For those of you on the neighbor islands, Hawaii Alcohol and Drug abuse Division of Department of Health is now allowing qualified candidates to test for Certified Substance Abuse Counselor exam at University of Hawaii campuses via computer now. One of my grads will the very first to test on the Big Island this way in June.

2011 was a year for the books, with much inner growth and endurance as the orders of the day.

2012 shines with promise.

A new job, possibly a move to a new home and a new website for Pacific Academy of the Healing Arts.

We are planning to construct a website specifically for addictions professional examination preparation. It will allow candidates for the ICRC examinations to review and self test their knowledge base.

It is a noble project and one that we hope will enable and encourage more caring professionals to specialize in the expert treatment of addictions.

Happy New Year to one and all!

“Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out”.

With so many reversals happening in so many lives (not the least important of which I am living), the concept of surrender and acceptance becomes unavoidable.

As even conservative life plans decompose into proverbial houses of cards and even the mightiest efforts prove inadequate, I am struck by the powerlessness and mortality of human activity.

The past few years, with their mother lode of systemic loss and suffering, have brought me back to my youthful position of wanting to turn my life and will completely over to the divine; To surrender my will to a greater will, with the realization that my perception is impaired by my very humanity.

To that end, what to do? Join an ashram, pursue education in transpersonal psychology, remain as I was?

Mantra-like, I plead for knowledge of His will and the power to carry it out.

Last week, I wrote about an old friend being shaken from the welfare tree because he was deemed “not disabled enough” to forgo work.

Thursday, I picked my messages to hear the first shade of hope in this man’s voice in many months.

He was jubilantly announcing that, after six years of struggle, he had received notification that he had successfully passed the international certification examination as a substance abuse counselor, from Alcohol and Drug Division of Hawai’i Department of Health.

He followed by revising his resume to include the title “CSAC” (Certified Substance Abuse Counselor) and began his search for gainful employment anew.

Inspired, I placed a classified advertisement in the local newspaper to begin recruitment for the 2012 series of classes by Pacific Academy of the Healing Arts.

Maybe we really can change the world.

It is Monday, October 10th, 2011.

It is raining in North Hawai’i and an Australian won the Iron man Triathlon held in Kailua Kona last weekend.

Just got a call a from an old friend who has been out of work for over a year and who just learned that his meager welfare benefit is being stopped.

Apparently, he is not “disabled enough” by a crushing major depression and the three shrinks who evaluated him via video teleconference from Honolulu think he should just suck it up and “get a job”.

The cost of the three shrinks alone would have fed this man for a half  a year.

His General assistance benefit was only $300 and some change, but without it, he cannot even buy toiletries or gasoline to continue the fruitless search for gainful employment on an island that has over 300 applicants for even the most menial vacancies.

He did take the all of PAHA classes, sans tuition as a work scholar, back in the days when I could afford such generosity.

Now in his darkest hour, he is waiting on the results of  the international CSAC examination, which  he sat for on Sept. 11th, 2011.

God willing and the creek don’t rise, this credential will give him a leg up in this now unrecognizable landsacpe where hard work and willingness are no longer legal tender.

I offer silent prayers to my higher power, that light will find this man in his hour of need and give him the mercy he deserves.

Step one. “Admitted we powerless over alcohol and our lives had become unmanageable”.

These words occur to me today; not about alcohol, but about the many curve balls life has hurled my way since I last blogged.

Like many Americans, I honestly believed the dream of prosperity would never end. But 20o8, 2009, and 2010 have come and gone; leaving a wake of devastated collective despair.

Every day, in my advanced practice psychiatric nursing practice, I watch as the poor get poorer. I behold, stunned and mute, as welfare checks, medical and social security benefits are ripped from the wounded like feted bandages; leaving my patients raw and bewildered.

And leaving me powerless to comfort them in the hour of need.

Powerless to hang on to all I once held dear; home and hearth, forsaken to the insatiable greed and avarice of multinational banks.

What do we really need in the end? Comfort, clean sheets, and a hot shower?

