AADAP`s Resource Center AADAP`s 9th Drug Court Graduation

On the web at: www.aadapinc.ws
AGENCY SPONSORS
AADAP’s Resource
Center
By Louis Lewis
W
elcome to AADAP’s Resource
Center. Located at 3850 Martin
Luther King Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
90008, the resource center is integral to the
overall services of AADAP’s Employment
Access Unit. The Center serves as an employment development and community center. It is
available to individuals who are interested in
gaining and or updating vocational skills,
exploring new career paths, and or pursuing
personal and professional growth. AADAP’s
Resource Center acts as a conduit for use by
AADAP’s Workforce Investment Act (WIA)
participants, Welfare to Work (WtW)
participants and the public to gain knowledge
and skills in order to become successful in
today’s workforce environment.
The Resource Center offers workforce resource
information, job skill development activities,
and other employment-related services for job
seekers and for the community. When utilizing
the center, WIA, WtW participants and
community members have access to the
following: on-line job searches, on-line
directories of community resources, assistance
for resume writing, typing tutorials, training for
computer literacy, career counseling, and other
purposeful job readiness activities.
AADAP’s Resource Center is supplied with 10
state-of-the art computers programmed with
occupational software that has career exploration capabilities, telephones, fax machines, and
copiers. Most importantly, the center has a
library full of information for public and
participant use. Individuals will find job
opening listings, occupational reference books,
and job search and interviewing materials,
videos, labor market information, and consumer reports. Informations regarding how to
file for unemployment insurance and learning
about earned tax credits are also provided at the
Center’s library.
Continued on page 2…
AADAP’s 9th Drug
Court Graduation
By Oliver Taylor
ADAP and the Inglewood Drug Court
held it’s 9th Drug Court Graduation on
December 1, 2000. At the ceremony, 16
graduates were recognized for their commitment to the program and for successfully
completing their requirements. The 9th Drug
Court Graduation ceremony has been the
largest graduating class since the program’s
inception.
A
The greatest aspect about graduation is the
sense of renewed hope and of a new outlook on
life. The opportunity of having a second chance
is available to the graduate, but he or she must
work hard to turn that second chance into the
reality of having a new life. Despite the
opportunity at hand, it is not an easy task for
some to endure.
One of the many responsibilities that I have as
a Drug Court counselor is to be a support for
clients who are having difficulty with their
second chance. Often clients need both
structure and support. The Drug Court offers
the structure and the counselors offer the
support. However, the duty of enforcing
Continued on page 2…
Inside This Issue
Vol. 24, Issue 11, February/March 2001
Learning To Ride Past The Ruts ........ 2
Dean Goishi, Pioneer, Leader ........... 3
AADAP Supporters for 2000 ............ 3
Residents Corner ............................ 4
Clean & Sober Holiday Season ........ 4
Holiday Experience .......................... 5
Family Matters ................................. 7
Recovery And Sisterhood ................. 7
Students Learn Great Things At The Resource Center
…“Resource Center” continued from page 1
The hours of operation are from 9:00 AM
to 6:00 PM Monday through Friday.
Employment Access staff, Andrea Harris, is
assigned to assist job seekers, employers and
the community with employment development and related needs.
For more information, please call Ms. Harris
at 323-295-0262.
The RICE PAPER is a
bimonthly publication of the
Asian American Drug Abuse
Program, Inc.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Mike Watanabe, MSW
Editors:
Evelyne Kim
Glenn Andres
Daisy Asis Nakanishi
Dean Nakanishi
Diane Ujiiye
Al Mizuno
Learning To Ride
Past The Ruts
Resource Center
By Al Mizuno
I
nexperience has its virtue. A novice
mountain biker, for example, may fare better
on any given day than his more experienced
counterpart, for he has not yet experienced the
pitfalls inherent in mountain biking. He may
notice the deep rut in the middle of the trail,
and ride past it with not so much as a second
glance. The experienced biker, on the other
hand, will notice the same rut; but, instead of
simply riding past it, his body will give rise to a
certain degree of tension, his mind will repeat,
“oh, shit, oh, shit!”, and his eyes will focus
intently on the rut just ahead. Despite his will
and loud protestation, the bike will veer
towards the rut as if drawn by a magnet, and,
much to the rider’s chagrin, the wheel will find
the rut and propel him over the handlebar!
