By David Palmer With her blonde bob and a big smile, recovering drug addict Stephenie Drake, a 35-year old ex GI from Pansy, Ark., looks happy in her sobriety. Drake has been clean and sober nine years now, she said in a recent interview, and lives in a small trailer with her son, Skyler, while […]
New Court Helps Veterans get a Fresh Start
December 30, 2010 By
On a mid-December afternoon, Sixth Circuit Judge Mary S. McGowan convened Little Rock’s new Veteran’s Treatment Court (VTC) on the third floor of the Pulaski County courthouse, the second of its kind in Arkansas and one of about 40 nationwide. The mission of the VTC program is to promote recovery and rehabilitation from substance abuse […]
Our creative writing class on recovery for teenagers
December 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment
We, at One Day at a Time, a Little Rock based non-profit company, have a special interest in addressing the problem of teen substance abuse. This is partly owing to the fact that, the U.S. Department of Health and Human has identified Arkansas as among states with the highest rates of non-medical use of pain relievers […]
A conversation with Bobby Ward, clinical supervisor at UAMS
December 30, 2010 By
By David Palmer I’ve known Bobby Ward for most of his 20 years of sobriety and have been entertained and enlightened at recovery meetings over the years by his story, which he delivers with self-deprecating humor illuminated by a megawatt smile. So it was with great anticipation that I drove over to the UAMS Psychiatric […]
Nurses in Recovery
September 24, 2010 By
Nurses in recovery. A new book on prescription drug abuse From Unbecoming a Nurse to Overcoming Addiction By Paula Davies Scimeca, RN, MS Sea Meca, Inc. $19.95 “One day after having been up all night getting high,” a registered nurse writes in her testimony in Paula Scimeca’s book, From Unbecoming a Nurse to Overcoming Addiction, […]
For homeless veterans The Drop-In Day Treatment Center offers a step up
September 24, 2010 By
“We put homeless veterans first.” That’s the welcoming slogan of Little Rock’s Drop-in Day Treatment Center on Second Street. Estella Morris, a diminutive manager with an easy smile and a quiet authority, presides over the Center which offers meals, shelter, medical care and a leg up in the world to those veterans willing to play […]
After struggle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Ex-Combat Marine dedicates life to helping others
September 24, 2010 By
Ex-Marine and Vietnam War Veteran Bob G. is the unofficial face of Recovery Central, a new Little Rock facility for 12-Step meetings, mainly Narcotics Anonymous. An alcoholic and former methamphetamine addict, Bob sponsors more people than he can count. And he does it by the book (See The Narcotics Anonymous Step Working Guides and Working […]
A new approach to growth and recovery
September 24, 2010 By
By Jan Kucala Every day modern kids have to make choices that we as parents, teachers and counselors may never have dreamed about when we were kids. Kids are under more stress today than previous generations. For many the word “family” may not evoke images of love and support but rather arguments and disconnection. Kids […]
Blackout
June 17, 2010 By
Blackouts are periods of intoxication during which the individual is unable to form or store new memories, though he or she appears to be awake and alert. It is not a good sign. By Ron T Mark came to at 30 miles an hour. This was just an estimate because his attention was in the […]
Lit-A Memoir
June 17, 2010 By
Review by David Palmer By Mary Karr Harper Collins “Age seventeen, stringy-haired and halter-topped, weighing in the high double digits and unhindered by a high school diploma, I showed up at the Pacific ocean, ready to seek my fortune with a truck full of extremely stoned surfers.” With this opening paragraph in Lit, her third […]
