Mind, Body, And Soul Recovery And The Roots Of Wisdom With Mike Early
Drugs and alcoholism have been present for ages. These are not some types of acute illnesses that you can just patch up in a day. Alcoholism and drug addiction is a chronic disease, and the recovery is a long process. Learn more about the recovery process and how spirituality plays a role in it with your host, Fr. Jim Swarthout, and his guest, Mike Early. Mike's career spans more than 47 years in the field of alcohol, drugs, and other addictions. Learn how treatment and recovery should be done. Understand why drug addiction and alcoholism are a disease of the body, mind, and soul.
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Mind, Body, And Soul Recovery And The Roots Of Wisdom With Mike Early
Welcome to the first interview of our series of Serenity Sit Down Podcast. This show will discuss substance use prevention, cutting edge research, treatment of addiction and recovery from it. I’m going to try to focus on issues of importance to those in recovery and treatment providers. It's important for us all to discuss together in unity the issues that we know and issues that matter to you. I'm your host, Fr. Jim Swarthout from AMITA Health System.
We are joined with Mike Early. Mike's career spans more than 47 years in the field of alcohol, drugs and other addiction with treatment and recovery. His expertise includes program evaluation, re-engineering, development of integrated multidisciplinary teams and twelve-step facilitation. It's been a real honor that Mike accepted the first invitation to be the first on the show. Welcome, Mike.
Hello, Jim.
We have known each other for many years in recovery, as well as in treatment facilitation with different treatment centers throughout the country. Mike has also been a part of NAATP. Could you share that a little bit?
I was on the board of directors of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers for a number of years while I was a Chief Clinical Officer at Caron Treatment Centers in Pennsylvania.
Could you go back and share a little bit about your recovery, or talk a little bit about what recovery is for you?
Recovery Process: Insurance programs treat alcoholism and drug addiction as acute illnesses where they bring you in, patch you up, and send you out. That’s not how it should be done. They need long-term strategies for the treatment.
First of all, I come from a long line of alcoholism and drug addiction. My grandfather, Tom Burke, was from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Because of his drinking, he got booted out of his house in the late 1930s. He ended up in Chicago and found Alcoholics Anonymous. He's one of the first 3,000 members of Alcoholics Anonymous. He returned to Minneapolis-Saint Paul after he was sober for a year. He was reunited with his wife, my grandmother, and my mother and her brother, Warren.
My father, on November 10th, 1956, was making coleslaw in the basement of Johnny's Bar in River Falls, Wisconsin. He got in a fight with a buddy who he was making coleslaw with. He jumped in his car, went to Hudson, Wisconsin, ran the only stoplight Hudson had, and smashed into the only squad car Hudson had. Unfortunately, Judge TJ O'Brian sentenced him to Alcoholics Anonymous. That was November 11th, 1956. My mother and father had seven children, and six of us have recovered. I was the first one of my siblings to get into recovery.
September 7th, 1969 is my sober date. I was sitting in a bar in North Hudson, Wisconsin, where my father had his last drink. I was sitting there with two close personal friends that I had met that night. I decided that it was time for me to buy another round. When I opened up my wallet, I only had $10 left and it was a Sunday night. I hadn't paid any bills, hadn't made any car payments, hadn't washed any clothes and hadn't bought any groceries. I got paid on Friday. It's Sunday and I've only got $10 left.
Back then, you could buy a bottle of beer for $0.35 and a six-pack for $2.50 or something like that. I was complaining to these two dear friends of mine that I met that night that I was broke. They said, “Don't tell me. Tell your boss.” I went to the phone and called my boss, who had happened to be my father. I told him where to put his job. He said, “This isn't the time or the place to talk about. Go home.” I told him where he could put his home. He said two words that I believe saved my life. He said, “Suit yourself,” then he hung up. I went back to the bar and those two dear friends were gone. I was sitting there by myself and thought, “What am I going to do?”
Alcoholism is a chronic disease, not an acute one.
I ended up going to his AA sponsor's home and knocked on the door. The next night, I was in treatment and the rest is history. I've been able to maintain abstinence and attend twelve-step self-help meetings on a regular basis and get involved in sponsorship. I was going to go into the plumbing and heating business because my dad had a successful plumbing and heating business.
A young man that I was sponsoring came to visit me one day when I was back in school for business. He said that he had just applied for a training program at a place called Hazelden in Center City, Minnesota. It was a one-year counseling training program. He said they accepted him and they're looking for younger people. At the time, I was young. I went up the next day, applied for the training program and they accepted me.