…“Resource Center” continued from page 1
structure is not the just the sole responsibility
of the Drug Courts. Neither is the duty to
provide support the sole role of the counselor.
Everyone, including the judge, the defense
attorney, the prosecutor, the counselor and the
client, work together as a team to help the
individual regain his or her life. Ultimately, it is
the individual who works hard and benefits
from such an enduring challenge; for he or she
has taken ownership of his or her life.
The pleasure and reward that I receive is to
witness the clients that I have worked with
graduate from Drug Court and begin a new
life. Congratulations to all of you!
All mountain bikers, who have ridden the trails
long enough, have experienced this phenomenon. But why does it have to happen? If he
searches deep enough, the biker will find that
as a novice he was only preoccupied with the
experience of the ride. He challenged the trails,
and his goal was to finish each ride successfully.
And, as long as nothing prevented him from
attaining this goal, his confidence went
unabated. However, the moment he encountered his first crunch in a rut, the rider’s
Continued on page 8…
2 Rice Paper
The Proud Graduates
Dean Goishi
Pioneer, Founder,
Advocate, Leader
Thank you to all of
you who supported
us in 2000. We
greatly appreciate
all of your
contributions to
AADAP!
By Diane Ujiiye
he Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention
Team (APAIT), a project of Special
Services for Groups (SSG), would not be
in existence today if it wasn’t for Dean Goishi.
That’s hard to imagine, and might sound
overblown, but it’s true.
T
In 1985, a friend of Dean’s died from AIDS.
From AIDS. Think about the emotional,
social, political implications of an Asian man
dying from AIDS in 1985. There were no
programs dedicated to reaching and treating
Asians and Pacific Islanders with HIV.
Therefore, there was no place for this particular
man to go to for help. He died alone.
In the early 80’s, the support group Asian
Pacific Lesbian and Gays (APLG) had a core
membership of folks including Dean Goishi
who did their best as volunteers to educate the
community about HIV. APLG received
modest funds from the California Community
Foundation to translate three educational
brochures into six API languages. This core
group made up the AIDS Intervention Team
committee of APLG.
Dean was doing quite well selling life insurance
for a major nationwide company, being
promoted regularly, and gaining greater status
within the organization. Like many API’s, he
also did quite well straddling two worlds, in
this case, the straight, conservative world of life
insurance, and his own personal social circle of
gays and lesbians. His family knew in silence,
acknowledging Dean and his partner by
putting them in the same room together when
they visited the family up north.
If you know Dean, you know him to be smart,
low-key, indirectly direct (very Japanese
American), but quite intense in his own
focused way. I’m guessing it’s these qualities,
certainly not his life insurance background, that
led an APLG member to encourage Dean to
apply for the newly funded APAIT Project
Director position in 1990. Yes, the small AIDS
Intervention Team found a way (with the
oversight of SSG and the partnership of the
Platinum/$5000
Astro Canon
Cathay Pacific/Ada Chan Wong
Dean and Aviva Weiner
Dean Goishi
Asian Pacific AIDS Education Project
comprised of Asian Pacific Lesbians and Gays,
the Indochinese Youth Center, Chinatown
Service Center, Search to Involve Pilipino
Americans, Korean Health Education
Information Resources, and THE Asian
Health Project ) to secure funds from the
County of Los Angeles, Office of AIDS
Programs (APO), now the Office of AIDS
Programs and Policy.
APAIT had two full time staff then, and later
added the Asian Youth Center and Korean
Youth Center to the consortium. They shared
office space in the then Chinatown Service
Center Annex (now the A3PCON annex).
