Newsletter June 2006

How to Raise Alcohol and Drug Free Kids in an Alcohol and Drug Infested World featuring comedian Mark Lundholm.

Parents are the most influential persons in their child's life when it comes to preventing alcohol and drug use. But sometimes talking to your kids about alcohol and drugs is easier said than done. Arbuckle Life Solutions, Inc. will provide a prevention seminar for parents to help give them the tools they need to effectively communicate with their children about this important subject. Comedian, Mark Lundholm of San Jose, California, will help us find some humor in the sometimes uncomfortable task of addressing this subject with your children.
The seminar, funded by Community Activities of Ardmore, Inc. will take place on November 11, 2006 at Heritage Hall from 10am - 2pm. Light lunch provided. The seminar is FREE!! For more information about the seminar or to reserve your ticket, contact Arbuckle Life Solutions, Inc. For more information about Mark Lundholm, go to www.marklundholm.com.

Ceremony of Light

On the last Thursday of every month (unless that date coincides with a holiday) we conduct our Ceremony of Light: A Celebration of Recovery, Reunion and Renewal in which we celebrate those clients that are graduating from treatment and those clients that have graduated before them. During the ceremony current graduates participate in a candle lighting ceremony marking the end of their treatment and their entrance into the next stage of their recovery. This past year 85 current clients participated in the ceremonies, and of those, 21 participated as a graduate. In addition 106 alumni participated as well as 54 guests. These ceremonies have become a very special tradition for the agency.

Light speaks of many things.
Light is the antithesis of darkness; day and night, light and dark.
The shadow world of addiction is challenged by the light.
The light comes and darkness and shadows have to recede.
Arbuckle Life Solutions, Inc. is a lighthouse;
A bright beacon in the storms of life.
Our mission is to focus the light into the darkness of addiction.
We offer the experience and knowledge we have been given
to enable others to find the light.
This ceremony is symbolic of the commitment we have made
to those who are still seeking a way out of their addiction.
"We offer our light to you, and by lighting your candle from ours, you will be partaking of the hope and faith we have for your life. The light comes with a responsibility, which is to pass the torch on to the next one that resides in darkness."

2006 Ceremony of Light Schedule

May 25
June 29
July 27
August 31
September 28
October 26
November 30
December 21

Recovery RallyFeaturing Comedian Mark Lundholm
Addiction: Everybody has one.
(Alcohol, Drugs, Work, Shopping,
Gambling, Perfectionism, Shoes)
What's yours?

Mark Lundholm's style of humor is more than a comedy show. His performance is a thought provoking journey through a man's decline and his subsequent ascension. Mark details his battles with addiction in a clever manner that is sometimes shocking, often heartwarming and unceasingly honest.

Lundholm has had his own Showtime Comedy Special, appeared on Comedy Central and written and starred in three
one-man shows. The most notable is a fiercely funny and severely dysfunctional stage play about chances and choices called: Addicted...a comedy of substance. After playing an extended run off-Broadway and receiving great reviews from The Post, The New York Times and The Associated Press, Addicted was voted into the top position as the most highly recommended show in New York City by the Zagat Theatre Survey.

Join us on Saturday, November 11, 2006 at Heritage Hall at 7pm as we welcome Mark Lundholm, from San Jose, California to Ardmore. Come celebrate your recovery, the recovery of a loved one or your gratitude for never having experienced addiction. This show is for everyone - It can inspire those in recovery and inspire those that have never been there to never go there. And it will make EVERYBODY laugh. For more information about Mark, go to www.marklundholm.com. Tickets are $10.00. All proceeds will go to the United Way of South Central Oklahoma as a big THANK YOU for all they have done for us.

Goodbye to Meth
A Friend To Me You Cannot Be

I said goodbye to an old friend today
His name was Meth and he wasn't a friend anyway
He grabs your brain, heart and soul and leads you astray
He takes your family, your life and leaves you in dismay.

