Ryan Besaw

As many of you already know, Ryan Besaw was removed from life support and passed away on Friday, December 28, at around 10:30 pm. His funeral and burial will be held on Wednesday, January 2, in Traverse City.

There will be a memorial service held at the Delonis Center on Sunday, January 6, at 12:30pm until 2pm.

You can read his obituary here.

Please keep his family in your prayers.

Ed Series

Dawn Farm will present the following free Education Series program in January 2008:

"Codependency" will be presented on January 22, 2008; 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm, by Ronald E. Harrison, SW; Chemical Dependency Therapist. This presentation will discuss the symptoms and progression of codependency and describe recovery from codependency.

"Chemical Dependency and the Family" will be presented on January 29, 2008; 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm, by Mary Ragland, MSW, LLMSW; Therapist, Dawn Farm Daybreak Program. This presentation will describe the effects of chemical dependency on each family member, and provide information about how people affected by chemical dependency in their family can recover from these effects.

All Education Series programs are presented in the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital Education Center auditorium, 5305 Elliott Drive, Ypsilanti. All programs are free and open to all; presentations are intended to have broad appeal and are geared toward a diverse audience. No registration is required. Each workshop is approved by the Michigan Certification Board for Addiction Professionals (MCBAP) to provide 1.5 free CE hours. All staff are invited to attend, and we will be grateful for your help in informing clients, families and others!

The full Education Series schedule along with details, directions and a flier can be accessed from http://www.dawnfarm.org/edseries.html. You can also contact me by e-mail or at Detox with questions.

The "Teens Using Drugs: What To Know and What To Do" two-part workshop series will be presented on Janaury 8 (part 1, "What To Know") and January 15 (part two, "What To Do.") For information about this series, please see http://www.teensusingdrugs.org. (Please note that MCBAP CE is not provided for this program.)

Thank you,

Matt Statman

Team Leader, Dawn Farm Detox; and Education Series Coordinator

734/669-8265 (at Detox)

mstatman@dawnfarm.org

Son's death leads mom to reach out

From the Ann Arbor News:

The call from the principal, a police officer at the door, your child in front of a judge: Most parents dread the shame that comes when their children make serious mistakes.

Barb Smith of Milan has written a book about her late son, Brent Legault, who died two years ago, and the family's attempts to have him stop using drugs and alcohol. She is donating the proceeds from the book to Dawn Farm, a local substance abuse program.

But the shame is nothing compared to the pain of learning that your child is gone.

Barb Smith of Milan watched as her son, Brent Legault, who suffered from alcohol and drug addiction, made many mistakes until the final phone call came on Dec. 4, 2005.
Brent's former girlfriend called from Green Bay, Wis., saying that a snowplow driver had found the 23-year-old dead in his car.

Barb Smith recently published "Brent's World," a memoir of her son's life and his struggles with addiction. She plans to donate proceeds to Dawn Farm, an Ypsilanti-based substance abuse rehabilitation program. Brent went to the agency's detox center briefly but walked out before completing the program.

Brent's death wasn't directly caused by drugs and alcohol, but Smith said his addictions are what caused her bright and artistic son to make the poor decisions that led up to him sleeping in his car in cold, snowy weather.

His death was caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, due to the damaged exhaust system his car had as the result of a previous accident. Tests showed there were no illegal drugs or alcohol in Brent's blood when he died, Smith said.

Despite his addictions, which made life with Brent chaotic and stressful, the young man had many good qualities, said his mother and stepfather, Tim Smith.

"He could play the piano beautifully. Every day he would come home and play the piano," Tim Smith said. Brent didn't usually play a written music piece - he'd just create a different tune every time he sat down, his stepfather said.

Where to get 'Brent's World' Barb Smith's book is published by Outskirts Press and available through Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. Smith will also send the book directly. She can be contacted by e-mail at brentsworld23@yahoo.com. Smith is charging adults $10 for the book but will only charge teens her cost for the book, which is $5.83. Smith is donating proceeds from the book to Dawn Farm, a local substance abuse rehabilitation program. How to get help For help with drug and alcohol addiction, call Dawn Farm. For people who have used a substance within 72 hours, the detox program can be reached at 734-669-8265. For other programs, call 734-485-8725. Washtenaw County residents also can call 734-544-3050 for a treatment referral.

The young man was also a hard worker, Tim Smith said. Brent worked alongside his stepfather at the Tecumseh auto collision shop that Smith now owns.

And Brent was a loving big brother to Tim Smith's son T.J., who is now 15, he said. Brent and T.J. would listen to music in the basement, sharing the same headset. He was also close to his sister Rachel.

The first sign of drug abuse came when a principal at Scarlett Middle School called, saying that the 13-year-old had been caught trying to buy marijuana.

The next crisis was in 10th grade, when Brent was attending Belleville High School. The only class he passed that year was gym and he also got in trouble with the law. He was placed on a stringent probation that included an intensive outpatient treatment program and regular attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

For Brent, the threat of jail was effective. He mostly complied with his treatment program, and was able to attend Milan High School and graduate. He even got three scholarships, Tim Smith said.