Dean leaves APAIT with their own office
space in downtown, 24 staff, a wide array of
programs and services spanning prevention
through treatment, and the legacy of being the
only place for HIV+ API’s to go to. His daily
concern of Asians dying by themselves is
assuaged by knowing that APAIT is stable,
well-respected, and has been extremely, if not
primarily credited for getting us (individuals
and communities) to talk about HIV, homosexuality, death, disease, and gender issues at
large.
Dean leaves an agency, but he doesn’t leave us.
We wish him only the best, as he’s left us with
his best, and for that we are grateful.
AADAP continues to partner with APAIT in
conducting HIV/AIDS and Substance Abuse
Workshops, funded through the Office of AIDS
Programs and Policy. For more information,
contact Andy Cho at 323 293 6284.
Gold/$2000+
LA DWP/Green Power
Kaiser Permanente
Southern California
Edison Wells Fargo Bank/Maria Guzman
Silver Sponsors/$1000 +
Akira & Martha Suzuki
American Honda Motor Co.
California Bank & Trust/Ken Kasamatsu
Hoops for Friends/Gerald Morita
Haru and Tsuneo Yamasaki
Hiroshima/Johnny Mori
Miyakawa, Movesessian, & Associates
Pacific Bell
Pacific General Insurance Services
Paul Shishima & Co. Sun America
Walter Douglas, III
Bronze Sponsors/$500
Angeland
Cal State Long Beach Student Services/
Alan Nishio
Dave Fujii
Deloitte and Touche
El Camino Lions Club
Karen Ogawa
LA County Asian American Employees Assc. Lim,
Ruger & Kim, LLP
Toyota
Western Pacific Housing
West Valley United Methodist Church
Yoneo Yamamoto
Community Sponsors/$300
Aihara Insurance
Asian Pacific Health Care Venture
Asian Youth Center
Centinela Radiology/ David Shimooke
Dr. Donald S. Mayekawa
Chinatown Service Center
Community Coalition
Evergreen Baptist Church
Eveready Printing/Clyde Bennet
Korean Youth Community Center
Law Offices of Dennis Chang
Los Angeles LDC
Pacific Clinics
Prototypes
State Compensation Fund
TDK Electronics Corporation
The Gas Company
Visual Communications
WRAP Family Services
Continued on page 6…
Rice Paper 3
Resident’s Corner
The resident’s corner is a
regular feature in the Rice
Paper. It is written to give the
reader a bird’s eye view of
recovery and treatment in
the T.C.
A Clean and Sober
Holiday Season
By Jose R.
O
ur holiday season started with all the
preparations that needed to be done for
the Christmas party on Friday December
22, 2000. We had the mural crew draw and paint
a mural of the scene with Mary, Joseph, the baby
Jesus, and the three Wise Men. The mural
turned out to be a work of art. Then we had the
floor buffers wax and buff the floors until the
wee hours of the morning. While they were busy
waxing and buffing the floors, the kitchen crew
was also up until the wee hours of the morning
cooking up a great feast for the Christmas Party.
The rest of the residents got together and
decorated the house. We also had a great crew
build our make shift chimney which turned out
to be better than last years chimney. Finally, the
whole house practiced for days singing Christmas Carols with the help of Glenn Johnson.
The big day came and every one was exhausted
but anxious at the same time. The party turned
out really well, and I felt great knowing that all
the hard work paid off. What I enjoyed the most
was seeing my peers spend precious time with
their families. I also enjoyed the tradition of the
Secret Santa that takes place every Christmas
here at AADAP. Which made things interesting
and exciting. All the hard work and long hours
really paid off, because everyone had a blast.
Before
that I am now addicted to mochi, it is the
“bomb”, too bad we only experience it once a
year.
The next thing you know the New Year came
knocking on our doors. First off, we all went to
an Alcohol and Drug Free Dance on New Years
Eve. It was a different experience for me because
I can not recall the last time that I rang in the
New Year’s clean and sober. Before we entered
the party, I actually felt butterflies in my
stomach. I used to feel the same way when
would go to a club or party. I am glad that those
butterflies went away after a couple of minutes,
once I realized that I was in a safe environment. I
am very grateful to have started the New Year
clean and sober. The last time that I can
remember being clean, was when I was 13 years
old, I am now 26 years old.
