Support our effort and help us save lives. Every dollar raised goes directly, either to a nonprofit recovery or education organization, or to the ROR film or media fund.

ROR is Proud to Join SAMHSA Recovery Planning Partnership

March 28th Leslie and Lindsey traveled to Washington for the second week in a row. This time they went to SAMHSA’s (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency, a division of Health and Human Services) headquarters in Rockville, MD to join SAMHSA’s Recovery Planning Partnership for the first time. It was an honor to meet addiction and recovery professionals from all over the country. This recovery partnership represents a wide variety of organizations that provide many kinds of services, education, and community outreach all across the nation. ROR looks forward to getting to know all the participants and helping to tell their stories and finding innovative ways to support them.

First Screening of The Silent Majority at the Washington Hilton, April 10, 2012

Leslie and Lindsey were in Washington D.C. for a third week in a row to participate in the Joint Meeting on Adolescent Treatment Effectiveness (JMATE), “collaborating and integrating to support youth and families in an Era of Change.”

The Silent Majority has its very first screening, and an enthusiastic audience said they loved the movie. “Beautifully done. It brings real stories of hope and excitement to a field that needs tools to show that prevention and recovery work,” was the kind of praise we heard. Networking with 1100 treatment providers and recovery experts and advocates was a great learning experience. Lindsey and Leslie were proud to be presenters.

ROR To Film at The Prism Awards on April 19th

In collaboration with the Entertainment Industries Council, Reach Out Recovery will launch its media campaign by filming at the Prism Awards on April 19^th at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles. Leslie and Lindsey will interview attendees and award winners and do a behind the scenes look at Recovery on TV and in the movies.  You’ll see some of it on YouTube following the event.

Call to Action

ROR can’t change the world on its own. We need your help. In addition to speaking out for Recovery in the national arena, we are working on:

1. Events to launch “The Silent Majority” and ways to use the film as part of existing programs in a variety of non profits.
2. We are developing a Media Campaign–six public service commercials that will run all over the world forever for free. For this initiative, we need $20,000 for cameramen, editing, and graphics. And we need real people to appear on camera.

To donate to the campaign (Click here)
For an event, or to help with the media campaign and be in a spot, contact us. (Click Here)

Last week was Washington Week for Leslie and Lindsey Glass. On Monday, Leslie joined the White House Business Council for a “Conversation with Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville, FL Business Leaders” to learn about White House Business Partnership Opportunities. Leslie joined Roxie Jerge, Teri Hansen, Joel Fedder, Ken and Barbara Edelin, Ed and Sheila Crego as representatives from Sarasota, which is not considered an entity on its own.

This 5-hour briefing was an eye-opener for the 90+ Florida business leaders in attendance, and was the largest of the 40 get-togethers the White House has organized to date. The purpose of the meeting was to encourage business partnerships between local and national businesses and a wide range of government agencies. The meeting provided real information about what is going on in the Obama administration to spur innovative business ventures. We had face time with 16 senior White House advisors and directors and left with a new understanding and respect for the efforts the administration is making to create economic growth in every state. There is a lot more positive work going on than we hear about from any source.

Lindsey Glass Speaks at Congressional Briefing

Then the week got even better. On Thursday, March 22, speaking for the 23 million people who are not currently receiving any treatment for addiction, Lindsey went to Congress and spoke to a standing-room only crowd of Congressional aides and addiction professionals with a ten-minute speech about how recovery works. She was on the roster with Dr. Laura Nelson Chief Medical Officer, Arizona Department of Health Services, Mark Stringer, Director State of Missouri Department of Mental Health, Divisions of Alcohol and Drug Abuse and Sheriff/Coroner Brian Gootkin, Gallatin County, Montana. Lindsey was honored to speak on behalf of Faces and Voices of Recovery and NASADAD.

