery causes, will begin to support it. Tens of thousands of lives will be saved every year. With their two documentaries, “The Secret World of Recovery” and “The Silent Majority,” Leslie and Lindsey Glass have begun to tell the story that education, prevention and recovery work. Now ROR media campaign begins at the Prism Awards in Los Angeles.

Support our effort and help us save lives. Every dollar raised goes directly, either to a nonprofit recovery or education organization, or to the ROR film or media fund.

ROR is Proud to Join SAMHSA Recovery Planning Partnership

March 28th Leslie and Lindsey traveled to Washington for the second week in a row. This time they went to SAMHSA’s (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency, a division of Health and Human Services) headquarters in Rockville, MD to join SAMHSA’s Recovery Planning Partnership for the first time. It was an honor to meet addiction and recovery professionals from all over the country. This recovery partnership represents a wide variety of organizations that provide many kinds of services, education, and community outreach all across the nation. ROR looks forward to getting to know all the participants and helping to tell their stories and finding innovative ways to support them.

First Screening of The Silent Majority at the Washington Hilton, April 10, 2012

Leslie and Lindsey were in Washington D.C. for a third week in a row to participate in the Joint Meeting on Adolescent Treatment Effectiveness (JMATE), “collaborating and integrating to support youth and families in an Era of Change.”

The Silent Majority has its very first screening, and an enthusiastic audience said they loved the movie. “Beautifully done. It brings real stories of hope and excitement to a field that needs tools to show that prevention and recovery work,” was the kind of praise we heard. Networking with 1100 treatment providers and recovery experts and advocates was a great learning experience. Lindsey and Leslie were proud to be presenters.

ROR To Film at The Prism Awards on April 19th

In collaboration with the Entertainment Industries Council, Reach Out Recovery will launch its media campaign by filming at the Prism Awards on April 19^th at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles. Leslie and Lindsey will interview attendees and award winners and do a behind the scenes look at Recovery on TV and in the movies. You’ll see some of it on YouTube following the event.

Call to Action

ROR can’t change the world on its own. We need your help. In addition to speaking out for Recovery in the national arena, we are working on:

1. Events to launch “The Silent Majority” and ways to use the film as part of existing programs in a variety of non profits.
2. We are developing a Media Campaign–six public service commercials that will run all over the world forever for free. For this initiative, we need $20,000 for cameramen, editing, and graphics. And we need real people to appear on camera.

To donate to the campaign (Click here)
For an event, or to help with the media campaign and be in a spot, contact us. (Click Here)

American Teens

American teens are facing more pressure and access to more dangerous drugs than ever before. With no standardized national program for drug prevention and education, kids are starting their experimentation with drugs at younger and younger ages and are unaware of the deadly consequences. 38,125 teens died last year from prescription drug overdoses alone, surpassing the national number of traffic fatalities. The numbers are staggering and the cost to the nation and the families is incalculable. Why isn’t there an impassioned national dialogue about this?

It may seem daunting, almost impossible on a national level, to invest in solutions for this devastating teen epidemic that’s affecting our most precious resource, our children. But there are some bright spots, some effective prevention programs scattered around the country that inspire teens to make good choices.

For me, exploring this issue of programs for teens that work in a documentary has been especially meaningful. I know how easy it is for young people get on the wrong track, and how hard is it to get back on the right one. Positive programs, role models and mentors are desperately needed all the way through middle school and high school, even college, to teach life skills. And a new concept of cool.

The programs we highlight in The Silent Majority are changing both lives and communities. The great kids we interviewed for this show told us what teen court, drug free youth and Road Recovery means to them. When given a choice, programs like these are what they want.

Support For Teens

Support for teens, who don’t want to take drugs or drink, is a new concept. Getting high or drunk used to be a rite of passage. But using alcohol and substances is no longer a safe coming-of-age ritual. These days prevention should be viewed as a necessity, not a luxury. We now know that 15 of every 100 teens are addicts or will become addicts. If they don’t start using until they are of age, they have a better chance of avoiding the disease.