Finally, on New Year’s Day we had our annual
Ethnic Day Brunch. The four ethnic groups that
are represented in T.C. are Hispanic, Asian,
African American, and Caucasian. Everyone got
into their own ethnic groups and created several
specialties of their ethnic background. Yes, more
food but this was far and away the best food that
I have enjoyed at AADAP in the last nine and
one-half months. Our families, came and spent
time with us, and that was the highlight of my
New Year. Seeing my parents, siblings, and
nephews reminded me what awaits me out there,
which is a loving and supporting family. That is
basically how we spent the holiday here at the
T.C. Of course none of this would be possible
without AADAP , my family, my will power,
and most important of all my faith in my higher
power. I decided to write about how we spent
the holiday’s, instead of letting out all my
feelings, because the true feelings that I have is
of gratefulness.
I hope you all have a very good and prosperous
New Year.
For Christmas Eve, we all spent time to relax
and enjoy our annual visit to Shakey’s Pizza. At
Shakey’s we ate pizza, fried chicken, and my
favorite, mo jo potatoes. We then went to Santa
Monica Promenade, to see the movie, Castaway.
Personally, I enjoyed the movie and gave it two
thumbs up. The next day was Christmas Day,
and we had our family’s visit us and we got our
grub on, once again. For me it was the best
Christmas that I have had in a long time,
because I was free from my addiction for a
change.
Three days later, AADAP had their annual
Mochi Celebration, it was my first time hearing
about it, let alone participating in it. I really
enjoyed the environment that Mochi Day
created, it was actually one of my better days
here in the Therapeutic Community. By the way,
I know that as an addict I can never go back to
the life of addiction but I will go ahead and say
4 Rice Paper
After
Lets All Try To Sing Togetha Now!
Holiday Experience
By Eric S.
et me start off by saying, WOW!! The
Holiday Season at AADAP was an
experience that I will never forget. As
every holiday approaches all the residents get
together and work hard to prepare for the
Christmas and New Year’s festivities. We made
posters, decorated Christmas trees, and
wrapped presents. It was a nice break from our
usual structure.
L
Finally, it was time for our annual Christmas
Dinner. All of our families joined us to eat
enormous amounts of food that were served,
then it was time for AADAP’s Choir to rock
the house. The night was filled with poems and
skits. I personally participated in one of the
skits, and I could see the proud stare of my
father in the audience, which was something
that I had not seen since childhood. Everyone
seemed to enjoy the dinner and the show.
After our Christmas event, it is New Year’s Day
and we all got our boogie on at a late night
dance, at LA VETS. For many of us, it was the
first time ringing in a New Year without being
intoxicated. I never knew I could have such a
good time without alcohol. Although the
holiday experience was enjoyable, it was also a
valuable learning experience for me.
Thought we are already into the new year, I
would like to wish everyone a belated Happy
New Year!!
