For more audio and articles checkout Buoyancy Conversations

Also – read article below by Deborah Homburg on the Buoyancy Conversations approach, for the ‘Selling Sickness’ Conference in Amsterdam, October 2010.

Buoyancy Conversations.com approach
by Deborah Homburg, Buoyancy Foundation CEO

The Buoyancy Foundation is a drug and alcohol agency located in a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, whose main activity is to offer counselling to people affected by substance use.

We are concerned to make a contribution to our clients, but as anyone with experience in human services knows, this is not as straightforward as it might seem. At least there are a number of things we do not want to do, among them being to make our clients dependent on us, or to use the client in some way for our own advantage, or to collaborate with the client in assisting them to avoid the consequences of their life choices, all of which we may do if not alert. Another pitfall would be to decide what life choices would be better for the client and attempt to convince him or her to choose them: For example, if a client appears to be trashing their life via drug use, it is natural to want to convince them to stop taking drugs.

Every drug and alcohol worker has been confronted with the desire to do one or other of these things, and being human, many of us have succumbed. And if these strategies worked, in interests of the client we should adopt them, but the fact is they do not work.

One impact of these strategies is to shield the client from the consequences of their life choices and thus the possibility of being responsible. We say that unless the person sees that they were the source of their life so far, they are cheated of the opportunity to design their future. It’s not that clients, by and large, are blind to the consequences of their drug use. Often, they hope that they can continue to engage with drugs, whilst avoiding the consequences. If the consequences are in fact inevitable, we would not be empowering clients if we colluded with them in this aim.

At Buoyancy we stand in the following three principles: ‘nothing wrong’, ‘people are able’ and ‘self care’.

‘Nothing wrong’ aims to take morality out of the mix, and instead to focus on the consequences of actions.

‘People are able’ stands for the possibility of people being capable of choosing actions and discerning consequences.

‘Self care’ resonates with the theme of this Conference. We are interested in empowering people to deal with life, not making them dependent on our expert diagnoses and prescriptions, whether pharmacological or not. Ultimately, the kind of care that makes a difference will ultimately be seen to be self care, that is, confronting the facts of one’s life situation, discovering what actions are available and via experiment, discovering what works to deal with one’s issues. In our experience, what gets uncovered is generally a surprise to the clinician, and not what we would have assumed.

In practice this often means periods of time listening to clients, with the aim of discerning what kind of future they want for themselves and working in partnership with them on steps towards that future. Clients have remarked that staff at Buoyancy do not seem to want anything from them or want anything for them, except what they themselves want. One client remarked that he spent 18 months waiting to be told what to do with his life, until it dawned on him that he wasn’t going to be told. At that point he realized that he would have to sort that out for himself.

Another practical way of assisting self care is to facilitate access to information and materials that clients can use independent of us. We make available a wide range of resources that enable people to experiment, to start seeing things differently and to engage powerfully with their lives. Our website, www.buoyancyconversations.com, is one way we are making resources for self-care available worldwide via the Internet.

For more info go to www.cairnmillar.org.au.

Research has shown that there are many ways to effectively increase and regulate levels.

These are simple and natural ways of increasing serotonin levels:

Walking or other enjoyable exercise
Serotonin and dopamine levels increase in the blood during exercise, and depression may be relieved with regular exercise.

Being in the sunshine
Exposure to sunlight increases levels. (This is because of the relationship between serotonin and melanin.) Morning sunshine is best as it also helps regulate the sleep-wake cycle.

Eating whole grain foods, such as whole wheat, brown rice or oatmeal
Eating any sugar or carbohydrate will temporarily increase levels. This is one reason for comfort eating or craving sweets. But if we eat sugary foods we get wildly swinging blood sugar levels. Whole grains give a sustained release of insulin that increases and maintains serotonin levels.

Eating certain foods such as turkey, bananas, milk, yogurt, eggs, meat, nuts, beans, fish and cheddar, gruyere and Swiss cheese supply the amino acid that serotonin is made from.

Fish oil (available as capsules) contains Omega 3 fatty acids and research has shown it to be one of the most helpful foods in combating depression, anxiety and lack of ability to concentrate.