"For a year and a half, I got my son back," Barb Smith said. But when Brent turned 18, his probation was over and he started using again, his parents said. And now, because he was an adult, it was impossible to compel him into treatment.

He moved to Green Bay to be with his former girlfriend, but they broke up in 2005 after Brent's addiction became too much for the young woman to handle. Soon after their breakup, Brent attempted suicide.

He came back to Michigan and moved in with his parents and the summer that followed was wonderful, his parents said. They did many things they'd always wanted to do with Brent, like going to the Woodward Dream Cruise. But his addiction kicked back in and his use of substances escalated.

Practicing the tough love that many substance abuse specialists recommend, Barb Smith decided that Brent could not remain in the home if he continued to use. She's not sure that giving him the ultimatum was the right choice, because only a week later, Brent was dead. "I would never, ever tell anybody 'You have to kick him out,'" she said.

But Tim Smith said that with Brent smoking marijuana in front of T.J., the family had no choice. The couple, with a strong Christian faith, is grateful for some things despite Brent's death. They are grateful for that last summer together. Sometimes Barb Smith even looks at her son's relatively peaceful death as a blessing.

"Brent didn't have what it took to be in recovery so God took him home. Now he's out of his torment."

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

I need your help again. I created another wiki page to get your thoughts about what we accomplished in 2007 and what you might like to see us do in 2008.

Please visit the page and add your thoughts.

DV 101

Please see the attached document for full information on the DV 101 Training on January 16, 2008 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Remember this offers 3 Free Social Work CEU credits.

A flyer is available at: http://www.csswashtenaw.org/dv101.pdf

From the Finance Office

Two things:

1. Effective January 1, the mileage reimbursement will increase to 50.5 cents per mile.
   
   
2. Now is a good time to review your tax withholding status and allowances. If you would like to make changes, please ask Beverly to send you a blank W-4 form. Remember that you can make changes to this information at any time.

Essential Learning

Hi Everyone!

Ten new (and required) Dawn Farm annual trainings are up and available for all staff on the Essential Learning website. Your due dates for each class, plus due dates for CPR and First Aid training, are listed on the Learner Profile page that comes up when you log in.

If you have not taken the "Welcome to Online Learning" class yet, please do! I will also be sending email reminders.

Thanks!
Anna

Please email me with any questions: abyberg@dawnfarm.org

Handy & dandy monitor calendar

I just thought I'd share this handy dandy mini calendar to tape to your monitor.

Google Docs

You may have noticed that Documents link in the upper left hand corner of your email and wondered "What's up with that?"


Here's a video that gives a great demonstration of how useful it can be.


For documents that do not include any confidential information, I'd encourage all of you to consider using Google Docs, Sheets and Presentations. It's easy to use, it does the saving for you, it's easily searchable, and it allows easy sharing and collaboration. The trade-off is that it does not have all of the features you find in Microsoft Office.

Speaker needed

This is not directly related to the Farm. On behalf of the Livonia Save Our Youth Task Force, am looking for someone to present Teens Using Drugs: How to Know and What to Do workshops about 10 times per year in Livonia. The group is planning on paying the speaker for his/her time. This is is in the early stages of planning. Let me know if you are interested, or if you know someone who is interested.

Andrew Kraemer

It's been a busy week and things have moved more quickly with the Project Manager position than I had planned on. So, it just occurred to me that I did not announce that today will be Andrew's last day. I'm sure he won't be a stranger.

Andrew--Best wishes to your future pursuits.

Detox Shifts Available

Midnight shift available @ Detox
Thursday through Sunday, 12-8 a.m.
If interested, please contact Brenda @ 669.8265

New Project Manager

Last week I posted about the job opening for the position of Project Manager. Good news! Anna Byberg has been hired and started this Monday.

Congrats Anna!

Employee of the month

On 10/31/07, Anna, assisting Charles, spent an entire day at IKEA procuring over $5,000 in furnishings for the Aspen Chase apartments. It was not your ordinary shopping experience. These two overcame daunting bureaucratic and physical obstacles before they were able to drive away with their purchases safely stowed in our rented van. Charles says that Anna kept him cool by reminding him how happy the new Aspen Chase residents would be to have nice, new furnishings. Anna (and Charles) “took one for the team”. Thank you, Anna (and Charles).

Volunteer of the month

Ron Plunkett is our November Volunteer of the month. Ron has been consistently doing service work at Detox since March 2007. He participants in our morning and evening meditations, sharing his experience, strength, and hope with our clients. Clients can frequently be heard asking Ron to repeat his "five things that I do to stay sober every day,” so they can write them down. He has a great rapport with the clients. Ron has also been a dynamic and willing volunteer in the kitchen. He makes extravagant, several course meals for the clients on a regular basis. Most recently, Ron spent many hours preparing and serving an amazing Thanksgiving meal at Detox. Detox staff would like to thank Ron for his service.