Six Months of Continuing Support

People seeking mental health treatment find themselves facing challenges many will never fully understand.  No one dreams about one day having a mental illness and the crises (spiritual, emotional, financial, social, moral) situated with these daunting illnesses. In fact, many fail to realize that it’s a mental illness or unresolved trauma that often leads to […]

My Kingdom for Some Care

Imagine that you’re driving your car near your home in Santa Barbara when you’re involved in a traffic accident through no fault of your own.  Your leg is broken and you are taken to the nearest emergency room. The doctor tells you that you’ll need surgery and a period of intense physical therapy to regain […]

We want to get it off our chest — You deserve to be cancer free AND drug free!

breast cancer

OCT Breast Cancer Awareness and Addiction: When One Disease Leads to Another Finding out you or someone you love has cancer is frightening. The emotional rollercoaster of understanding your diagnosis, treatment options and chances of survival is a challenging journey. All oncological treatments including breast cancer treatment are often unpleasant and painful, from radiation, chemotherapy […]

Empathic Equine Therapy at D’Amore Healthcare

equine therapy

How Horses Demonstrate Empathy Empathy is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Horses are sensitive, feeling-oriented prey animals. Because of this, their survival depends on their ability to sense any incongruence in their environment. As herd animals, horses can sense and assimilate to the feelings of other horses and […]

Purple Drank: What is it and why do teens think it’s cool?

What is Purple Drank? Also known as lean, Dirty Sprite, sizzurp, and syrup, Purple Drank is a drug concoction made from prescription cough syrup. The sugary drink has been made popular among teens and influenced by the hip-hop industry. Numerous celebrity rappers sing about purple drank. In fact, Lil Wayne went to the hospital for […]

Two Dead Bodies — Taking A Different Path

On my first day of treatment, I watched them roll two purplish bodies out of the room across from me. EMS were there and the police too. Residents circled the scene, taking it all in. But, most of us used and drank again. I was 21 and not convinced I had a problem I couldn’t […]