Vitamin B6 aids in the production of serotonin, so it is important to check that you are receiving enough in your diet, or through supplements.

Getting enough sleep at regular hours. Serotonin levels vary rhythmically on a 24-hour cycle. Interrupting the natural cycle of activity in the day and sleeping at night can disrupt this. Consistent sleep patterns are crucial to the cycling of serotonin, hormones and other neurotransmitters.

Massage
Increased levels of serotonin and dopamine have been measured following massage therapy.

Laughing
Even if you don’t feel happy at that moment just the physical act of laughing increases serotonin and dopamine levels, as well as increasing circulation and lowering blood pressure.

How safe is your prescription?

ABC Radio Podcast (synopsis from Radio National Life Matters website)

‘Prescription medication is now a very common part of our lives, whether it’s treatment for a long term medical condition, or just a course of antibiotics to treat an infection. But with their popularity comes new risks. New research shows around one in three prescriptions has an error. Ken Lee is a second generation pharmacist who’s been looking very closely at what can go wrong with the dispensing of prescription medicine.He wants patients, doctors and pharmacists to be more wary’

Click here to download or listen to podcast on ABC Radio podcast website

Drugs not the answer for modern problems

Article by Dianna Kenny, published in the Sydney Morning Herald. March 14, 2011

Click here to read article on Sydney Morning Herald Website

Inside the Battle to Define Mental Illness

By Gary Greenberg December 27, 2010 published in Wired Magazine, January 2011

Click here to read article on Wired magazine website

Buoyancyconversations.com approach

by Deborah Homburg, Buoyancy Foundation CEO

The Buoyancy Foundation is a drug and alcohol agency located in a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, whose main activity is to offer counselling to people affected by substance use.

We are concerned to make a contribution to our clients, but as anyone with experience in human services knows, this is not as straightforward as it might seem. At least there are a number of things we do not want to do, among them being to make our clients dependent on us, or to use the client in some way for our own advantage, or to collaborate with the client in assisting them to avoid the consequences of their life choices, all of which we may do if not alert. Another pitfall would be to decide what life choices would be better for the client and attempt to convince him or her to choose them: For example, if a client appears to be trashing their life via drug use, it is natural to want to convince them to stop taking drugs.

Every drug and alcohol worker has been confronted with the desire to do one or other of these things, and being human, many of us have succumbed. And if these strategies worked, in interests of the client we should adopt them, but the fact is they do not work.

One impact of these strategies is to shield the client from the consequences of their life choices and thus the possibility of being responsible. We say that unless the person sees that they were the source of their life so far, they are cheated of the opportunity to design their future. It’s not that clients, by and large, are blind to the consequences of their drug use. Often, they hope that they can continue to engage with drugs, whilst avoiding the consequences. If the consequences are in fact inevitable, we would not be empowering clients if we colluded with them in this aim.

At Buoyancy we stand in the following three principles: ‘nothing wrong’, ‘people are able’ and ‘self care’.

‘Nothing wrong’ aims to take morality out of the mix, and instead to focus on the consequences of actions.

‘People are able’ stands for the possibility of people being capable of choosing actions and discerning consequences.

‘Self care’ resonates with the theme of this Conference. We are interested in empowering people to deal with life, not making them dependent on our expert diagnoses and prescriptions, whether pharmacological or not. Ultimately, the kind of care that makes a difference will ultimately be seen to be self care, that is, confronting the facts of one’s life situation, discovering what actions are available and via experiment, discovering what works to deal with one’s issues. In our experience, what gets uncovered is generally a surprise to the clinician, and not what we would have assumed.

In practice this often means periods of time listening to clients, with the aim of discerning what kind of future they want for themselves and working in partnership with them on steps towards that future. Clients have remarked that staff at Buoyancy do not seem to want anything from them or want anything for them, except what they themselves want. One client remarked that he spent 18 months waiting to be told what to do with his life, until it dawned on him that he wasn’t going to be told. At that point he realized that he would have to sort that out for himself.

