The Life Process Program Team – An insiders view

By Anne Earle

Working with our LPP team is, in a word, AWESOME!

When the creator of The Life Process Program and renowned addiction expert, Dr. Stanton Peele, asked me a few weeks back if I would write a paragraph or two about our work together, I immediately said “sure!”

This brings me to my first point about our team and in this case, to Stanton.  I wrote to him explaining the delay and the current uptick of challenges juggling increasing “covid-19 phase 2” client needs and parenting needs. I of course told him what my two young adult kids were up to and how I was trying to support them, living together in our tiny apartment.

Stanton wrote back: Wonderful!

Not only does Stanton regularly send me relevant articles and links aligned with my daughter’s interests (last summer she was in Greece researching trauma and resilience in refugees), he also supports my values and striving as a solo harm reduction mother. I often share things with him about my kids’ journeys because I know he will be genuinely interested.

He takes this interest with all of us at LPP, in his unique Stanton way. Stanton is always interested in what motivates people to engage more with life despite obstacles and setbacks.

Onto my second point about our team: the other coaches and IT staff.

I just heard a recent LPP podcast series on Harm Reduction produced by LPP coach, Zach Rhodes. Zach is an author, hosts The Social Exchange, is a youth counselor, and young father extraordinaire. I also recently heard the passionate drug policy reform advocate, Aaron Ferguson, on a ZOOM webinar about failed drug policy. As always I was impressed by our team members’ passions and talents.  (Zach happened to mention that Stanton just finished his memoir- congratulations Stanton — I can’t wait to read it! )

In the same week, I got help from the wise and pragmatic coach, Dee Cloward. Dee is the leader of our LPP weekly ZOOM group and the private FB group. She has a long time career in IT,  and an expert in SMART recovery and has also been parenting during COVID.   Dee helped me navigate a tech problem in her usual prompt and kind way. Thanks, Dee!

Stanton meanwhile tries to keep up with each one of our personal and professional journeys, always with words of encouragement and opportunities (nudges) to try new things.  I am pleased to say we all do so for each other on a regular basis, minus the nudges 😊.

Daithi Conlon is the wonderful man behind the scenes. Daithi is our IT design and the all-around go-to person with every issue that might arise in a busy digital addiction program.

Daithi lives with his family in Ireland and has been juggling the needs of young children, his business as a web designer, and the huge rise in client needs during the lockdown. In his spare time (lol) he has been redesigning the LPP program to make it even more affordable and accessible, and to provide potential clients with more choice. Daithi’s qualities — along with his technical skills — include politeness, warmth, humility, and dedication to affordable addiction recovery support. All of this combined with his manner of speaking (I ❤️ his Irish accent), makes it very difficult not to fall in love with Daithi!

This brings me to my third and final point about our team: choice and autonomy are values that we all share in common.

This could be the subject of another entire blog. For now (because I already went over “a few paragraphs” 😊) our team’s profound respect for individual autonomy is why we work so well together. We collaborate and are non-hierarchical. And despite the fact that we are rarely actually together, (except on ZOOM or in group emails), we trust one another. We all know that our shared commitment to serving our clients in overcoming their addiction struggles, by supporting them in taking doable steps of their choosing to improve their lives as best as they can, is unwavering.  We trust that we will each serve our LPP clients from across the US and the globe with the utmost respect and non-judgment. Doing so during a global pandemic has been one of the more remarkable experiences of my life.

I am so grateful for this extraordinary Life Process Team.

I am particularly grateful for all of the courageous client travelers on their unique LPP journeys: taking steps to engage more with life, to look for solutions to complex real problems, and to work to resolve addictions, all despite COVID-19 losses. It is an honor to witness and be a part of the human experience at this moment in time. It is an honor to be part of the Life Process Program. And because addiction experience is part of the human experience, we can celebrate the fact that Harm Reduction is finally a part of everyday vocabulary. #HarmReductionSavesLives.

Love,

Anne