News from the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (LICADD)

September 17, 2012 
 
Good Morning!
The fall calendar is filling-up quickly and we hope you'll join us on Wednesday for our R. Brinkley Smithers Golf Invitational. We still have a few playing spots and dinner tickets available. You can get more info here and our raffle featuring a wonderful golf excursion to Scotland is a great option if you are unable to attend.

Celebrate Recovery Month locally by coming to LIRA's Fourth Annual Rock-N-Recovery Celebration on Saturday, September 29th from 6:00-10:00PM at the Deer Park Community Center. It's a great event and LICADD is a proud sponsor!     

Sincerely,
Jeffrey L. Reynolds, Ph.D., CEAP, SAP
LICADD Executive Director

PS: Hope you got a chance to check out this article about preventing overdose on Long Island.
A New Addition To The LICADD Team

Please join us in welcoming our newest staff member, Monica Wakely, LCSW-R, SAP to the growing LICADD team!  Monica is the new Director of Employee Services and will be focused on expanding our Open Arms Employee Assistance Program (EAP).  

 

Monica comes to us with over 20 years of clinical and employee support services experience, and will be a terrific asset, not only to our team, but to the companies and businesses she will work with through our EAP.  When employees are experiencing stress in their personal lives, it often carries over into their professional lives.  This can have negative consequences on staff morale, efficiency, productivity, and can lead to losses in revenue over the long term.  LICADD's Open Arms Employee Assistance Program (EAP) seeks to target these imbalances by addressing the source of the problem and supporting employees so that they can do their very best while at work.

 

"Alleviating this stress has extremely positive outcomes, not only on the family, but the workplace as well," Monica explained, "The stress of divorce, an illness, death and/or addiction, is extremely difficult to handle and I strive to support our clients through all of that.  Our clients (and their employers) are reassured to know that they are not alone in their struggle, and that they have an entire network of highly trained professionals to support them through whatever challenges they encounter."

 

Interested in learning more about the support systems and resources available to you and your employees?  Please contact Monica Wakely, LCSW-R, SAP, at (516)-747-2606, ext. 104 or email mwakely@licadd.org.

It Works If You Work It!

A new study published in a special issue of Substance Abuse finds that recovering alcoholics who help others in 12-step programs furthers their time sober, consideration for others, step-work, and long-term meeting attendance.

 

These findings come from a 10-year, prospective investigation led by Maria Pagano, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and principal investigator of the "Helping Others" study. Dr. Pagano and colleagues evaluated the decade long of treatment outcomes using data from a single site in Project MATCH, the largest multi-site randomized clinical trial on behavioral treatments of alcoholism sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. In a large sample with high representation of Hispanic problem drinkers, this study investigated the 10-year course and impact of programmatic activities in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) on long-term outcomes. Results showed that participation in Alcoholics Anonymous-related Helping (AAH) produced lowered alcohol use and increased interest in others at each subsequent follow-up assessment.

 

"Our study is the first to explore the 10-year course of engagement in programmatic 12-step activities and their simultaneous influence on long-term outcomes," says Dr. Pagano. "The AAH findings suggest the importance of getting active in service, which can be in a committed 2-month AA service position or as simple as sharing one's personal experience in recovery to another fellow sufferer."

 

This study also found that alcoholics engaged in AAH did more step-work and attended more meetings than those not helping others. In effect, AAH strengthens the commitment to the program that many newcomers have difficulty with in the beginning.

 

"Consequently, being interested in others keeps you more connected to your program and pulls you out of the vicious cycle of extreme self-preoccupation that is a posited root of addiction," says Dr. Pagano.

Please Join Us For This Important Event!

 
This Week's Sponsor

 

Bridge Back to Life

Intensive Outpatient Services

 4271 Hempstead Tpke 
Bethpage, NY 11714 
(516) 520-6600 

 

LICADD Newsletter Sponsorships 
Want your logo here?
 
Reach more than 1,000 treatment professionals, EAP professionals, school personnel, elected officials, people in recovery, nonprofits and more. We feature only one sponsor per edition and accept orders on a first-come, first-served basis. Rate is $100/issue.
 
 
Save the Date!

 

R. Brinkley Smithers Golf Invitational
Wednesday
September 19, 2012
The Creek and 
Piping Rock Clubs,
Lattingtown

Tee-Off For Our Teens
Wednesday
October 10, 2012
Maidstone Club
East Hampton

23rd Annual Peter Sweisgood Breakfast
Sunday
November 18, 2012
IBEW Local 25
Hauppauge

  

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For more than 56 years, LICADD has operated almost entirely on community contributions and donations from people like you. We don't have fancy offices, glossy brochures and a stable of administrators. Our budget is lean, our overhead is minimal and our operations are laser-focused on our core mission of saving lives.  That means that your donation goes further when you give to LICADD. And today more than ever, every dollar counts.
LICADD is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and contributons are 100% tax-deductible. LICADD is a BBB-Accredited Charity and we meet ALL 20 BBB Standards for Charitable Accountability.