Mobile Clinic to Serve and Educate

The Desert Healthcare District and Foundation (DHCD) and community partners have launched a new mobile clinic to deliver medical and behavioral health services to underserved communities throughout the valley.  Doctors from Desert Physicians Medical Group (DPMG), nursing faculty and students from CSUSB’s Nursing Street Medicine Program and Desert Regional Medical Center residents are providing quality… Read more »

Yoga for Recovery

Yoga has long been used to help people look within and strengthen mind, body and spirit. Now, the practice is increasingly being used in addiction recovery to help clients reconnect with themselves.  In fact, in 2002, trauma-informed or trauma-sensitive yoga was introduced within the industry to help build resilience by connecting students to inner resources,… Read more »

Is Alcohol Putting Your Immune System at Risk?

2020 has been a monster of a year, with shelter-in-place orders and constant, head-spinning policy changes. It’s no wonder people fall back to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as poor eating and drinking habits.  In April, the World Health Organization issued a press release warning against alcohol consumption. At the same time, according to Nielsen ratings,… Read more »

Celebrate Recovery: A Faith-based Option for Recovery in our Valley

There are many options today for helping people in recovery. For those who want to integrate their faith into their recovery, there is a program called Celebrate Recovery, a Christ-centered twelve-step program that started 27 years ago at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. While working on his own sobriety through Alcoholics Anonymous, founder John… Read more »

Sobriety Feels Like “Slowbriety”

Congratulations on making the most difficult decision of your life: the decision to get sober. The journey of addiction and dependency can be a long and arduous road fraught with challenges in every aspect of life. Long-gnarled tentacles take hold wreaking havoc and then, ah…the early days of recovery are the calm after the turbulent… Read more »

Ear Acupuncture for Addiction, Pain and Anxiety

As a registered nurse, I have been with Eisenhower Medical Center and the Betty Ford Center for 29 years. I became an acupuncturist 15 years ago and have had impressive results treating patients with auricular (ear) acupuncture for chemical dependency, alcohol withdrawal, anxiety and pain. The ear is innervated (has nerve supply) from three major… Read more »

Early Recovery: Giving Yourself Time and Gaining a Voice

Do you know the most important part of an inpatient treatment program for addiction? The first hour after discharge. Learning much about the “addict self” which looms large, while supporting and building a sometimes underdeveloped and undernourished “sober self” is quickly put to the test when on one’s own, often feeling vulnerable and raw. There… Read more »

Addiction: East Meets West for Long-Term Recovery

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, you understand on a deep and intimate level the desperation to do whatever it takes to recover. Addiction professionals, counselors, doctors, scientists, clergy and many others continue to search for a cure-all for the mental, emotional, relational, and financial trail of devastation that chemical dependency… Read more »