Thank You
AADAP Resident Works On Trust Issues
Rice Paper 5
…“AADAP Supporters” continued from page 3
Friends of AADAP/$100+
Adeline Manzo
AFLAC/Elizabeth Kim
Agnes Marie Royal
Allen Fukunage
Alice Lieou
Barbara Hurd
Benefit Planning
Calvin & Marie Tijima
Charles Auto Body Service/Charles
Kim Enterprise Rent-a-car
F&W Foodservice
Hiroji Yamashita
Jeanne’s Creation/Jeanne Yanai
Jean Yamaguchi
Judy Pasco
Imada Wong Communications Group
Innovative Solutions
Isamu Ujiiye
Kathy Ujiiye
Ken Kasamatsu
Keith Umemoto
Magna Systems, Inc
Miyo Ujiiye
MTC
My Tran
NAPAFASA
Roosevelt Arellano
San Gennaro Foods
Tae Lee
Supporters of AADAP/$5-$90
Anarissa Cachila
Anderson Consulting
Asian American Christian
Counseling Services
A Touch of Carpet
Brian Nguyen
Bryon Wada
Cable Masters/Jay Nakamoto
Carol Fuentes
Cathleen N. & John R. Carlson
Crenshaw Lock
Daewon Kwon
Debbie Ozeki
Dent Pro/David Gilman
East LA JACL
El Camino Lions Club
Excellence in Air Conditioning
Glesteree Blades
G. Hayashi
Gloria Wong
Gregory Yoshiyama
GTE California Direct Design
Instant Fire Protection/Victoria Lee
J. Choi
James Fortner
Jimmy Fong
Juan Ruiz
K. Nagashima
Kenny Le
KO-AM Printing
Matthew Takiguchi
Meiji Pharmacy
Nora Cartagena
Pannache Limousine Transportation
Perry Hall
S. Ramos
Salomon Smith Barney
Tak’s Hardware & Garden Supply
Union Bank of California
Unique Plant Rentals Inc/ Ken
Kawasaki
Wayne T. Tofukuji, D.D.S
Western Auto Body Inc./
George Hornbeck/Eric Matsui.
West Valley United Methodist Church
Jeanne
Capital Donations
Dr. Cyrus Mody
Dr. Freny Mody
Genevieve Debose
Dr. Herman & Maureen Debose
Vernon P. Hee
In-Kind Donations
A Ballooning Dales
Any Occasion
Bruce & Lee Boyar Kusada
Borders Bookstore
Coley’s Kitchen
Donna Dawkins
Helping Hands/Robert Simms
Jean Yamaguchi
JACL-Women’s Auxilary
Japanese American National Museum
Kimberly Hee
Lucy Shelton
Mike Nakayama
Misao Okino
Niki Auila
Norton Simon Museum
Rodney Ichinose
Starbucks Coffee
Tony P’s Bar & Grill
Raffle Donors
Cathay Pacific
California Club Hotel & Casino
East/West Players
Mega 92.3 FM
Panda Management Company
Sears
Six Flags Magic Mountain
The Walt Disney Company
Yanai's
Spring Arts & Crafts Show
March 4, 2001
10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Torrance Cultural Arts Center
3330 Civic Drive, Torrance, California
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
FREE ADMISSION & PARKING
NO STROLLERS, PLEASE
Jeanne Yanai's Arts & Crafts Show
P.O.Box 6504, Torrance, CA 90504
Tel: (310)329-8679/Fax: (310)538-5467
Email: [email protected]
Save These Dates
for our Fall Shows!
October 7 & November 4, 2001
Portions of the proceeds are donated to the Japanese American National Museum and Asian Drug Abuse Program
6 Rice Paper
Family Matters
Mission Impossible
Family Matters is an open
forum for everyone to
participate. Because AADAP
is committed to the family
concept, we invite all of you
to share your ideas and
thoughts. You can write
AADAP c/o Evelyne Kim or
call her at AADAP.
D
The Asian American Drug
Abuse Program is proud to
announce that our web site is
finally up and running. Please
check out www.aadapinc.ws
We hope you enjoy it. Please feel
free to provide feedback. All
comments can be directed to
Evelyne Kim at 323.293.6284
A Celebration of
Recovery and
Sisterhood
By Yvette Peck
M
y December started off on the right
track. I had the most wonderful
experience. One of the best since I’ve
been in recovery now for 11 months. What
made it so wonderful? I was given an opportunity to have brunch with “Women in Vogue.”
“Women in Vogue” is an organization of ladies
who are part of Narcotics Anonymous. Every
year for the past 8 years, “Women in Vogue”
have organized an annual bruncheon at the
Proud Bird. It is a time to recognize women
who have maintained years of sobriety and also
to celebrate sisterhood and recovery.