ROR Received a $10,000 Grant from an Anonymous Donor

A thousand thanks go to a beloved Sarasota donor, who contributed $10,000 to the ROR Film Fund for final editing of The Silent Majority, and design of The Silent Majority Website. This donor has no personal experience with addiction, but has a long and rich history supporting education projects for children and teens. The donor saw the movie, immediately responded to its potential for inspiring teens both local and nationally to make healthy choices about alcohol and substances. The donor wishes to remain anonymous.

“The Silent Majority” will have its first public screening at the JMATE convention in Washington D.C. on April 10. For more information, contact us.

ROR Goes to Hollywood

Leslie and Lindsey have been invited to The Entertainment Industries Council Prism Awards in Los Angeles on April 19^th.The Entertainment Industries Council (EIC) honors films and television programs that make a positive difference in the world honoring film and TV programs which portray realistic depictions of dependence, in an annual, star-studded, televised awards show. They are now in talks to film behind the scenes interviews to launch their “Recovery Works” media campaign later this year.

Call to Action

ROR can’t change the world on its own. We need your help. In addition to speaking out for Recovery in the national arena, we are working on:

1. Events to launch “The Silent Majority” and use the film to enhance existing prevention, education, and recovery programs.
2. We are developing a “Recovery Works” Media Campaign–six public service commercials that will run all over the world forever for free. For this initiative, we need $20,000 for cameramen, editing, and graphics. And we need real people to appear on camera.

To donate to the campaign (Click here)

For an event, or to help with the media campaign, contact us. (Click Here)

Silent Majority will have first Screening April 10, 2012 At JMATE in Washington, D.C.

Welcome to The Silent Majority, our first film to be made with support from the Reach Out Recovery Film Fund. We filmed Silent Majority in the summer and fall of 2011 in North Port, Sarasota, Tampa, in Suffolk County NY and New York City and are thrilled to announce that the first screening of this groundbreaking feature documentary movie will be at the JMATE convention on April 10^th in Washington D.C. Details below.

The Silent Majority 

The Silent Majority is a positive documentary about teens and college students impacted by four unique programs that help them stay drug, alcohol, and tobacco free. D-Fy, addiction prevention; Teen Court, intervention; Watch Your BAC, education; and Road Recovery are highlighted to show millions of at risk teens and their families how making good choices can be contagious. Programs include,  D-FY of North Port, Teen Court of Sarasota County, Camp X-RAYD, Watch Your BAC, a joint program with DACCO, University of South Florida and the University of Tampa, and Road Recovery.

We are looking for partners to bring The Silent Majority to our area in the fall. If you are interested, contact us.

Attendees include

* Adolescent treatment researchers, evaluators, and data managers

* Project directors and clinical supervisors and/or clinicians involved in delivering services under CSAT or other Federally funded grants (this may qualify towards annual meeting requirements)

* Federal, State, local and private foundation policy makers

* Youth, families and other members of the recovery community

Theme

The 2012 JMATE theme is “Collaborating and Integrating to Support Youth and Families in an Era of Change.” Within the current era of change and reform in treatment and numerous other systems, stakeholders serving youth—adolescents ages 12–17 years and transitional age youth 18–27 years—need to develop meaningful ways to coordinate and, in some cases, integrate their services while maintaining youth and family voices. The 2012 JMATE will serve as a platform for these stakeholders to gather to learn and share information about evidence-based practices (EBPs), youth and family issues, and effective collaboration and integration strategies.

The current era of change spans many fields and cuts across multiple levels:

• A young people’s recovery movement that includes greater listening to youth and families in directing their care and their need to learn about recovery from their peers
• Preparing the field for healthcare reform (including meaningful use and health information technology)
• 
Changes in Federal funding for substance use disorder treatment
• 
Integration of substance use disorder and mental health treatment into behavioral health services
• Expanding substance use disorder and mental health treatment into primary care
• School-based health care
• No Child Left Behind Act and education policy changes and modifications that may expand resources for treatment
• Second Chance Act for offender re-entry, increase in diversion funding, and other changes in juvenile justice
• Increasing demand for recovery support services

When:

Tuesday, April 10 2012, 2:30pm

Where:

Washington Hilton Hotel
1919 Connecticut Ave., Washington, District of Columbia, 20009

There is NO REGISTRATION FEE to attend the 2012 JMATE conference.