Another practical way of assisting self care is to facilitate access to information and materials that clients can use independent of us. We make available a wide range of resources that enable people to experiment, to start seeing things differently and to engage powerfully with their lives. Our website, www.buoyancyconversations.com, is one way we are making resources for self-care available worldwide via the Internet.

Buoyancy’s approach to our client’s substance dependence is ‘Nothing Wrong’.

Nothing Wrong means that whatever is happening in your life, whatever you are doing; there is nothing intrinsically wrong with it; it’s just what you are doing at this time.

The question might be: is your life working for you as it is? Does taking drugs or alcohol affect your life in a way that causes unhappiness, disease or suffering? Does it affect the lives of family, friends and loved ones in a negative way? Do they do what you thought they would do when you started taking them? Are they all bad, or all good?

It is said that we take substances for one of two reasons; either to feel good, or to feel better. Is that true for you? Does that still work for you?

Drugs are often the means by which we deal with our abuse experiences, phobias, anxiety, depression, sadness, shyness and general feelings of inadequacy; the ‘cure’ for all our problems. The first couple of beers at the barby, the cigarette when feeling stressed, the glass of wine after work, or cocaine or crystal meth as a help to make that big presentation at work; all of these are just varying forms of attempts to alter our mood, de-stress, empower, or forget.

This is not to say that there is anything wrong with having a beer, glass of wine or other drug; but again the question is, does it really work for you? If yes, then how? If not, then where and why aren’t they working, and what can be done to change the situation?

If you are reading this it means that you have visited Buoyancy’s website; that could be the first step. The next could be to call and book to see a counsellor…

Counselling

Counselling is ‘client centred’. This means that counselling is not about the counsellor telling the client what to do, or psychoanalysing them, but rather working alongside the person, establishing achievable recovery goals, set and agreed to by the client, and then working with the counsellor to achieve positive outcomes. This is most often an ongoing process; substance dependency is characterised by recurring relapses, whether your goal is abstinence or reduction this is normal and should not be seen as a failure, but rather as a stage in your on-going process.

The counselling process contains several elements, such as identifying treatment goals in several areas of your life: substance use, psychological and emotional wellbeing, connectedness (with family, friends, employment, and community), fulfilling legal requirements and health. Some clients choose abstinence as their goal, others; harm minimisation, or reducing their dependence on drugs. Once the areas are identified we work together to clarify what each person needs to do to achieve their personal goals.

At Buoyancy we suggest that clients try out the various modalities and activities available to the client, this can include Shiatsu, meditation, Traditional Chinese Medicine, art and singing, as well as one-to-one counselling.

When appropriate I like to introduce some basic meditation, or mindfulness, skills to the client. These skills can often assist the client in attaining a reduction of stress and anxiety, without resorting to pharmaceuticals, and a greater awareness of how their body and mind reacts to substance abuse related triggers. Many clients report a sense of calmness and an increased ability to distance themselves from negative thoughts and feelings; or at least to be able to co-exist with them, like having slightly irritating houseguests, knowing that they will leave eventually.

Wellness

As human beings we are more than just what we think and feel emotionally. Our body is affected by our moods and actions, and the reverse is also true; if our body is well we can withstand and deal with negative factors and experiences in our lives, if our body is depleted then our mental and emotional resilience can also be dramatically reduced.

Complimentary therapies such as meditation, yoga, Shiatsu, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), acupuncture, massage have all been used increasingly to treat and support AOD clients. Treatment types such as these tend to approach substance abuse from a more holistic point of view, focusing on the client as a person rather than merely a group of symptoms or neuroses, to be fixed or controlled through pharmaceutical interventions.

Ekai Korematsu, who has taught meditation at The Buoyancy Foundation of Victoria since 2000, states that the foundation of meditation is recovering a sense of the body; feeling, or experiencing, the body and breath. This is the harmonisation of body, breath and mind. Many of us have lost touch with this aspect of ourselves, and the re-discovery of these elements can be a great foundation for recovery from drugs.

Once we make the choice to move towards wellness then the next choice is how?

Article by Jinesh Wilmot