Last week we covered a real current example of the challenges facing treatment providers.

You read about how administrators discuss treatment issues, make decisions and then the staff carries out the mission statement.

Wonderful! But Matthew Perry is still dead. Why? What went wrong?

“Nothing worked long-term before,” Matthew Perry stated, in his book, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.” P.168.

Is this on Matty? Or is there some Mea culpa for treatment organizations?

“There will be no long-term behavior changes unless you change core-beliefs first,” warn Wanberg and Milkman, regarding criminal behavior and substance abuse. Great! But how do you do that?

Hazelden-Betty Ford Foundation agrees:
Event-Core Beliefs-Thoughts-Feelings-Behavior, as explained to us by Albert Ellis. Your staff needs to be proficient at teaching this to your clients.

How do you signal the brain about what you want? VAK.

VAK are our three primary senses. Visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (feeling). It’s our GPS.

Visualize what you want, Transcendence. Hear the positive, constructive self-talk. Feel the energy as you create a new neural pathway through the limbic system. Enjoy the new behavior created by the ABC-DE Theory of Albert Ellis.

Do you really want to reduce relapse, recidivism and the cost of treatment for your community? Teach belief-behavior changes to your staff and clients.

Where is the long-term change?

You must address the limiting AOD-CTC core beliefs and correct them before there will be any long-term behavior changes in your system, or for your clients.

Belief Eye Movement Therapy, BEMT, is the shortest route between two points: Limiting beliefs and empowering beliefs.

Thats’ the difference that makes the difference in treatment. Should you or your organization consider learning how you can do this for your staff and clients?

DM me for more information.

The CBT map image is from Drug Court Treatment: The Verdict. Amazon.com

What role that you play is most important to you? Dad? Citizen? Provider?

How do beliefs in yourself affect your roles as parent, citizen and financial provider? Are these beliefs important?

Can you share here what that is?

What about CTC and AOD beliefs? Good question.

Permission-granting criminal thinking and conduct, CTC beliefs are critical regarding family and public safety. When the permission-granting beliefs are about using, dealing, or trafficking in alcohol and other drugs, AOD, we are talking about a deadly social cocktail. If it’s illicit it is a real problem.

People die. Even under or after the care of professionals, people die.

Mathew Perry is the latest public figure example. His death was tragic and avoidable.

What are your beliefs about the quality of care he received? He reported spending $7M-$9M on 15 or more rehabilitation programs over 30 years.

“Yougottawanna” change as AAers have heard for decades. Did he want to change? Did he want to live? He says yes. He wanted to change and live, as he stated in his book, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.”

What were his beliefs?

Newsweek published a list of the Top 350 Treatment Organizations in the U.S. That’s the top 2%. There are 17,353 of these according to Google.

Is your organization on the list?

How can all agencies have an 85% success rate when the department of justice reports an 85% recidivism and reincarceration rate after 10 years?

Do you believe ten years is long term? I do.

“There will be no long-term behavior changes unless you change permission-granting, CTC beliefs, regarding AOD first.” Wanberg, Milkman, Beck and Dokmanus.

You, we, I have got to work with the clients and offenders to help them to identify and change their CTC beliefs.

No B, therefore, No A. Where B equals long-term behavior change and A equals belief change.

KISS. Simply address the limiting beliefs ASAP in treatment. Begin the first hour, day and week. Time will fly. People die.

Keep it simple with ATA. Ask, tell, ask. “If I could show you a way to change that limiting belief, would you be interested in seeing how it works?”

Then you have permission to start your first BEMT session. Do it now. People die.

Belief Eye Movement Therapy, BEMT, is the quickest, shortest route between two points in treatment. But, “Yougottawanna!”

Message me if you are interested in getting started individually or as a group.

The CBT map image is from Drug Court Treatment: The Verdict. Amazon.com.

Last week I asked if you were in Newsweek’s Top 350 of Substance Abuse Treatment Providers leaderboard? Did you check if you were on the list?

I checked for local names and there were none.

I’d mentioned I’d been in my company’s Top 10 out of 6000 agents, It takes commitment, focus and relentless pursuit to be in the top 10.

It’s like they say in AA: YouGottaWanna. That implies a need for motivation.

I’d noticed that apathy and ennui seemed to be pervasive at my workplace. I’ve wondered about the cause and what were the CBT similarities between organizations and humans.

Anhedonia kept popping up. I questioned AI about my theory.