About the Voice Award

Sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Voice Awards honor consumer/peer leaders who have done exemplary work promoting the social inclusion of individuals with behavioral health problems. The awards also recognize TV and film writers and producers that incorporate dignified, respectful, and accurate portrayals of individuals with behavioral health problems into their scripts, programs, and productions.

The 2012 Voice Awards ceremony will take place on Wednesday, August 22 at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, CA. The event brings together people from the entertainment industry and behavioral health community for a night that celebrates increased awareness of mental health and substance use disorders and the power of recovery.

For more information about the Voice Awards, please visit www.voiceawards.samhsa.gov.

For information about using The Secret World for an event or fundraiser, contact us.

REACH OUT RECOVERY ROCK AND RUN OCTOBER 22-22, 2011

Reach Out Recovery started the year with a blackout that took our website down for a few weeks. When it came up again, it was missing the beautiful photos and report of our rock concert on October 22 and Run Walk October 23^rd in Ted Sperling Park on Lido Beach. But the photos are now back up and you can see them in our gallery.

The evening concert and ROR run-walk brought out about 500 people for the two-day event which was a first for the newly named Ted Sperling Park. It was a glorious Friday evening and a glorious Saturday morning enjoyed by beach lovers, recovery lovers, music, and run/walkers alike. We want to thank Diane Lyons of the Shamrockers and New Balance for creating the run-walk, and help with the beautiful T-shirts, Tim Wilkins for his hilarious MC job, Twinkle, Willie Royal and Road Recovery for their amazing performances, the Guitar Center for the beautiful guitars we raffled, Barb McSweeney for the stunning bracelet prize for the winner of the 5k race and all the artisans and food vendors who came. The City of Sarasota and Sarasota County were both sponsors and helped with permitting and costs for the mobile stage, which looked fabulous out on the beach. The Fire Department came out to watch over us.  The festivities were filmed for our new movie, The Silent Majority, which will start previewing soon.

At Reach Out Recovery, we look back on 2011 with amazement that so much has been accomplished in such a sort time. We have made amazing new friends all over the country and are planning for great strides in promoting recovery as a national cause in 2012.

This is how the end of our 2011 shaped up. First came the documentary, The Secret World of Recovery. What a learning process it was to edit so much footage to find the right format for what we plan as a series of documentaries. We tried several versions. What was the right vision, the right tone, the right people to highlight and show? In its editing journey, The Secret World of Recovery went from 50 minutes to 68 minutes, then down to 45 minutes before it seemed right. The final cut was gleaned from 80 hours of extraordinary footage.  The film is now ready to be marketed for distribution and can be viewed online at www.IMDB.com. We had some guidance from experts. After our initial screening at the Van Wezel Center for Performing Arts in Sarasota and a second screening at the Straz Center in Tampa as part of DACCO’s celebration of National Recovery Month, we screened the film in Washington at SAMHSA in November and edited the new version which is suitable for classrooms and an hour TV show. We’re very excited about the final cut. Watch it on www.IMDB.com

But that was just the beginning. In the summer and fall we filmed a second documentary, this one about teens. We are now in the editing stage. This is our second movie using our new format. The Silent Majority is an inspiring film about teens and their mentors for audiences of every age. Want to hear some good news about solutions for teens who desperately need positive reinforcement against the culture of drinking, partying and drug use that has become the number 1 health issue for teens in America? This is the movie for your community. “The Silent Majority” tells the story of 4 innovative and positive programs teens that inspire community, teamwork, and personal responsibility.

 The Silent Majority will be screened for the public for the first time in Washington D.C. in April.  More information coming soon.