The event was very emotional for me. I was
feeling nervous and anxious as I was getting
ready for the brunch. I was overwhelmed as I
saw my old road partners who were also in
recovery attending the same function. As I sat
down at the beautiful table setting, a flood of
different feelings rose up within me that I
could not help become teary eyed. I did not
know how others were feeling, but the fact that
I was clean and sober and was invited to this
function made me want to hold onto recovery
the way I once held onto using. What made me
even more emotional was that my desire to
maintain my recovery was stronger and greater
than my old habits and desires.
o you have what it takes to solve
brainteasers? Then be prepared to think,
to ponder, to think again and ultimately
exercise and expand your mind. Your mission, if
you choose to take it, is to figure out this
brainteaser.
Ok. Here is the situation.
You occupy a bedroom in the basement. At the
bottom of the stairway are three switches that
control three different light bulbs. The bulbs
are at the top of the stairway, but they are
hidden from your view. When you turn on any
switch, you are unable to see which bulb is
turned on. This of course is due to the way your
room is situated. ( If you could see the light
bulbs, then this would not be a brainteaser)
Your mission is to determine which switch
controls which light bulb. You only have one
chance to go up the stairs to solve this puzzle.
Once you go up, you cannot go back downstairs
to see which switch controls which light bulb.
One of the most inspiring parts of the morning
agenda was listening to our entertainer. She has
been clean and sober for over 20 years. She is a
blind woman, but this woman has faith and can
sing her heart out. As she sang “The Way We
Were”, tears began to flow from my eyes as I
sat and absorbed all that was happening to me.
I could not stop crying.
As difficult as it was, I had to pull myself
together and listen to other speakers talk about
their lives and their road to recovery. Even
though I was in the program for 11 months, I
kept hearing my story over and over again. The
only difference I noticed was that speaker was
not I. Yet, as I sat in my chair and listened to
the stories, I kept seeing myself all over again.
Feelings of hurt, shame, embarrassment, and
finally gratitude swept over me like another
Here’s a clue: You have to think creatively and
beyond the ordinary.
If you have any questions, please feel free to call
Evelyne Kim or Al Mizuno at 323-293-6284.
If you have the correct answer, we will publish
it in the next Rice Paper issue.
By the way, if any of you readers have
brainteasers that you would like to share, please
feel free to submit them. Good luck.
Looking for a
caring and
loving owner
I
have a very cute Akita who needs a new
home. His previous owner has moved into a
new apartment and I have been left in
charge His name is Smokey and he is a four
year old male. Smokey has had all of his shots
and is neutered. He is also licensed.
If you have are interested please contact Corliss
(Employment Access) at (323)-293-6284.
tidal wave that tears again flowed down my
face.
I’ve heard it said that you don’t forget where
you came from and you won’t repeat it. I am so
thankful that I am living a different life today.
After the function was over, I expressed my
gratitude to the speaker and my fellowship for
giving me a wonderful experience early on in
my recovery. I look back on my life and say to
myself, “How sweet it is for me.” It is sweet
because if I did not have the life I have had
then I would not have found such a wonderful
family to be a part of. Recovery is a new
beginning that leads to a new life. I would like
to thank the founders of AADAP Drug Court
and all drug rehabilitation programs for taking
care of recovering addicts like myself.
The Power Of Sisterhood!
Rice Paper 7
…“Past The Ruts” continued from page 1
ongoing confidence was put to the test. It is
much like that of a star ball carrier in a football
game.
As long as he can run through a hole in the
front line, dart past the secondary with a quick
burst, and find his way into the end zone time
and again, the ball carrier will maintain his
confidence and sense of invincibility. But the
first time the hole in the line is not there, and
he runs into a 250-pound middle linebacker
named ‘Ole Ironjaw, who has ‘kill’ on his mind,
and he is carried off the football field somewhat less than intact, his confidence will be
shaken. And the next time he is asked to carry
the ball through the middle of the line,
questions will abound. Will the hole open up?
Will ‘Ole Ironjaw be there to greet him again?
Will he make it to the end zone? Will he walk
off the field unscathed? He may become so
obsessed with not making it pass the front line
that his whole focus will rest there and not in
the end zone. His fear of not making it past the
line will become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and
he will always be tackled in the backfield, even
though there is a hole in the line large enough
for a small buffalo to run through.
