Introducing "The Power of Prevention: Insights into Youth Substance Abuse and Addiction" with Dr. C. Thomas Brophy

Seneca Valley will be hosting an upcoming parent event, "The Power of Prevention: Insights into Youth Substance Abuse and Addiction," on Oct. 25, at 6:30 p.m. in the senior high school auditorium. Listen as Dr. C. Thomas Brophy discusses insights into youth substance abuse and addiction.

 IN THIS EPISODE, WE WILL REVIEW

• The upcoming parent event, "The Power of Prevention: Insights into Youth Substance Abuse and Addiction" 
• Facts about the neuroscience of addiction
• What parents can expect to hear during "The Power of Prevention"
• Why attend "The Power of Prevention"

SPECIAL GUEST
Dr. C. Thomas Brophy

Dr. C. Thomas Brophy is one of the regions only physicians board certified in Addiction Medicine as well as Emergency Medicine. He is local to the western PA area, obtained his neuroscience degree from the University of Pittsburgh, and completed his medical residency training at Allegheny General Hospital. With a passion for education, Dr. Brophy has become well known for educating the public as well as medical professionals on the neuroscience of addiction. He is a regular contributor to KDKA radio and has organized and executed over 100 public education seminars on topics related to addiction. His passion for helping addicts started at an early age.  Dr. Brophy has dedicated his life to not only helping those struggling with addiction, but also helping everyone understand the neurophysiology of addiction better, so that we can all be part of the solution. Dr. Brophy began working with the Gaiser Center in 2019 and serves as Medical Director for the facility.

Transcript

FULL TRANSCRIPT (with timecode)

 00:00:01:27 - 00:00:36:06
Jeff Krakoff: Welcome to Voices, a national award-winning podcast brought to you by The Seneca Valley School District. This is Jeff Krakoff. Today I'm speaking with Dr. C. Thomas Brophy, who is the medical director for the Ellen O'Brien Gaiser Center. Thanks for joining us today. Thanks for having me. So, we're here to talk about your program coming up right on October 25th called "The Power of Prevention." We can get into the details of when and where but tell us a little bit about your background first. 

00:00:36:09 - 00:02:16:10
Dr. Brophy: So, I am up physician a born and raised here in the Pittsburgh area. What makes me a little bit unique is that I am board certified in addiction medicine. There's a lot of doctors who do addiction medicine. But not many that have pursued the path of board certification as that's only been available for the past about 8 years. And I'm in and I hold dual board certifications in and not only addiction medicine but also emergency medicine and the addiction epidemic that we have seen on the rise over the past two decades has been something that has significantly impacted my professional life. But it also had a significant impact on my personal life, as well.  I grew up with a with an addict in the house, my brother was on heroin for 20 years or it would we finally got him stabilized on the pathway recovery. And before Medical School, my background was neuroscience at University of Pittsburgh. So, I had a bit of a unique perspective, as I was always focusing on the Neuroscience of addiction and what makes me and my brother different, what makes us the same? And that has all sort of come converging together at this point in my life where I can take those experiences from emergency medicine, I can take the expertise about addiction that I've learned and that pathway and really bring the neuroscience perspective of it to you know people in the community ranging from your middle school and high school students, all the way up to community members and even, you know, nurses and Physicians. I'm the guy that goes around and educates those people and I really enjoy doing it. 

 00:02:17:06 - 00:02:30:18
Jeff Krakoff: So, the formal name of your presentation and the program is "The Power of Prevention: Insights into Youth Substance Abuse and Addiction." Tell us about the program and what parents can expect. 

 00:02:30:20 - 00:03:45:27
Dr. Brophy: To really understand addiction, to understand how dangerous it is, to understand, you know, that the behaviors that we see what, when somebody is struggling with addiction, you know what, we all tend to make judgments on that, like, oh my gosh, how could they be so stupid, how could they be so immoral? How could they be so unethical, all the way down to the difficulties and treatment. That all starts with a good understanding of what's happening in the brain because we see those behaviors and we're quick to judge them. But once you understand the neurophysiology of addiction, you understand what's happening in the brain that driving that process not only doesn't help explain those behaviors but it, it helps explain why it's so difficult to get things back on track. And, and, you know, I am a firm believer that everything starts with education. Education is the great equalizer. You know, I grew up poor and then I was able to climb out of that through education went to medical school with people who grew up with dirt floors and chickens running around. They were able to lift themselves out of that through education and in and likewise with this problem with the with the addiction epidemic with the mental health epidemic, I believe that it all starts with a good thorough education and so, you know, that's why we bring this to the communities.

 00:03:45:29 - 00:04:32:24
Jeff Krakoff:  I know you're going to get into this during the event itself, but I actually read an article recently talking about who are addicts, right? And it's not what you would expect. You have this mental image in your mind. Maybe people were trying to get high, homeless, uneducated, don't have a job, but it's nothing like that, right? Can we just talk for a minute or two. I have a personal friend whose son was struggling with addiction. I'll all happened through a car accident, and he was on medications during the recovery, boom.  He was kind of caught up in that it and it caused a problem. But that the face of a youth addict. We're talking about students here and young adults. What are you seeing? 