To continue our work, Leslie and Lindsey have applied for an Echoing Green Fellowship, as well as support from the Ford Foundation, ITVS, and other nonprofits that support film and social issues. In Florida, we are seeking leaders and sponsors interested in partnering to show the film to middle school and high school students in Sarasota and Manatee Counties, and to partner for a fundraiser for local charities in the fall.

Contact us. If you are interested in bringing one of our films to your organization for a screening, a film event, or a fund raiser, or are interested in sponsoring a new film.

To help our communities and our precious children be safe from drug and alcohol addiction or be supported in their recovery from addiction, DONATE NOW.

Reach Out Recovery is dedicated to collaborative solutions to the epidemic of drug and alcohol addiction that affects nearly every family in America.

Reach Out Recovery, with wonderful volunteers from many organizations and friends from Manatee Glens, First Step of Sarasota, Coastal Behavioral Healthcare, Sunshine From Darkness, Shamrockers USA. Inc, Ringling College, Rehab After Work and many others gathered to celebrate Recovery. Over 500 people enjoyed the music, food, and activities during the two day event.

Artists on the stage included Road Recovery with Simon Kirk and the Type 2 band who came from New York to rock out. They were joined by Twinkle, Willie Royal, Tim Wilkins, and the Damon Marks band, Time Will Tell. There was glorious food and a friends of recovery from North Port to Bradenton. It was a magical evening on the beach as the sun went down Friday and the music played at the first public event at the newly named Ted Sperling Park. In fact, it was the first ever event at South Lido Park. A spectacular site for a picnic, a concert and a sports event.

On Saturday morning runners and walkers gathered early for a 5K run (or a one mile walk) on Lido beach. Gorgeous morning, a wonderful cause to celebrate and many raffle tickets sold. The winner received one of five ESP guitars signed by all the artists, donated by the Guitar Center. The female winner of the 5K race received a stunning leather and black pearl bracelet donated by Barbara McSweeney, who also designed the ROR dog tags we give with every donation. The male winner, from Venice, received a goody bag. The beautiful T-shirts were designed by Forrest Moulton and made by New Balance.

It was all filmed for our movie, The Silent Majority. So if you didn’t get there you can still see it soon. Our competition on Saturday were the Breast Cancer walk at Lakewood Ranch and several other major events that we didn’t know about when we started planning in July. Friday afternoon is practice day for high school teams, which made it difficult for many kids and their parents to get there.

But those who didn’t make it to Lido Beach to celebrate recovery in person can still  get the T-shirt and dog tag. Help us lift the stigma from addiction and recovery, tell the positive story of recovery, and support prevention and recovery programs.

Donate and show you care about the heroes who turn their lives around.

Our October 21-22 Beach Party was a blast.

The evening concert and ROR run/walk brought out about 500 people for the two-day event which was a first for the newly named Ted Sperling Park. It was a glorious Friday evening and a glorious Saturday morning enjoyed by beach lovers, recovery lovers, music lovers, and run/walkers alike. We want to thank Diane Lyons of the Shamrockers and New Balance for creating the run-walk, and help with the beautiful T-shirts, Tim Wilkins for his hilarious MC job, Twinkle, Willie Royal and Road Recovery for their amazing performances, the Guitar Center for the beautiful guitars we raffled, Barb McSweeney for the stunning bracelet prize for the winner of the 5k race and all the artisans and food vendors who came. The City of Sarasota and Sarasota County were both sponsors and helped with permitting and costs for the mobile stage, which looked fabulous out on the beach. The Fire Department came out to watch over us.  The festivities were filmed for our new movie, The Silent Majority, which will start previewing soon.

Reach out Recovery Sponsors everything you wanted to know about prescription meds but were afraid to ask.