To succeed, he must renew belief in himself
and overcome the fear of failure and ‘Ole
Ironjaw. And he must carry the ball, again and
again, until he regains the confidence he once
had, even though Ironjaw is hungry to greet
him.
Likewise, the mountain biker can ride pass the
ruts as he did in earlier days. To accomplish
this, he must come to the realization that his
success in avoiding the ruts as a novice was due
to his being focused on the trail up ahead and
not on the ruts. The moment he fell into one,
he came to associate the resulting pain with any
rut he encountered on future outings. He,
subsequently, became fixated on them every
time he came across one, for pain has a way of
jogging the memory. He soon found himself
looking too hard at where he did not want to go;
and this fixation with avoidance caused both
rider and bike to fall into ruts the former so
desperately tried to avoid.
messages become the ‘ruts in the road’ towards
which the residents’ psyche gravitates. And, it
seems that no matter how much progress they
appear to make, they invariably find themselves
‘propelled over the handlebars’. Despite
unyielding determination and a burning want
to succeed, change may be futile.
But, it is possible…
Like the mountain biker and the running back,
they must first look pass the traumas, or ‘ruts’,
that are never forgotten, and focus attention on
the road up ahead. In order to succeed, they
must accept trauma as part of life’s inequities
without blame or accusations; for, in some
remote way, we are all to blame. And, in the
process, they must relinquish all claims to
traumas they own. Unless they do this, they
will never be able to ride pass the ruts that suck
them into the abyss of their failures.
The process is long, and the need to persevere
will have to last for several years. Those who
seek ‘quick fixes’ and easy solutions to life-long
problems will invariably fail. Likewise, those
who devour knowledge and insight as they do a
Big Mac, devoid of a willingness to change old
ways, will end up at the same square. Like their
counterparts, who demand quick fixes, they
expect the impossible…a different ending to
the same old song.
After learning to ride past the ruts, residents
must learn to develop a direction in life
compatible with their nature. But they must
first come to understand nature and all that it
represents. Therein lays pain…pain of selfrevelation and the willing acceptance of
criticism and judgment cast at them by peers.
AADAP Inc.
5318 South Crenshaw Blvd.
Los Angeles, California 90043
Telephone 323-293-6284
If they have succeeded in coming this far and
have gained some clarity into who it is they feel
they are, they must now be willing to change or
modify pieces of their nature that bring on
negative consequences. At this point in
recovery, some find the task ahead too grim
and distasteful to pursue and abandon the quest
or fool themselves into believing they want to
change. With time, however, the lie is revealed,
and, like those before them, they find themselves back at ‘square one’.
While there are varying degrees in one’s ability
and willingness to pursue recovery, those
lacking the fortitude to go the distance have no
one to blame for eventual relapse. Good
fortune is not reserved for the lucky, as they
would like to believe; and wishful thinking will
never take the place of courage and determination. They question too little, and fear too
much, the new and the unknown. They prefer
to remain where the going seems safe, where
life is predictable, and ruts in the road relieve
them of responsibility.
Those with the strength and determination to
effect change in their lives will continue their
journey towards total recovery, and will stop at
nothing short of success. They perceive
discomfort as a prerequisite to change, and
have little to complain about. They view the
unknown as filled with opportunities and
welcome the journey. And should they fall into
a rut along the way, it was not because they
obsessed about it. They have risen above early
traumas, and have learned to let them go. They
know enough to get out of the rut, dust off the
dirt, and move on down the road. There are too
many detours and rush-hour drivers to watch
out for on their road to success. “Ruts?”, they
ask. “What ruts?”
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This phenomenon is not restricted to mountain
biking.
Many in treatment are victims of experiences,
which have left their psyche traumatized and
them unable to move on. Some suffer emotional scars so deep that rising above them is
highly suspect. Despite a genuine desire to
move forward, tapes associated with the trauma
scream out “failure” and “loser”, and promulgate dread and a sense of hopelessness. These
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