From September 1971 through October 1972, I lived on the grounds at Hazelden and attended their training program. When I completed it, I had a certificate that said I was an alcohol and drug counselor. I started working at St. Croix County, Wisconsin as a Director of a halfway house, to begin with, then a Director of Prevention, Intervention and Outpatient Services and eventually, the Coordinator for Alcohol and Drug Services where I was in charge of the inpatient, outpatient, detox, prevention and intervention. I did that until 1989 and went to work at Hazelden as the Manager of Continuum Services, where I was involved in re-engineering a variety of different departments.
I took fifteen departments and cut them in a manner. I re-engineered them down to eight. It had the call center, the admissions department, the assessment program, continuum care, alumni spiritual care, case management, family services and transportation. I also became a member of the corporate evaluation consultation team, where I would go out and work with this team to evaluate different programs that contracted with Hazelden. In late 1999, I went to Antigua to help evaluate the crossroads program at the request of their CEO and owner. I got involved in that evaluation process and enjoyed it.
In 2001, I went to work at Caron Foundation up in Waterville, Pennsylvania as a Vice President of Adult Services. Within a couple of years, I moved into Executive Vice President, Chief Clinical Officer. I was there from May 2001 to December 2015. I retired from Caron and started working with Northbound Treatment Services in Newport Beach, California with my friend Mike Netherton who ran Betty Ford Center for more than 25 years. He and I met in 1990. We worked together on a number of different projects. I went to work with Mike from January of 2016 to June of 2019 to work in an advisory capacity there. I finally retired in June of 2019.
My entire focus and career have been developing long-term strategies for the treatment of chronic disease. Unfortunately, what happened in this country is too many insurance companies and programs treat this as an acute illness where they bring you in, patch you up and send you out. The focus that I put on at the health center in New Richmond, Wisconsin, in Hazelden and at Caron Treatment Centers was to look at integrating the twelve-step recovery process. It is a long-term support system for everything that our clients do. We integrate that into the various disciplines, the medical, the psychological, the social service discipline.
The entire focus with all of the disciplines was incorporating twelve-step recovery into it, including the treatment process that not only would we just have the family involved, but we'd also have the employer and the referent involved as part of the treatment team. For example, Jim, if you were referring me to the treatment center, you would be part of the treatment team, helping the team, understand what your relationship was with me and why you referred me to that program. We’d wrap it up so that when I went home, I'd be able to be in contact with you also because you were an integral part of getting me in treatment.
In a nutshell, that's my treatment career. I have served on a variety of different certification boards. I was on the Wisconsin Alcohol Drug Counselor Certification Board for a number of years. I became a member of the National Certification Reciprocity Consortium that set up a national standard for training in certified alcohol drug counselors. I was on the faculty of Midwest Institute on Alcohol Studies back in the ‘80s. I was appointed by Governor Anthony Earl to serve as the Provider Representative to the Wisconsin State Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse.
I've had that along with the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers. Finally, I'm still involved because I am the President of the Board of the National Rural Alcohol and Drug Network. That's important work because rural communities have limited resources. Let it be known, Jim, that you are also on that board. I twisted your arm and recruited you. You agreed because there's so much that needs to be done in rural America. In a nutshell, that's my work history. I don't want to underscore the valuable importance of me doing my own work.
Thank you, Mike. Could you share some about that?
I had a buddy out in Pennsylvania, Neil, who said, "I have to have my posse." In Neil's terms, his posse was his community, his group that surrounded him and helped him. My grandfather used to say, “Talk to someone in your recovery community every day. If you do that, you'll be able to look at whatever problem and thing that is bugging you that day and you'll be able to solve that problem.” That's what a recovering community, a posse, a sponsor, a mentor, whatever it is that you want to call them, are able to do. They're able to help you understand what's important and how to deal with whatever problems you had.
Back in the day, I used to sit at a bar. The person that would buy me the drink became my new best friend. He and I would solve all kinds of world and rural problems. What I find out is that when I talk to someone else that's in recovery, it’s able to provide a clear mentorship, guidance, and speak the truth, that's vitally important.
It's not so much about honesty but rigorous honesty. Recovery keeps us in a joyful mood. Knowing you, Michael, and your family, there's a sense of joy that is newfound every day in recovery in so many ways. Share with us your posse. There's a group that you belong to that has a unique name. I would ask you to share it with the community that's here. If it's appropriate in front of Fr. Jim, you're more than welcome to share.
When helping someone in recovery, you need to provide clear guidance and rigorous honesty.
I got several posses but you tell me which one you're wishing for.
The Notorious Sinners, if I'm not mistaken. Tell us about that.
We have a group. We call ourselves The Notorious Sinners. I believe 2007 was the date that we first started. I told you about Mike Netherton. Mike and I met in 1990. We agreed in 1990 that we would work together. He was with Betty Ford. I was with Hazelden. Our two CEOs were talking about all of the things that we're going to do to fill each other's beds. Mike and I looked at each other. When we broke up into our small groups, I looked at him and said, “Let's not blow smoke up to each other. I will not go into your bed and you're not going to go into mine.” He said, “That's right. The first time I say I can get you into Betty Ford, I can get you into his or my CEO. Here’s that. He's going to be chopping my head off.” Mike said, “Let's do this. You and I agree to work together and tell each other the truth and be transparent.” That started a relationship that has lasted all these years.