Thrusday, September 22, 2011
Sarasota High School Auditorium
1000 South School Avenue – Sarasota

Refreshments by Sweetbay Supermarket: 600 pm
Program: 6:30pm to 7:30pm

For more info, call 941.552.1065

It’s been an exciting few weeks.  At SAMHSA’s invitation, Lindsey spoke at the Young People’s Recovery Conference in Cleveland on July 22^nd. We had lunch with Pat Taylor, Director of Faces and Voices of Recovery ,and visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Lindsey Reports:

In Cleveland, the YPR mission was to for the 38 high school and college students attending (16-27) to begin thinking about how to organize a national movement for recovery. My mission was to share my story about how activism impacted my life and recovery. Activism has given me a new purpose in life and voice to inspire others. Being an activist has also given me the opportunity to meet people all over the country, who are working for same things I am. They all have something special to contribute, some new information, and I am lucky to call many of them friends now.

But the best part of being an activist is getting the chance to speak to young people and let them know how incredibly important they are for the future of recovery. It is only with their help that we can change the image of recovery by showing that more people are getting sober younger and staying sober. Like any cause we need the fresh young faces and original ideas of our youth. Having the opportunity to share my experience, strength and hope with this group was a true pleasure and my message to them was simple—get involved, stay involved and it will help you stay sober. As anyone in recovery will confirm, everyone is stronger and safer in a group fighting for something than floating around on our own.

Filming The Silent Majority Leslie Reports:

As soon as we returned to Florida, filming began for the Silent Majority. We had a great time in Northport, filming D-FY, and learning about the drug free youth program. In Northport a community with 10,000 students, we were very impressed by brand new Morgan Family Community Center where teens have a safe place to gather. We filmed some members of Northport High School ROTC, who did an impromptu flash dance for us, and talked to Northport officials and teens in the program, and will return to Film Drug sniffing Duke and his K9 handler who have reduced arrests at Northport High School by 70% just by being there.

On August 1^st, we had the honor and privilege of filming interviews with Carl and Cindy Weinrich and Cindy and Tara Harney, in which they honored the memories of their precious sons lost to prescription pills, which is now a leading cause of death in high school and college age young people.  Cindy Harney is the co-founder of FAADA, Families Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse, an advocacy group with growing influence that has already impacted pill mill laws in Florida. As Cindy Harney pointed out, in this country people are more concerned about manatees and salmon than they are about their children.

On August 3^rd, we filmed Teen Court of Sarasota County. We learned that Teen Court nationwide has more teen volunteers than any other program. In Sarasota and Venice, it has been in operation for 23 years and positively impacts the lives of literally thousands of young offenders and volunteers each year.

On August 10^th we will appear on Daytime, a national TV program, broadcast on 100 NBC affiliate stations nationwide, talking about our documentary, The Secret World of Recovery.

On August 19th we will film Road Recovery in New York.

The Silent Majority

The Silent Majority is a feature documentary about teens 13 to 19 in successful addiction prevention and recovery programs for the vast audience of young people and their parents and grandparents, as well as addiction and recovery professionals across the nation looking for tools to engage this vulnerable population. This film will highlight local and national programs that are working to help teens live tobacco, drug and alcohol free. The objective is to create an addiction prevention tool to help millions of at risk teens and their families, and to use entertainment to broaden the platform for Recovery Awareness and help recovery become a national priority. Please contribute to the ROR film fund and help us finish the film. We can’t do this important work without your help. A $25 contribution will show you care about the nation’s young people.

Rock and Run For Recovery

Plans are all set for our two-day event Oct. 21/22. We will have the first rock concert on South Lido Beach, and the first 5k run walk on South Lido Beach. More details next week.

Film Festivals

The Secret World of Recovery is entered in 7 film festival competitions and the International Documentary Awards. If you know people in the film festival world, put in a good word for us. We’re not supposed to toot our own horn.

Speaking Engagements

Lindsey has been invited to present at the SAMSHA Youth Recovery Conference in Cleveland on July 20^th. She’s going to talk about recovery advocacy to high school and college students from around the country who are gathering to plan the National Youth Recovery Movement which will be launched by SAMHSA next spring in Washington.