AI: “It’s important to acknowledge that anhedonia, which is a symptom characterized by a lack of motivation or enjoyment in usual activities, can indeed have a significant impact on individuals, including those who work in substance abuse treatment and mental health agencies. People with a history of substance use disorders may experience anhedonia as a result of their condition. Your concern about how anhedonia can affect group morale and the willingness to explore new treatment possibilities is valid.”

This was encouraging. I asked AI for recommendations to provide solutions.

AI: “Certainly, let’s discuss how the challenges and issues mentioned earlier can contribute to limiting beliefs among staff and the group, which in turn can hinder their performance and ability to help clients.

1. Anhedonia and Limiting Beliefs:
Challenge: When staff members experience anhedonia or a lack of motivation and enjoyment in their work, it can lead to limiting beliefs such as “we can’t make a difference” or “clients won’t change.”

AI: “Impact: These limiting beliefs can become self-fulfilling prophecies, causing staff to be less proactive in seeking innovative solutions and providing the best care possible.”

AI: “Solution: Address staff well-being through mental health support and training to combat these limiting beliefs. Encourage a positive mindset by highlighting success stories and the impact of their work on clients’ lives.”

Matthew Perry was a drug court spokesperson. His death was tragic and avoidable. He didn’t speak well of treatment providers. “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” pp180-181, Flatiron Books.

Not a success story at all. He’s dead. Remember: If nothing changes, nothing changes.

The top is where everything starts in organizations. There is a trickle-down effect. This is where the changes must start. I’d like to help.

12-Step program for SUD treatment providers:
Step 1: We came to believe that our beliefs about how to do treatment needed improvement if we want to reach the top 350.

Beliefs are the first place to start. Message me if you would like more free information or to discuss your situation.

The CBT map image is from Drug Court Treatment: The Verdict. Amazon.com

I’ve been in the top ten. The top ten on the leaderboard for my company. Top ten out of six thousand agents. 6000. It’s a great feeling.

Previously I was a life insurance professional. I have my CLU, ChFC, and LUTCF designations. I sold of lot of life insurance.

It takes commitment, focus and relentless pursuit to be in the top 10.

Beliefs, values, goals, thought, feelings, and emotions lead to successful sales outcomes.

It’s the same CBT process that leads to other behaviors such as crime and addiction. Or the top 350.

Organizations have a CBT process too. Why not?

Limiting beliefs and values don’t get positive results.

When I transitioned back into human services as a substance abuse counselor, I could see that the process was the same.

Establish rapport, find the problem, show the solution, close the deal, and ask for referrals. As a counselor serving the drug court system asking for referrals isn’t as important.

The judge gave us all the referrals needed.

What did the leaders listed by Newsweek do different to get in the top 350? There are 17,353 treatment providers in the U.S. Three hundred fifty is the top two percent (2%.) That is quite an accomplishment. Bravo!

What do other substance abuse treatment providers need to do to get to the top 350?
What are they not doing that the really good ones are doing?

Matthew Perry did not have a lot of good things to say about most of the treatment providers he dealt with. He used a lot of foul language to describe them. “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” pp180-181, Flatiron Books.

His death was tragic and avoidable. Permission-granting beliefs need to be addressed.

Most learning is done by observation. The top 350 would make excellent role models. Why not check with them to see what they do different?

Why not hire a coach?

The top is where most of the organizational processes starts. Then everything sort of rolls downhill.

How do the bottom 350 agencies get out of the basement?

If there were a 12-Step program for SUD treatment providers what would Step one look like?
Step 1: We came to believe that our beliefs about how to do treatment needed improvement if we want to reach the top 350.

This could be a sensitive issue requiring confidential coaching. The CEO could meet in private with a coach with fresh eyes. After a meeting of the minds regarding next level performance the information could be shared with and utilized by the staff.

Beliefs are the first place to start. Message me if you would like more free information.

We can learn a lot from Matthew Perry’s memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.” Is it your story?

Matty, as his “friends” called him, leaves a message for all of us. This includes communities, governments, treatment organizations, and individuals.

I said it’s a sad tale. That’s an understatement. He just wanted to feel “different.” He didn’t want to die. He begged and prayed for help.

Did the system betray him? Is it malpractice by treatment providers? Is it moral failure? Alcohol? Addiction?

We need tighter controls; more governance is this field.

Using since the age of 14, he spent $9M on 15 rehab stints over about 29 years, and then, addiction killed him.

He spent more time in sober living. He claimed over 10,000 hours of AA meetings.