 00:04:32:26 - 00:06:00:03
Dr. Brophy: That's right. And that's specifically why this is called the "The Power of Prevention." Right? It's because we know that that almost every addict on the planet will say, the same thing, they wish they'd never started, they wish they had the education before then. And then, you know, that's why we're focusing on prevention. You could be genetically predisposed, and, and socially predisposed to be the biggest crack cocaine addict that Pittsburgh has ever seen. But if you never pick up cocaine, you're never going to be a crack cocaine addict. And so, you know that bit, but this isn't one of those, you know, don't do drugs type of talks because we know that experimentation is part of the human experience, all humans experiment to see what they like, what they don't like, what they're comfortable with what, they're not comfortable with and how and that experimentation can turn very problematic for a lot of people. Sometimes it's experimenting a little bit in high school and in overtime that gets out of hand, sometimes it's the Covid pandemic shuts down your business or has you working from home. And now all the sudden, you know, there's that extra glass of wine in your hands and in, so addiction looks different in so many different ways. And there are functional addicts, you know, that that are able to maintain enough, you know, to go to work until they get in trouble,  because somebody smells alcohol on their breathe or you know, that I've treated nurses, police officers, judges, teachers, doctors, you know, it's truly does not care about boundaries and borders. 

 00:06:00:05 - 00:06:28:24
Dr. Brophy: There are certain people that are more susceptible to it and that's one of the things that we'll talk about on the night of the 25th and there are certain things that you watch for in people. You know, these sort of changes in their behaviors and things like that can help you intervene earlier and help you bring those people into the pathway of recovery earlier. And if there's one thing that we know, when it comes to addiction, in the Neuroscience of addiction, the earlier you intervene the better the person does. 

 00:06:29:21 - 00:06:50:12
Jeff Krakoff: So again, the events going to be held Wednesday, October 25th, 6:30 p.m. at the Seneca Valley Senior High School auditorium. Now we mentioned parents. Is this meant to be a parent event? Is a parent, student, staff? Who are you hoping and expecting to come to this event? 

 00:06:50:27 - 00:08:41:15
Dr. Brophy: Honestly, all of the above. I go around just this past week, I have done multiple school administrations that consist of the teachers in the guidance counselors and everything like that and the more they know, the more they can help guide students. We do students all the time, and that's my favorite group because the Q&A will go on for 45 minutes, an hour afterwards because the kids are interested, they're curious. They see the hypocrisies about you know what about medical marijuana and what about the alcohol your mom and dad drink. And when they're told something that they see, you know "do as I say, not as I do," then they see that hypocrisy and therefore they will ignore, you know, education that comes from that person if it doesn't align with their activities. But we need parents to show up too because  when the students show up, when the teacher shows up that that's great because the conversation is beginning and at least happening a little bit in the hallways and guidance counselor offices of the school but really, we need this conversation to continue at home. You know, if there's one thing that helps prevent that pathway, it's an open line of communication with a trusted adult who can intervene early and by giving people the education - they can understand also better, what their children made may potentially be facing down the road as they step into that experimentation, as they get older and older and in their academic pathways as they go off to college and no longer have that parental supervision. I mean that's really the toughest part of this - is like we get to the students and then we can get to the school administrators, but getting the parents to come out - particularly parents to come out with their children, watch that lecture together, absorb that information together and continue that conversation together at home -that's absolutely key to actually, you know, being able to benefit from not only prevention, but all the education that we do provide.

 00:08:41:18 - 00:08:56:09
Jeff Krakoff:  You mention, there's a Q&A portion. I imagine that parents have a lot of questions, so it would be up a fantastic event to attend. So, is there any additional information you'd like to share with us while we, have you? 

 00:08:56:11 - 00:10:33:18
Dr. Brophy: The only other thing that I would say, and this is where the kids end up really benefiting from the luxury. You know, because when we go and we talked to the kids, like a lot of them, they just have a hard time seeing that addiction will ever be a part of their lives or their future. But when we talked about the Neuroscience of addiction, we also do it in a way, where if you understand the Neuroscience of addiction, because it's very powerful Neuroscience. Right? Addiction has wrecked so many people's lives. It's made people walk away from everything, they care and love about: their families, their finances, and careers, and dreams. It's very, very powerful neuroscience. And, and one of the things that I got the message, I always leave the kids with, if you understand this Neuroscience, you can use it to your benefit. I did that myself, studying the Neuroscience of addiction and seeing all the similarities that I have with my own brother. I started to use that Neuroscience to help me accomplish whatever goal it was I was going after and you know, the kids can do the same thing. They could start to use the neuroplasticity of addiction to their advantage. So, this isn't just so much about, hey, this is what happens with drug addiction. This is a, this is the Neuroscience of addiction. That is actually really powerful. And this is how it is intertwined with mental health, and how you can actually use these things. You can use this knowledge, to your advantage to unlock any, goal, any dream in life. Whether they be a child, a young adult, an older adult. Everybody, if you understand this Neuroscience, you will soon see that this is the Neuroscience behind 90% of the self-help books that are out there. You just have to understand it, to be able to use it to your advantage. 

 00:10:33:21 - 00:10:55:15
Jeff Krakoff: Interesting. So, like you said, nobody really wants to be an addict, but the Neuroscience is so powerful, once you're in it It's very, very difficult. Sounds like a great program. Again, it's "The Power of Prevention: Insights into Youth Substance Abuse and Addiction" will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 25th at the senior high school auditorium. 

 00:10:55:17 - 00:11:00:21
Jeff Krakoff: Thank you so much. This was Doctor. C. Thomas Brophy look forward to the program. 

 00:11:00:24 - 00:11:02:18
Dr. Brophy: Thank you sir. I appreciate the voice.

00:11:02:21 - 00:11:03:21
Jeff Krakoff:  Take care.