Donations

In the month of June Reach Out Recovery was very proud to make its first donations from proceeds received for the April Awards dinner at Michael’s On East. Claudia Coville’s program Mentor For Success Prison Program at JFCS received $2500. Families Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse received $1000. First Step received $1000 for its Youth Outpatient program, and the Salvation Army received $1000 for the Center of Hope.

Events

In the fall ROR is raising the stakes and we hope a lot more money. ROR is planning an even bigger event than the first one at the Van Wezel. This time, to help local prevention and recovery programs, on Fri., October 21^st, ROR will present a free rock concert, food expo, and artisan festival on South Lido Beach. The first non profit event to be held at that beautiful Sarasota venue. How will we make money? The following morning on Saturday October 22^nd there will be a run/walk on the beach to celebrate recovery. We hope that people will find sponsors for their walk/runs and raise lots of good will and money for the cause. I will not be running. I’m a walker, in it purely for the barbecue and more music on the beach at noon. (the food is not free, the music is). To volunteer or be a sponsor of these two exciting events, email us, or call the office 356-0173.

WASHINGTON TRIP

Last week Lindsey and I were in Washington at the Faces and Voices of Recovery Awards ceremony and party at the Washington Club, where we met FAVOR board members, Congressmen, and recovery advocates from all over. There’s a lot happening in the recovery world that the general public doesn’t know about. We will begin reporting soon.

While we were in Washington, Dick Lobo, who is the Director of the International Broadcasting Bureau, arranged for a VIP tour of Voice of America for us. We were there for hours. VOA has the biggest newsroom in the world. 30,000 square feet and 26 miles of cables. Reports come in from 122 stations around the world. The studios run 24/7. VOAnews never sleeps. At 11am we saw a show broadcasting live to the tribal areas of Afghanistan about women’s rights. In another studio we visited Border Crossing, a music show has an audience of 120 million. It’s probably the biggest call-in request show in the world. Commercial free. At Hip Hop Connection, there was a live performance by Ife.  She is a singer based in New York. We had our picture taken with her. We also met a Persian satirist who does a Persian Version of the John Stewart Show. We didn’t understand a word, but the government of Iran is absolutely seething. Six shows have been created in Iran to counter it. Serious reporting to Tibet and China, Pakistan, the Middle East, Somalia was being broadcast while we were there. It was very exciting to see international reporting by foreign nationals for their own countries. Hundreds of Millions of people around the world cannot rely on the news they receive from their own countries. They listen to VOAnews on shortwave radios and the internet. There are even shows that use only 1000 English words for people who have no other way to learn English. We can’t get VOAnews on the radio or TV in the US yet because a law was passed during the cold war to prevent it. But you can go to VOAnews.com on line. It’s a great place to see the world.

Our New Film, The Silent Majority

ROR is sponsoring a new film. The Silent Majority is a Rock Documentary about teen programs that are working to help kids live drug, alcohol, and tobacco free. The project is listed on Indiegogo.com.  Can a good cause  raise funds directly from total strangers?  On Indiegogo, people can give a dollar, or a hundred dollars, or ten thousand dollars. It’s just a fun way to contribute to something you care about. Indiegogo is a very cool site offering all kinds of giving opportunities to donors looking for projects to fund. You can also contribute to the film fund on the Reach Out Recovery site. And get a dog tag or a Tee Shirt. Check out Film Fund. Or donate to ROR and we will choose the cause. Only money designated to the film fun will be used for the film.

Here’s Why Teens Need a Film To Show Life Without Drugs.

Today the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA at Columbia University) released its report: Adolescent Substance Use: America’s #1 Health Problem.

“Because the adolescent brain is still developing, teens are more likely to take risks like smoking, drinking or using other drugs, and are more sensitive to the damaging and addictive properties of these drugs. The report documents that the critical period for preventing the initiation of substance use and its extensive, devastating and costly health and social consequences is adolescence.

The report examines how American culture increases the risk that teens will use addictive substances and how the messages sent by adults, and glamorized by the tobacco and alcohol industries and the media, normalize substance use and undermine the health and futures of our teens.