What We Are Up Against:
We all know that early intervention pays off in the treatment of most serious health conditions. To diagnose cancer at stage 1 but wait until stage 4 to treat it would be considered malpractice. But postponing treatment in addiction – a life-threatening disorder – is routine. Of the nearly 30 million Americans diagnosed with an alcohol use disorder, 94 percent don’t get or don’t want treatment. That means people often get very sick before they get help. The public health system is over-whelmed with the costs and disease burden associated with alcohol. Private addiction treatment is prohibitively expensive and out of reach for many. Doctors don’t know much about treating alcohol use disorder and rarely prescribe meds proven to diminish use. All the while, the alcohol industry makes an obscene amount of money marketing a class one carcinogen – like asbestos and tobacco -yet no one forces them to bear the cost of their damage. Leaving families floundering, searching for solutions themselves; all the while shamed and blamed for doing so.
That’s what compelled me to write You Don’t Have to Quit, which shares common sense, practical science-based strategies to help a loved one drink less. It is the culmination of 3 decades of storytelling. First, as Canadian Broadcasting Corporation journalist and producer, in radio and television, then as the co-owner of Bountiful Films, a Canadian documentary production company. From our first film, Leaving Bountiful, which took viewers inside the fundamentalist polygamous Mormon church in British Columbia, to How to Divorce & Not Wreck the Kids, to Wasted, which followed my partner Mike’s search for evidence-based addiction treatment, our films have been a catalyst for change. I also co-wrote Mike’s memoir, Wasted: An Alcoholic Therapist’s Fight For Recovery in a Flawed Treatment System. I’m hoping this new book transforms how we think about heavy drinkers and their families. Us. We can be a powerful force for change and my book shows you how.
I live with Mike and Avery, my teen-aged niece, in Spirit Bay on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, on the traditional territory of the Sc’ianew people.