I ponder this, as I consider downsizing to my Hilo Bay front office. Twenty years of blood, sweat and tears in psychiatric and addictions nursing and it has come to this?

Yet, I summon gratitude, as each of my severely mentally ill charges passes through that office.

There, but for the Lord’s sweet grace, go I. A matter of luck, some education and a few neurotransmitters separate my fate from those for whom I care.

Just for today, I have meaningful work; just for today, my foreclosed roof still keeps the rains at bay; just for today, I still have a shred of dignity decorating my near empty bank accounts.

God grant me the serenity to Accept the things I cannot change; the courage to Change the things I can; and the wisdom to Know the difference.

We are now offering FREE enrollment in the course “Professional Ethics and Issues for the Addictions Professional” for ALL registered users on our training site. We hope that you will take advantage of this opportunity to get to know our courses and our academy a little better.

This course is a $75 value and includes a certificate for 6-hours of “Verified Home Study”, perfect to add to your certification or re-certifcation requirements.

If you complete the course and download your certificate by December 31st, you will receive a 50% discount on a second course of your choice.

If you would like to take advantage of this offer, you can sign up for the free course here: Free addictions course

If you are already registered as a student on our site, you should have received an e-mail from us with the enrollment key. If you didn’t, contact us and we’ll get you a copy of the key.

Course description:

• This is a six-hour training aimed at providing an introduction to professional ethics and issues for the addictions professional

• This course directly relates to the domains of assessment, counseling, case management, client education, and professional responsibility, with a specific substance abuse focus.

Course objectives:

Upon completion, the learner will be able to identify:
1. Major ethical theories and principles relevant to the counseling and helping professions;
2. Relevant legal terms;
3. Dual relationships and other potential conflicts of interest;
4. Self disclosure and other well intentioned pitfalls;
5. Appropriate assessments, interventions, professionalism, and supportive measures such as case management and client education for the professional who is caring for the chemically impaired individual.

Pacific Academy of the Healing Arts is pleased to announce that its founder and director, Elizabeth Bush, APRN-Rx, CARN, AP, CSAC has been awarded the internationally recognized title Certified Co-Occurring Disorders Professional-Diplomate (CCDP-D) by the Hawaii Dept. of Health, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division, and the International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium.

This credential is a highly respected and coveted recognition of professional recognition that is awarded to experts in both substance use disorders and mental illness, after meeting rigorous international educational and professional standards in both areas of knowledge.

For more information about a Certified Co-Occurring Disorders Professional-Diplomate click here.

The Pacific Academy of the Healing Arts is proud to announce that our founder and director Elizabeth Bush, MSN, APRN, CARN-AP, CSAC, received the 2010 Excellence in Advanced Practice Nursing Hillman Award. The recipient of this award is an individual who embodies the role of the advanced practice nurse as a master clinician, researcher, consultant, and/or educator. The award was given at the Annual Hillman Alumni Nursing Network Reception at the Penn Club in NYC on December 9th, 2010, an event that pulls together Hillmans from all the programs supported by the Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation…students, alumni, faculty, the deans, and foundation board members. 

Ms. Bush is an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania. She holds a Master of Science in Nursing and is board certified as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner and as a Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialist. She is also board certified as a Certified Substance Abuse Counselor (CSAC) and Addictions RN in Advanced Practice (CARN-AP). Her areas of expertise include detoxification, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other Psychiatric and co-occurring disorders.

The Pacific Academy of the Healing Arts (PAHA) is a NAADAC-recognized educational provider for professional addictions training. The academy offers courses through an on-line learning model, as well as face-to-face courses on the Big Island of Hawaii. PAHA is currently offering a free 6 credit online course in “Understanding Alcohol for the Addictions Professional” for all new users on their site which can be used for certification or recertification requirements. Visit www.addictionsprofessional.com for more information about Elizabeth Bush or our online academy.

