The Rush to Rehab; Stop Rehab Abuse!

The Mayor of San Francisco announces that he’ll enter rehab and counseling for alcohol after it’s revealed that he had an affair with the wife of his campaign manager. Isaiah Washington is undergoing counseling for his use of a homophobic slur. Michael Richards is in counseling for yelling racist epithets . Met Gibson enters rehab for alcoholism after making anti-Semitic remarks when stopped by police for driving while intoxicated., Sen. Mark Foley enters rehab for alcohol after it was revealed that he had sent sexually suggestive e-mails to teenage pages., Reverend Haggard enters rehab when confronted with having a sexual relationship with a male prostitute.

The list goes on and on and on.

Then there are the Lindsey Lohans and Nicole Ritchies who enter rehab for drugs, alcohol or whatever, become ‘experts’ on addiction recovery, tell everyone how their lives have changed, yet within a short amount of time are seen partying, driving under the influence, and acting out.

We read the newspapers, listen to the radio and go online wondering, who is next in the line-up for rehab? Who will come out a few weeks later, write their memoirs, go on the speaking circuit, and tell us to live our lives?

There could be a gold mine in running rehab centers for celebrities that don’t want to take responsibility for their actions and for counselors who specialize in famous people who make racist, homophobic, or any other hate-filled remarks.. There’s probably also money to be made by graphic artists who create diplomas for graduates of rehab and counseling who are declared ‘cured’ of alcoholism, drug addiction, racism, homophobia, and homosexuality.

Rehab is getting a bad name and soon there will be no room for the average alcoholic or drug addict who works hard to stay clean and sober, takes responsibility for their actions, and knows that there is still work to do after the first 30 days.

I’ve been clean and sober for over 22 years and I’ve put a lot of work into transforming my life. One of the first things I learned in AA was that alcoholism and drug addiction are not excuses for injuring yourself or others. Part of my recovery was making a list of people who I had harmed, making amends to them personally and accepting the consequences of my past actions. I didn’t make an announcement to the world and I still don’t think I have all the answers, but I do know a thing or two about rehab. …

Continue reading this article to hear Simma’s thoughts and strategies on rehab.

Contact us to learn more about Simma Lieberman Associates’ programs and workshops on life/work balance, overcoming fear and self-doubt, and diversity. Call Simma Lieberman Associates at (510)-527-0700.

Life/Work Balance: It’s a Conscious Decision

I don’t know why so many articles on life/work balance seem to focus on the person who suddenly decides they’ve had it with working all the time and within one hour quits their job, buys a yacht or a jet, grabs their family or their best friends or their dog and travels the world for a year or two. Not only that but then they get touted as the role model for the rest of us who either like our work, can’t leave right now, or just want to enjoy their life where they live. Besides, being in balance is more than just what you do with your time, its also how you feel and think all of the time.

The reality is that where ever you go you take yourself with you. I can go to the woods for a week to meditate, but if I’ve never meditated, or gained some inner peace or learned to be happy with who I am rather than what I do, I’ll go up to the woods and either count the minutes until I can leave or find some way to distract myself from myself.

Having balance in your life is more than how you spend your time, its also how you feel about that time and how present you can be during that time. It doesn’t always take one major event to want to change or to know something is not right for you. Its often a series of things.

Even after studying the subject, changing my unbalanced ways and eliminating some major stresses, there are still times in my life when I know I need to slow down and reassess my priorities.

In this article I feature four people from very different backgrounds who realized they needed to jump off the never ending treadmill of stress and overload and make some concrete changes. These are four people who found very different ways of achieving life/work balance with out having to sail the seas or fly through the skies for a year.

Ross Pike has been managing partner of Diversified Maintenance Systems, a facilities management company for the last year and a half. When I interviewed him, he was getting ready to go on a cruise with his wife for a few weeks. We talked for at least two hours, he was calm, focused and very present in the conversation. I learned that he wasn’t always this way. There were times in the past when he didn’t take the time he wanted with his family, and when he did, he was often tied to his Blackberry so he could reply quickly to “urgent” work related e-mails and phone calls. “ Before I was with Diversified Maintenance, I was Division President for another organization. I was responsible for over 7,000 employees. I had no personal time, it was always the customers time. “Since we were a national organization my day started early and ended late. I had to keep up with east and west coast time.”…