He is the enemy and destruction of all mankind
He leaves you lifeless, hopeless and blind
Anyone who turns you onto him is no friend of mine
They are just searching for answers and wasting time.

A person must feel pain and broken hearts
Loneliness and sadness when things fall apart
Then joy and happiness is a real emotional cart
Hiding from life is not the answer, it is the start.

The start of a path that is so bad
You have to stay high just to feel glad
You loose everything you ever had
And someday you will wake up and be mad.
Don't let that needle hit your vein
Run away from it and all its shame

Stand up and think, from the source it came
Before it is too late and your life is insane.

Being clean you see things that are real
It is life worth living and all its thrills
You even have to work and pay your bills
No more searching for bad drug deals.

So 90 days ago I said goodbye to Meth and the bad guy
And today I stand with my head held high
No more will my children have to cry
Because Mommy was an addict and told nothing but lies.

Kristi B.

Victims' Impact Panel - Speakers Needed

The Victims' Impact Panel of Oklahoma, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing the epidemic of drunk driving in Oklahoma. Arbuckle Life Solutions, Inc. is the coordinator of the Victims' Impact Panel in Carter County. Alcohol-related crashes take innocent lives and physically injure an alarming number of people daily. They are the number one killer of our young people. Victims' Impact Panel believes in aiming at the heart to reach people about the dangers of driving under the influence. This is accomplished by having a panel of speakers share their personal and very real tragedies, thereby giving a name and a face to the pain.

The speakers are the heart and soul of the program and give the ultimate gift by sharing their painful tragedies with a room full of strangers (Driving Under the Influence offenders who have been ordered to attend the panel as a part of their sentence). Without these dedicated speakers there would be no program at all. Speakers are difficult to find, because being a speaker for Victims' Impact Panel can be a difficult and heart-wrenching task. But it can also be very healing. If you or someone you know have experienced a drunk driving tragedy and would like to learn more about speaking for the Victims' Impact Panel, contact Laura Atchley at Arbuckle Life Solutions, Inc. 580-226-1656 or 1-877-626-1656.

A Friend To Me You Cannot Be

I sit here looking back at the past years of my life.
Looking at the heartaches, the worries, the strife.
To look at this empty home, the walls so bare.
This home is so peaceful, your worst nightmare.
The grief is so real, now, the suffering is, too.
How could I be so foolish to feel I had a friend in you?
Yes, you were there to console me, to laugh with me, at times
You even helped me to think, and if I couldn't, I'd just have one more drink.
I bought into your story time after time
Just have one more drink, soon you'll unwind.
You made me a person I would surely love to hate.
But to have my first drink I could not wait.
You're a thief, a liar, abuser and more
You can take a strong man down and make a rich man poor.
You tore my family apart as well as me
Made me feel that without you, I could not be.
You were there for that moment when I needed you.
When my chances had become only a few.
Your words I believed, I believed every word.
The whispering in my ear, was all that I heard.
You were a temporary solution to every problem I ever had
You were patiently waiting, good, bad, happy or sad.
I'd like to say I'll miss you, I'll miss you, what for?
I'll no longer give you the power to destroy my life, anymore.
I have found a friend who's stronger than any friend I ever had in you.
When you come calling I know just what to do.
I'll ask God for His help, on His mercy I will rely.
One day at a time I will forever say goodbye.
Fool me once, shame on you, twice shame on me
But a friend to me you cannot be.

Sylvia B.
March 1, 2006

Services Available for
Problem and Compulsive Gambling

Clinical Staff have been very busy obtaining training and clinical supervision to become certified to provide counseling to persons suffering from problem and compulsive gambling. This is a new area of clinical specialty in the State of Oklahoma and a fairly young aspect of the field nationwide. Our counselors will be among the first group certified in the State of Oklahoma.

