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Joani Gammill      

Expert on Alcoholism & Addiction

Joani worked full time as a registered nurse, primarily in a hospital neonatal unit from 1978 until 1996. From there she transitioned to alcohol and drug rehab nursing in a state-run facility called The Hope House in Crownsville, Maryland, for seven years.

Since undergoing a life-altering intervention by Dr. Phil McGraw on a televised yearly TV special, Escaping Addiction, in May 2005, she has dedicated her career to doing interventions full time with her own company, InterventionRN.

Most recently, she was hired by Recovery Centers of America, a community-based addiction treatment provider delivering evidence-based care.

Speech Topics

Current Trends in Opioids, Prescription Medications and Heroin

This presentation is more factual about the current opiate crisis, based on my second book, PainKillers, Heroin, and the Road to Sanity. I give a brief history of where and when in the global history how opiate consumption started, to the present day issues. The issues range from scheduling of controlled drugs changing, why heroin is killing Americans and what I feel might be helpful in curbing the tide. It is not simple and I do not pretend to have all the answers, but I give the facts and suggestions on solutions. I talk about addiction to opiates and what I did, and what others have done, to achieve long term sobriety. I also touch on baby boomers with long term sobriety from opiates and now find themselves needing surgery. How do you then handle being put on opiates from the operating room to pain relief from their surgery. How do addicts achieve the surgical process without becoming addicted once more? I went through this personally. Again, a personal story with facts and current trends.

An Addicts Life, One Nurses Journey

In this presentation I explore “the perfect storm” of addiction, the factors, including genetics, that collide together to bring this disease to life in a individual. I take the audience of a pictorial journey of my family tree, pointing out the genetics, dysfunctions and mental health issues that are passed from generation to generation unless the chain is broken. I have broken that chain. Again a inspirational presentation backed up with facts about the disease of addiction and alcoholism. How am I thriving in spite of my powerful genetics, my families past dysfunctions and raising two great kids on the autism spectrum. It is all in perception. We all have our crosses to bear. It is what we do with those difficult things in our lives that define us.

Interventions, Where Hope Can Begin

I have been doing interventions for 10 years and am a product of an intervention that Dr. Phil did on a Prime Time Special call Escaping Addiction in 2005. My presentation is both funny and informative. I show clips of popular TV show interventions and teach the process of intervention in the negative “Where did they go wrong”. More importantly I show clips of my own intervention with Dr. Phil and speak about the importance of interventions in saving lives. It is a inspirational speech, about how when given an opportunity, grab that brass ring and turn your life around. Not easy, but very possible. I was addicted to three prescription drugs and had a needle in my arm. I was a soccer mom with both of my children on the autism spectrum. I was high functioning to the community but dying in private like my parents actually did. I had very small statistical odds of overcoming this disease. Becoming successful has been the icing on the cake. I open my speech with the song “Impossible Dream”. Most people are brought to tears and laugh when I am privileged to speak.

Books

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