In 2007, Mike called me one day. He says, “Are you going nuts?” I said, “Yeah, pretty much.” He said, “So am I. We got to get together.” We got together in Palm Desert, California and then we moved to a place called Onsite. Miles Adcox was a young man that was in the group with us. Unbeknownst to us, he was in the process of purchasing Onsite. We call ourselves The Notorious Sinners, but we're group one. What ended up happening is we were men that worked in this industry that believed that we needed to go farther. The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous is a fabulous book. It's a textbook and it talks about recovery. That book was written in the first five years of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Recovery Process: If you talk to someone in your recovery community every day, they will help you understand what's important so you can look at any problem and be able to solve it.
In my early recovery, I was a raging lunatic. I could become a raging lunatic if I don't check myself. What we did with The Notorious Sinners is we started doing our own personal work to take it a step further. We went back to our childhood and started digging deep and peeling back that onion as they say, and sometimes using experiential work. A lot of us opened the door to some stuff that we couldn't see.
Dr. Silkworth talks about psychic change. There was a psychologist by the name of Dr. Morris Massey who used to lecture on the world. He talked about the value programming process where things were locked into us. He said, “The only way that changes is if you have a significant emotional event. That significant emotional event can sometimes take place when you sit down and do some work.” That's what Notorious Sinners started doing.
We've been doing it since 2007. When COVID hit, we canceled our next group but we started meeting every day. I got a text message that said that there were 525 of us on a daily basis are getting together. We haven't all made it, but the meeting is every day on Zoom with 12 to 15 of us. Most of us get together regularly. We have the Zoom meeting to start our day. On the West Coast, it's at 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning. You're in the Midwest, it's at 8:00 in the morning. On the East Coast, it’s 9:00, but we all seem to get on and get the job done.
As Mike is sharing this, there's a joy in his face talking about that. That's what I believe is the ultimate peace of sobriety and serenity. There's another piece that I'd ask you to talk a little about. We had a dear priest friend of ours. He’s a colleague by the name of Fr. Bill. He is in peace at this point. He passed on years ago. Bill would talk about that we may surrender but he said, “I think we're chosen.” Could you talk about that piece a little bit in your life, if you don't mind me asking?
We call Fr. Bill, The Drunk Monk. He was a Vietnam War chaplain. I have pictures of him saying mass in the foxholes. He ran the chapel service at Caron. The best way to describe Fr. Bill came from a colleague of his father, Mark Hushen, who became CEO at Father Martin's Ashley. Fr. Mark went into treatment and Fr. Bill was doing his thing at the Sunday chapel service. Mark said, “I found myself in the nuthouse and have met the head cashew.” He was a man that found recovery. He had very simple sayings and directions to his sheep that he worked with. He said, “Alcoholism and drug addiction is a disease of body, mind and soul.”
The American Medical Association and the World Health Organization say it. The bottom line is you have lost the ability to choose. Dr. E.M. Jellinek said, “There's loss of control with alcohol and drugs.” Whether or not you're going to drink or drug or not, it's gone. That's where the surrender process comes. You get to a point where guilt, shame and everything that surrounds you from your behavior in addiction, you believe that there's no way that you can be forgiven by family, friends, higher power or anybody. If alcoholism and drug addiction are truly this kind of illness that affects the body, mind and soul and you've lost your ability to choose, then you are too sick to sin.
My job is to get you well enough, so you're capable of it. He says, “We are chosen people. We are here to get well so that we can move and pass onto others so that they can get well.” That's the whole message of this recovery process. In 2000, Time Magazine said that it's one of the top five spiritual programs in the world and the century, the Recovery Movement, the twelve-step spirituality program. When you look at the people that created this program, the people that were down and out like atheists, etc. wrote this book.
If you haven't read The Big Book, you better read it. They wrote this book in the first five years of their recovery. It has sustained from 1935 to this point. It is a textbook that is one of the most beautiful pieces of spiritual literature that you'll ever find. In Bill's words and in many other people and spiritual gurus that I've talked to over the years say it was divinely inspired.
Alcoholism and drug addiction are diseases of the body, mind, and soul.
The only addition is Dr. Silkworth. The doctor's opinion was put up in the front there and added to that book. Am I correct?