Some of the warning signs of problem and compulsive gambling include:

· Spending longer and longer periods of time gambling
· Placing larger, more frequent bets
· Accumulating debt in order to support gambling activities
· Feelings of guilt or remorse about gambling
· Missing work to gamble
· Hiding involvement in gambling activities

If you or someone you love demonstrates any of the above warning signs, there is help available through Arbuckle Life Solutions, Inc.
and / or Gamblers Anonymous.
For more information call 580-226-1656 or 1-877-626-1656

My Treatment
Slowly coming down, these walls that I built,
Learning new ways to deal with all of the guilt.
They teach that the only way to find peace and contentment,
Is to forgive and let go of the resentment.
Through my life, forgiveness has come natural and easy for me,
But then I wasn't dealing with my own need, you see.
So I've asked God to show me how to deal with this,
Because without it I will never reach harmony and bliss.
I was told "You are only as sick as your deepest secrets you keep".
Upon hearing this, my heart brought out the urge to weep.
You mean the ugly things that caused me to turn away in shame?
Those things that over time, I was convinced, I was to blame?
So many drugs to stop the memories in my brain,
But dealing with the demons is the only way through the pain.
So being honest here and now stops all the past delusions,
And I give my deepest, good and bad, to Arbuckle Life Solutions.

S.R.
30 days clean 12/07/05

Mr. Alcohol,

The purpose of this letter it to explain why I haven't spent time with you since January 7, 2006 and to say goodbye and good-riddance to you forever. First some history:

I've known you all my life. You and my father were close acquaintances. You and he went everywhere together. One of my earliest memories was being at a bar with my dad and you. On the rare occasion when he was home with our family, you were there with him. I was eight when my parents divorced. My mom told me it was your fault.

I first met you, without my father, at a party when I was fifteen. I didn't much like you, in fact you made me sick to my stomach, but my friends all said you were a lot of fun, so we kept on meeting at parties. It wasn't long until I thought you were a lot of fun also.

I was twenty-one when my father passed away. At his funeral, I knew you were a big reason he died at a young age, and I swore that I would never become as closely acquainted with you as he had. We would only continue to be "social' acquaintances. This continued for a long time until I started to believe I couldn't have fun without you. Still in my mind we were only "social" acquaintances.

When I was thirty-eight I became chronically depressed. I started inviting you home with me to make me feel better. At first this seemed to work in the evenings, but the next morning I was even more depressed. We spent more and more time together and I became more and more depressed. After two years of this hell, my wife convinced me to see a psychiatrist. He told me that I was clinically depressed and that I was an alcoholic. He prescribed me antidepressants and abstinence from you. After several tries, I stopped spending time with you.

After spending over ten years without you, for some "irrational" reason, I convinced myself that we could be "social" acquaintances again without negative consequences. This seemed to be the case until two years ago when family problems and job stresses seemed to be more than I could handle. Again, "irrationally" I turned to you to help me feel better. During 2005, I spent almost every day with you. I even took you to work with me for the first time. We went driving together and got arrested. This was the most humiliating incident of my life. After that I started talking and listening to my wife. She had been trying to tell me that you were coming between us for a long time but I wasn't listening. Thanks to her, I started to think more clearly and realized that you were not making me feel better, you were making things much-much worse.

I started getting professional help in January and now realize that I can never spend time with you again. You are poison for me.

Goodbye and good riddance forever.

Mike M.
April 19, 2006

What other clients have said about their treatment experience and what they have learned at Arbuckle Life Solutions, Inc.

•"I think you guys do a great job. I have really learned a new way of life".
•"I never would have thought that sobriety could be this good."
•"Your services have helped me understand a lot of things and helped me to stay strong."
•"This program saved my life."
•"I am such a better parent now that I am sober. I am glad my kids won't have to grow up with an addicted parent like I did."
•"I loved being a part of the group. There is a lot to learn about this disease. You can conquer it with help - The help of a Higher Power and people that have been there. I am learning not to be so critical, that I am not perfect and to listen to God who knows me better than anyone. I know there is hope for me and others. I have 7 months sober!"