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Below is Ms. Bush’s acceptance speech for the 2010 Excellence in Advanced Practice Nursing Hillman Award, entitled, “Unconditional Love”:

“Throughout my life I have made a practice of exploring the great religions of the world.  This quest has led me to the foothills of the Himalayas, into urban homeless shelters, to the banks of the Ganges River, into Native American sweat lodge ceremonies, to the silence of meditation retreats, and inside a multitude of Christian, Hebrew, Buddhist, Hindu, and Islamic Shrines. With each and every spiritual path encountered, I discovered the phenomenon known as Unconditional Love being hailed as the highest and most desirable state of human existence.  It is described as rare, elusive, and all-pervasive.  I believe it is the unspoken ethic of Nursing, manifested as truthfulness, fidelity, and respect for human dignity.

Like wind blowing across the surface of a lake, Unconditional Love cannot be perceived directly, but is seen only by the ripples which its presence creates.  It has been my great, good fortune to catch a glimpse of it on a number of occasions during the course of my career as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse.

In each and every instance, Unconditional Love did not reveal itself in a vacuum.  Rather, it always appeared as a by-product of intense adversity and the struggle to overcome it.  Indeed, by definition, Love untested in the fires of tribulation, cannot be described as unconditional.

As Nurses, there is hardly a time that we will encounter people who are not facing trying times.  It is, therefore, essential for us to cultivate a standard of Unconditional Love as an integral component of our Nursing Practices. It is this marvelous phenomenon, alone, that sets Nursing apart from all other health care professions.  The profession of Nursing has long been associated with selflessness, patient advocacy, and non-judgmental acceptance of all individuals.  Indeed, without such lofty ethics, we are only highly educated assistive personnel, different only in name and licensure from medical or physician’s assistants and other health care technicians.

During, this gathering of celebration of nursing in general and Penn Nursing in particular, I challenge each of you to examine your hearts for the presence of Unconditional Love.

Question yourselves:

Of what use is knowledge of Anatomy and Physiology, if we do not comprehend that the only real difference between the races is the degree of melanin contained within our dermal layers?

Of what use is an academic understanding of genetics, if we fail to understand that it is only the presence or absence of a microscopic chromosome that determines whether a child will have the opportunity to experience life free of having to struggle with the tribulations of mental retardation or cystic fibrosis?

What is the purpose of understanding Sociology, if we cannot understand that the only distinction between landed gentry and the homeless population is having the good fortune of being able to pay the mortgage company?

Where is our ethic of respect for human dignity if we fail to understand that the only distinction between a working class hero’s family and the family dependent upon welfare is the increasingly rare commodity of job security and a regular pay check?

To what end is our knowledge of Psychopathology if we forget that the only difference between the mentally ill and “well-adjusted” members of society is the degree of neurotransmitters available at the neurological synapses?

Of what purpose is the study of Developmental Psychology if we cannot perceive that only a developmental stage separates the recklessness of adolescence from the frailty of old age?

Consider that an education in Microbiology is quite empty without the ability to set aside value judgments and tend to the compassionate care of HIV-infected individuals and their loved ones.

To what end is the knowledge of Human Biology if we do not recognize that it is only the absence or presence of Unconditional Love that determines whether we are truly human beings or merely some version of higher primates?

Finally, of what purpose are our Nursing Ethics unless we fully understand that it is only the indefatigable and determined practice of Unconditional Love that differentiates Nursing from all other healing disciplines?

It is my sincere prayer that these questions and the answers to them will arise in your minds and manifest themselves through your actions throughout your careers as Nurses.

In closing, because many of you have Unconditional Love have  earned the elusive and amazing awards given to today by the Hillman Foundation through your own unique expressions of Unconditional Love ; I am borrowing an ancient Polynesian phrase that means both “Hello” and “Good-by,” as well as Love. ALOHA!”

Your Servant,  Elizabeth Bush, MSN, APRN-Rx, CARN-AP, CSAC
Board Certified Psychiatric Advanced Practice Nurse (NP and CNS)
Certified Addiction Registered Nurse, Advanced Practice
Certified Substance Abuse Counselor
http://addictionsprofessional.com
Penn Nursing Alumnus 1998 (BSN) 1999 (MSN)
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