Dr. Silkworth said that you need a psychic change. He described that if you didn't have a psychic change, there was little chance of your recovery. He said, “Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. They are restless, irritable and discontent until the next few drinks that give them a sense of ease and comfort. Unless that person has an entire psychic change, there's a little hope of their recovery.” The entire psychic change’s core that it’s describing is the total change of mind and spirit, the body or the physical aspects of it. If you change that in your mind and soul, the obsession to drink is gone because the craving is gone. It’s been proven time and time again.
The twelve steps in the fellowship are very important. I was at a meeting and when you talk about spirituality, some people would say they were Catholic and Baptist that didn't have believers. All of us that were there talked about self-loathing, guilt and shame of, “Why did I do the things I didn't want to do?” I would hear the words, “I got this.” Could you tell us about the experience of joy, surrender and being chosen? The words wound and healer came off up often. In our pain and suffering, we become the ultimate healers of others. How does that feel for you?
I have the ability to sit down with someone and share my experience, strength, hope and talk about what path I took to relieve myself of the addiction. I see the light go on in their head or in their eyes and their face. When I see that light go on, it gives me a tremendous sense of joy and giving. It's what I believe God gave me the ability to do and that's why I'm still here.
What do you see as the future of the field of addiction and behavioral health, also its struggles and opportunities? You may have alluded to it that acute and chronic are a part of it. We're being driven sometimes by insurance companies, but a little bit in your history of what you've seen and where we're going in the future.
What I sometimes get frustrated with is it seems that we were having some of the same conversations we had when I broke into this industry in the ‘70s. For some reason, insurance companies say they'll pay for 10 days, 14 days, 30 days or 28 days. I remember Judge Joe Hughes used to sign commitment papers for 30 days back in the old days. He'd stop and sign these commitment papers for the inebriate and then they’d be committed for 30 days. Somewhere along the line, insurance companies started paying for that.
I would urge you to look up Dr. Robert DuPont, his studies on alcoholism and drug addiction with physicians. He's got some of the best information, studies and outcomes that you'd ever want to see. With physicians and airline pilots, Dr. Barton Pakull was the Chief Psychiatrist for the FAA years ago. Dr. Barton Pakull said, “If you have a pilot that receives a drunk driving, they have to go to inpatient treatment and be monitored.”
Back when I first broke into this, they were monitoring people for 2 to 3 years before they could get their license back, their medical permit back for pilots. If you look now with doctors, airline pilots and lawyers, their systems are in place for them to be monitored long-term. What happened is they get chronic disease treatment. Regular guys don't have that license for that kind of support yet. That has a lot to do with the importance of the job, their training and the cost of training.
I remember working with Sarge Martin who was the Director of Flying at Northwest Airlines. Sarge Martin said, “It cost $250,000 to train a pilot. If I lose that pilot, it's going to cost us a lot of money to get that person trained. We lose a valuable resource. Let's get them involved in a long-term program where we created all kinds of cool stuff with pilots at Northwest back in the ‘90s that had them in a support group called Birds of a Feather.” It had them in a monitoring program with their Birds of a Feather sponsor and a consultant. They make sure that they were following through with all of the recommendations. If they didn't follow through, they'd get their medical ticket pulled so they couldn’t fly and make money.
There was tremendous pressure on these people to follow all this. The success rate is phenomenal. It's anywhere from 85% to 97% recovery after five years because they keep monitoring in the process, and they're part of the fellowship. You give them the opportunity for everything to kick in. They begin to see the benefits of it. My first year sober and clean, I didn't believe in this one day at a time stuff. I wanted to argue with my sponsor. I said, “That one day at a time is bull.” He said, “How long can you stay sober?” I said, “A year.” He said, “You make a commitment to stay sober a year.” He tricked me. It was easy.
“At the end of one year, we'll get together and discuss it if your life is better." I hadn't been thrown in jail in that year. I hadn't had any car accidents. I was paying bills. I wasn't necessarily happy because I was fighting the whole thing, but from a physical and financial standpoint, I was in much better shape. I had a goal of moving into the plumbing and heating business and going back to college. I'd been kicked out twice and I'm going to go back sober. I'm going to take up business. My buddy interrupted it and brought me to Hazelden for training. Until you have that psychic change and that spiritual connection, there's going to be some struggles. That's why the posse and the community are so important. I don't know if that makes any sense to you.
Recovery Process: You are the chosen people. You are here to get well so you can help others get well. That's the whole message of this recovery process.
It makes sense to me and I hope that it makes sense to those that are outside. Mike, is there anything else that you would like to offer? It's always a delight to be with you.
I don't have anything else to offer, Jim. I appreciate you inviting me on. Hopefully, somewhere in the future, I'll be able to come on again. Maybe somewhere, we can have a Q&A with some folks if they'd like it.
That would be the best. Thank you, Michael. I would like to thank everyone for being at our first episode on the show with Mike Early. May you find joy and happiness, and may the shining eyes of God be upon your heart. Thank you for being here with us.
