Joshua Bennett-Johnson

Seven clients. I, at present, have seven clients undergoing psychedelic therapies. We’re not talking about my clients at EDM or jamband festivals, adorned in glowsticks and alien masks, spinning in a field...

SSRIs. SNRIs. Mood Stabilizers. Replacement Therapies. Big Pharma: Here in America, if you’ve got any unpleasant symptoms related to, well, anything, there’s good news! We’ve got a pill for that.

For the sake of privacy and anonymity, we’re going to call her “Kat”. I chose “Kat” because there was a ferociousness to her energy. Kat was from the streets, and you could just feel it. She was tough...

When a client arrives at a clinic with a substance abuse issue, let’s say, for the sake of the hypothetical, they’re struggling with alcohol and cocaine use, it’s not uncommon to see them put in the work...

Our primal, primitive brain, the ancient part of our brain that receives information first, is strictly reactive, and it has one job, and one job only: to keep us alive. Thus, it is always on the lookout...

Take a look at the landscape of the world right now. Current events. The never-ending news cycle. The doom-scrolling. The constant barrage of absolutely terrifying possibilities with respect to the stock market...

I am a tie-dyed-in-the-wool “Deadhead.” There. I said it. Now you know.

For the better part of 6 weeks, it was all he talked about. 'The Call'. It was an important phone call. It wasn’t one he could just ignore or blow off, for if he did, there were going to be significant financial penalties.

His name was Dave. I won’t share his last name, but it’s a matter of public record, so it doesn’t really matter. Dave was, at one time, an absolute pillar in the world of recovery in the Boston...

“Junkie”, “Drunk”, “Crackhead”, “Tweaker”, “Burnout”, “Scumbag”, “Loser”, “Stupid”, “Crazy”, and, in my own opinion, the worst of them all, “Piece of Shit”.

For the past six years in private practice, I’ve always maintained a very diverse range of clients. On my roster, you’ll always see a handful of retirees, a fairly large portion of working professionals...

I met Larry in 2009. He was my assigned counselor when I arrived in treatment, and thank goodness they gave me to Larry, because the other counselor in the house where I was assigned? Just, no.

Ahhhhh, “The Salad Days.” It was about 13 or 14 years ago, and, man! Was I ever the cocky and arrogant young intern. I remember confidently walking into the clinic where I’d be...

He came to the clinic, and he did all the things that a client at the clinic is supposed to do. He attended groups, saw the shrink, took his meds, attended weekly one-to-one sessions with me, went...

Never underestimate that which is familiar, and our propensity to return to that which is familiar! When I first encounter a client, they are broken, shattered, their lives in shambles...

This story was shared anonymously with the consent of the client’s experience in treatment. Firstly, what exactly is “harm reduction” in the world of addiction treatment? Well, it is exactly what...

From 50 feet away, you could see that this man had some serious coin. He just had that air about him. His clothes, his shoes, his 14kt gold Rolex watch, designer shades, and so on. But it was also in the way that he carried himself.

It was 16 years ago, nearly to the day, when I landed in (hopefully) my very last treatment facility. And, boy, was this one comprehensive! Getting up early, attending at least three group...