He wrote that he felt most treatment organizations were simply a money grab. He could afford the best like some of those mentioned in Newsweek’s top 350 treatment providers.

He does not speak well of them overall. “My own experience,” he wrote, “…led me to believe that most of these places are pieces of s***…” (Friend, Lovers, and The Big Terrible Thing, Flatiron Books, Matthew Perry, pp180-181.)

Talk about beliefs.

On my second reading of the book, I still cannot find proof that he ever changed his permission-granting beliefs about using alcohol and other drugs. They were in his system when he died.

There is no proof that anyone showed him how to identify and change his limiting, permission-granting addiction beliefs.

My opinion is that teaching belief change is the number one priority for providers. If nothing changes, nothing changes.

Change work must be emphasized above all. Matty was not paying for reports and documents. He didn’t care about billing. “I didn’t want to die.” (p. 164, he tells us now, from the hereafter.

He just wanted to feel better. He wanted someone to help him
with his sadness to fill the holes of abandonment. He wanted to change.

Did standard treatment protocols get in the way of change work?

If nothing changes, nothing changes. We need to help people like Matthew Perry change. That starts with helping them change their CTC permission-granting addiction beliefs as Beck stated.

“Nothing had ever worked LONG TERM before,” he wrote, (P. 168.)

“There will be no long-term behavior changes unless you change core beliefs first,” according to Wanberg and Milkman. Albert Ellis showed us how with his ABC-DE Theory.

That’s what Belief Eye Movement Therapy, BEMT, is all about. The primary purpose of BEMT is to help people like Matthew to elicit, recognize and change unwanted, limiting, permission-granting beliefs that will kill them.

The primary goal is change work. Paperwork and billing will follow.

“Message me” if you want to learn how to do BEMT for you or your clients. We can do live staff trainings, Zoom, or any combination.

Last week I told you I had just received my copy of “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.” It’s Perry’s autobiography.

Matty, as his “friends” called him, died one year to the month after his book came out. He died of ketamine related causes among other physical issues.

It’s a sad tale of a sad person who is seeking belonging, validation, and happiness. He just wanted to feel “different.”

Is it also about betrayal? Is it malpractice? Or is it simply the cunning nature of alcohol and addiction?

At one time, Matty was a spokesperson for NADCP, the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. Then he suddenly disappeared.

Now they have Martin Sheen.

Matty, reported his first use of alcohol at age 14. He said that he spent $9M on 15 rehab stints over about 29 years up to and just prior to his death.

This is in addition to his sober living stints.

Nine million dollars for 15 rehabilitation attempts world-wide. Of course, he could afford the best and most expensive treatment providers like some of those mentioned in Newsweek’s top 350 treatment providers.

He does not speak well of them overall. If I understood him correctly, he had more respect for a good AA chapter and sponsor. You can read that for yourselves.

I’m on my second reading of the book. I cannot find any proof that he ever changed his permission-granting beliefs about it being okay to use.

I cannot find any proof that any of the $9M treatment organizations showed him how to change his limiting, permission-granting beliefs.

That’s a particular set of skills.

Knowledge of the stages of change and the 12 core functions of treatment are important for counselors and therapists to know. Especially the counseling part.

Yes. Report writing and billing are important. Documentation is needed.

Change work must be emphasized above all. Matty was not paying for reports and documents. He didn’t care about billing.

He just wanted to feel better. He wanted someone to help him with his sadness. He wanted to change. Did standard protocols get in the way of change work?

Help people change.

If nothing changes, nothing changes. We need to help people like Matthew Perry change. That starts with helping them change their permission-granting addiction beliefs as Beck stated.

“There will be no long-term behavior changes unless you change core beliefs first,” according to Wanberg and Milkman. Albert Ellis showed us how with his ABC-DE Theory.

That’s what Belief Eye Movement Therapy, BEMT, is all about. The primary purpose of BEMT is to help people like Matthew to elicit, recognize and change unwanted, limiting, permission-granting beliefs that will kill them.

The primary goal is change work. Paperwork and billing will follow.

“Message me” if you want to learn how to do BEMT for you or your clients. We can do live staff trainings, Zoom, or any combination.

My Matthew Perry book copy finally arrived today. I’m eager to get to it.

There has been a lot in the news about Matthew Perry’s death. Had he been clean as reported?

In today’s news an anonymous ‘friend’ said “he was never clean.”

But is this the point? Is that the big story? Is it burying the lede?

