Southern Cross Healthcare are hiding behind a Public Relations firm in their blatant attempts to cover up for their abuse of Kathleen Stenson and her son William at their nursing home in West Felton,Oswestry in England.

Top earning nursing home bosses at Southern Cross Healthcare, Ray Miles, Chairman, Jamie Buchan, Executive Director, Richard Midmer and Kamma Foukes have hired the PR firm. The manager of the home, Kim Wright, is not to speak to the press and to leave things to their hired spin doctors at the PR company.

If previous salaries are anything to go by, and according to the Sunday Times of 4th Nov 2007, we know that former CEO Philip Scott was paid 600,000 pounds sterling in one year with shares of 12 million pounds sterling, then it can be said that the above executives are probably also earning similarly garguantuan salaries! It’s time these people were held to public account.

This healthcare giant uses the money they rake off from patients or through share dealings in this dehumanised elderly ”care” industry to hire a PR company to spin and lie for them as their minions deny and repudiate the human rights of Kathleen Stenson and her son William.

Any kind of addiction is a kind of physiological disease. The dependency on the drugs makes them addicts. Excessive usage of drugs leads to drug abuse. The side effects and the impacts can be very well understood and hence it needs immediate recovery process. Detox services ensure that the initial plunge into sobriety can be a relieving factor. Drug addicts are stripped off their dignity, love, respect. There have been many cases where celebrities were involved in such cases and they were thrown away for their wrong doings. Drug addiction is totally against nature and cannot be justified at any moment. A good recovery program can treat drug abuse efficiently. And it has to start with a Detox service. Drug addiction treatment centers which do not concentrate on the goodness of Detox can never help the individuals to come out of the problem of drug abuse. Drug Detox is a vital precursor to drug rehabilitation.

It has been an incredibly long and painful journey for “Nicholas,” 21, and his family, but today Nicholas is living proof that with the right treatment and support, it is possible to recover from a crippling mental illness, schizophrenia, and substance abuse.

Although Nicholas most recently has been seen at Arapahoe/Douglas Mental Health Network as an outpatient since the spring of 2005, his struggles with what ultimately would be diagnosed as a severe form of schizophrenia began in high school. With trouble escalating at school and home during his sophomore year, it was clear something was terribly wrong with Nicholas, who had been a straight-A student. It was the beginning of a journey that would result in periodic months’-long hospitalizations for Nicholas in no less than six different facilities across the Denver metro area.

The disturbing memories that shadow that path bear witness to the severity of his illness.

“I believed I was Jesus at one point,” he adds, shaking his head. There were times when Nicholas was hospitalized that he had to be placed in a locked room because he was so out of control. His bizarre behavior included trying to eat cereal with a toothbrush. And there were days that he was sure “Elizabeth” wasn’t his real mother. Even so, she came to see him all the time, refusing to give up hope.

Drug abuse is an addiction that involves excessive consumption of chemical substances used for pleasure rather than medical reasons. Generally people take drugs for pleasure and relaxation and in course of time they develop a habit and feel uncomfortable if they do not have it regularly. Drug addiction not only affects the health but also one’s social life and professional life.

Drug abuse has significant impact on the body and the brain. Drugs affect the heartbeat, blood pressure and even the rate of metabolism. Signs of drug addiction include restlessness, slow reaction time, sudden weight loss, and inability to sleep. Drug abuse can trigger paranoia, agitation, delusions and increase in the possibility of violence. The biggest hurdle for the treatment of a drug addict is strong denial and rationalization. The urge is so strong that the person tries to rationalize his act. For the drug addict, admitting the problem is a challenge. Drug abuse can result in dysfunctional behaviors that can affect the normal functioning in the family and at work place.

Recovery from this addiction needs strong will power and determination. There are drug abuse clinics that conduct treatment programs to help the patients in fast recovery. The treatment program generally includes:

In 2003, “Amylin,” a young mother in rural Tennessee, was very addicted to methamphetamine. After she started manufacturing it at home to maintain her addiction, she lost custody of her children. The loss of her children drove her deeper into despair and more meth use which ended up resulting in a prison sentence and permanent damage to her heart. Because of meth, Amylin ended up losing everything, including her freedom, her children, her job, and her health. However, because of Amylin’s will to change and the work of her area community mental health center to provide evidence-based treatments, everything was not lost forever.

After a 2-year prison stay, Amylin was released and entered a local drug court where she was sentenced to a 90-day inpatient treatment program. Following her inpatient treatment she was mandated by the court to continue her treatment in an intensive outpatient program. Amylin was referred to the methamphetamine evidence-based treatment and healing (METH) program at a community mental health center in Tullahoma, TN.  Made possible by a federal SAMHSA grant, the METH program provided comprehensive, evidence-based and community-based treatment services for adults who abused meth and other emerging drugs as well as helped increase community awareness and education concerning prevalence, risks and effective treatments through outreach activities. The METH program, following the Matrix Model, gave services to each participant for 16 weeks, includes 3 group sessions a week & individual therapy. It taught participants effective strategies for treating meth addiction and techniques to help them remain drug free after the program was completed.

Drug abuse problems are one of the major worries that parents face as their child enters teens. With drugs it is not just illegal drugs, even if certain substances are freely and legally available in the market, they could be fatal if consumed beyond certain limits. Parents need to be aware of all these substance and need to protect their child from them. Below are some of the symptoms that can help you identify if you are facing such drug abuse problems:

Lower Personal Effectiveness: The first signs of drug abuse problems are a decline in personal effectiveness at school and home. Teenagers with this problem start dropping grades, you may also start getting more complaints from school, play truant at school and will stop following common rules at home.

Risk Taking: Drug abuse problems can also lead your teenager to take more risks to fuel their addiction, like stealing from friends or family, taking out loans and mixing with socially disruptive individuals. You may even start getting police complaints or have to visit the police station.