At the same time, ongoing support for teens coming out of rehab is also a brand new idea. Most people think a few months of sober living can turn a life around and are surprised and angered when it doesn’t work. But recovery experts know that it takes much more than just not using to recover from addiction. New ways of living and having fun have to be developed to change habits and brain patterns. Imagine how engaging and exciting it must be as a teen coming back to life after drug use with the opportunity to play in a band and be mentored by music industry professionals.

The programs in Silent Majority, Road Recovery and young offenders in Teen Court give kids the opportunity to replace their bad habits with good ones. They teach young people the value of learning skills and fostering a community all under the supervision of professionals who understand the issues involved with addiction and recovery in teens. This mentoring model is proving to be incredibly successful for the recovery process in teens, and more programs needs to be initiated all over the country. We hope that viewers seeing these programs will be the catalyst for creating others all over the country.

Making A Documentary

Making a documentary about teens in recovery was an amazingly rewarding experience for so many reasons. I loved meeting the kids, some of whom show remarkable resilience. I loved profiling the programs that are working successfully in the areas of education, prevention and recovery. And, I loved meeting the people who make these programs work. These leaders are a special kind of dedicated. Getting the opportunity to experience, and film, all these elements working together was not only enlightening about problems and problem solving, but also inspiring. You can’t help feeling hopeful that there is a way to help kids.

Working on this movie has been especially meaningful for me because there isn’t much available for teens on TV and film that offers a cool alternative to hard drinking and hard partying for having fun.

We hope that showing the University of Tampa, and University of South Florida Harm Reduction program, will inspire other colleges and universities to teach how to calculate BAC, blood alcohol concentration. Less alcohol abuse will help to lower the assaults, date rapes, and various other drinking related crimes and injuries that presently endanger so many college students. Alcohol is so prevalent, yet college students and their parents are not aware of the consequences.

It’s crucial that the American public, and particularly teens and preteens get a clear picture of what happens with alcohol and substance abuse, but also how to avoid it, get out of it if you’re in it, and recover from it.

We’re particularly proud of the D-FY Drug Free Youth of North Port segment of the movie. For kids to be able to join other kids in sober society in high school is exciting in so many ways. First, for presenting an environment that is safe. Second, for promoting the choice to stay off drugs as exciting, positive, and rewarding, rather than the choice of the kids who are less than “cool.”

The need of programs for kids who have joined recovery in high school or college is particularly vital because we now know it takes years of positive reinforcement for recovery to work. We know kids don’t just get out of rehab and do well. They need a community and activities to keep them engaged in a positive way.

The Job Of A Reporter

The job of a reporter is to ask hard questions about painful issues, to uncover the facts, and to show the alternatives that are providing solutions, or can provide solutions in the future. This is Lindsey’s and my mission. In The Silent Majority, we wanted to show what can work to improve our communities instead of reporting on what isn’t working. The nation already knows what isn’t working. Lack of education in middle school, high school and college about alcohol and substances doesn’t work. Ignoring the situation isn’t working.

Corporate slogans, like Just Do It, may work for exercise, but Just Say No didn’t work for teens because No doesn’t offer a positive alternative to Yes.

The DARE and other programs send police officers into schools when using intoxicants is a social and cultural issue that should be addressed by teachers, parents, peers and mentors.

Addiction is universal. Everybody uses something, and no one wants to stop. How do we teach families and children to make distinctions between addictions that do not cause harm, and those that do. Addiction sends millions of people to jail and prison, but 75% of addicts never receive treatment. Without education and treatment the epidemic of addiction can only get worse.

How do we teach positive choices to our children without being repressive? How can the media cover addiction with dignity and respect? How do we tell the recovery story without exploiting the addict in the worst stages of active use? What is our education initiative in this area? These are the questions we are beginning to address with a new kind of documentary.

“The Silent Majority” shows three programs that go beyond telling kids what not to do. For more information: Contact us.