“Matty” as he was known to his friends, reported that he spent $9M on approximately 15 treatment attempts.

Some addiction educators tell us addicts will need 5-7 or more treatments before the person is successful. What is successful?

I think it’s a disservice to teach that. I also believe it’s a disservice to talk about relapse the relapse prevention the way it has been taught.

Why do I feel that way? I had an alcohol problem. I had one two-hour session, and I was done, quit, over it, whatever you want to say.

Coincidentally, I stopped smoking the same day. This has been 40 years ago, the 23rd of this month. No relapses.

I know a little bit about abstinence and Transcendence, the seventh stage of change.

So, you can see why I’m skeptical about the dogma that is taught in some schools. And, I do know that it is not all about me and my recovery. That people are different.

I do believe that what is possible for one person is possible for others. We learn mostly by observation and modeling.

My belief is that anyone can be taught how to stop quicker. As Miller and Rollnick say, “Beliefs of the counselor are as important as the beliefs of the clients.”

To paraphrase Albert Ellis, “Go then; and according to how thou hast believed, be it done unto you.”

If nothing changes, nothing changes. We know beliefs and emotions drive behavior. Change the beliefs and you change the emotions and behaviors.

Belief Eye Movement Therapy, BEMT, is available on Amazon.com

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to all!

Saul Khan gave an excellent Ted Talk on how AI can enhance teaching and learning. I agree with his argument. Until that quality reaches your community, if you need help, contact me.

Here is his presentation:

To paraphrase Ellis, he said, “It’s not the event that determines consequences or behavior. It’s the beliefs about the event.” ABC-DE Theory.

Why do addiction professionals want to know about this?

“It is essential to recognize that true transformation involves more than just addressing substance abuse; it requires identifying and changing permission-granting Criminal Thinking and Conduct (CTC) beliefs associated with alcohol and other drugs.” OpenAI ChatGPT, Judith S. Beck, et al.

Beck says, “…Address these as soon as possible.”

Why? “There will be no long-term behavior changes unless you change core beliefs first,” according to Wanberg and Milkman.

Do you want to lower relapse and recidivism rates? Treatment organizations and drug courts could work together to accomplish these goals.

Do you think it’s a good idea to first change limiting, CTC permission-granting beliefs?

Do you want an effective go-to belief change intervention?

If I could show you a way to change permission-granting beliefs quickly and efficiently, would you be interested in seeing how it works?

When is now a good time to try Belief Eye Movement Therapy? BEMT.

Before you decide to participate in training, you might decide to read about how it works. Belief Eye Movement Therapy, by Stan Dokmanus, is $6.99 on Amazon.com.

Abusing alcohol and other drugs, AOD does not lead to health and wellness. It can kill you. So, people get treatment then they “go out again.”

Why do people relapse and recidivate? Is it euphoric recall? Is it criminogenic thinking? Or is it because of slippery people, places, and things?

That’s what they tell us. You know – “they.”

Who are “they?” They, are the college instructors, treatment providers, and counselors and therapists who continue to teach this for twenty to thirty years.

Do you know what they do not teach? They do not teach anyone how to change these R&R, permission-granting, criminal thinking and conduct beliefs involving alcohol and other drugs.

One counselor who took my NAADAC approved CEU class told me that he was always taught that you cannot change a core belief. I don’t know who taught him that.

We attended the same university and took the same psych classes from the same professors.

Nobody taught that to me. My belief is that you must change anti-social beliefs and values about anything as soon as possible in treatment.

Why? Because, as Wanberg and Milkman say, “There will be no long-term behavior changes unless you change core beliefs first.” Judith Beck goes a little further saying, “When it comes to addiction you must address the permission-granting beliefs as soon as possible.”

I’ve heard counselors in staffing ask the clinical supervisor “how do you change a belief?” She told them “That’s Stan’s area. Work with him.”

If you don’t have a belief change strategy or protocol, you might be interested in my book, Stan Dokmanus, “Belief Eye Movement Therapy.” It’s for sale on Amazon.com.

I designed Belief Eye Movement Therapy, BEMT, specifically for treatment for CTC and AOD. However, it’s useful for other things like trauma, depression, etc.

Spending $6.99 to get a CTC and AOD belief change strategy is a wise decision. It could give you a Nobel Prize winning idea.

If you do read it and decide you would like to learn more about how this applies to criminal justice and addictions counseling, you might take my NAADAC approved CEU class: https://lnkd.in/gR7ntCQK