Ep9 Addiction Treatment Navigating DUI Recovery

Ep9 Tony Miserendino, CADC

[00:00:03] Chris Langley: Hi, welcome to the Addiction Recovery Place. The podcast championing addiction treatment specialists around the world.

I'm very pleased today to introduce today's guest, Tony Miserendino, the Program Director at Wayward DUI, which is located in Algonquin, Illinois. This important service is a state licensed facility that provides driving under the influence related services and works with court ordered and voluntary clients.

They offer a safe, confidential, compassionate, and nonjudgmental treatment in a relaxed, laid back and comfortable setting. Their approach is innovative and has an exceptional success rate in helping those experience addictions. And we look forward to hearing about this vital service in today's podcast.

So welcome to the addiction recovery place podcast, Tony. It's great to have you with us here today. Thank you for joining us.

[00:00:48] Tony Miserendino: Thank you, Chris. I appreciate that.

[00:00:50] Chris Langley: No, I very much appreciate your time. I'm going to start straight in because I know obviously you're incredibly busy. So, tell us about your own journey and how you started Wayward DUI in Illinois.

[00:01:01] Tony Miserendino: Well, basically, I changed careers. I was working in the medical field and I was working a lot of hours and I wasn't home with my daughter. So I decided that I would try and cut my hours down. And my boss actually at that time said, no. So I went back to school, I went back to school at night and I watched my daughter during the day and, and basically I've been, I've always had a passion for helping others. So one of the things that I've been around pretty much my whole life has been, substance use and addictions. And so I found that I could specialize in that. And so that's what my calling was. It was a calling to do this, to try and help others. And I believe that it's the right fit for me.

[00:02:00] Chris Langley: Perfect. Well, that's a very commendable explanation there Tony, if you don't mind me asking, how old were you when you went back to college to do the training?

[00:02:11] Tony Miserendino: I was 38. 38 years old.

[00:02:13] Chris Langley: Wow. Well, congratulations. That's some achievement you've done there.

So explain to us a little bit about your services and what you provide your community.

[00:02:22] Tony Miserendino: So basically what I do is I help people get their driver's license back for court and for the Secretary of State. If they get a charge against them for driving under the influence in Illinois, they have to do what's called a DUI evaluation. And then every time you do a DUI evaluation, the state of Illinois assigns a level of treatment to you.

There's four levels there. And I also offer the classes that they have to take.

[00:02:54] Chris Langley: So can you describe to our audience, the four levels of treatment and how this relates to your program?

[00:02:59] Tony Miserendino: Yeah, they're going away now from the risk levels. We still use them because the state of Illinois assigns them,

but there's, a low risk, minimal risk. It's called, it's 10 hours of risk education, which is 10 hours of intervention / education. And then there's a Level 2 Moderate Risk, which is, 12 hours of counseling and 10 hours of risk education. And then there's the Level 2 Significant, which is 20 hours of counseling and 10 hours of risk education.

And then the highest level, Level 3, there'll be a high risk that's 75 hours of counseling.

[00:03:43] Chris Langley: Okay. So what does it take for someone to get to the higher and lower risks with the program?

[00:03:51] Tony Miserendino: Okay. So when we meet with someone, we usually meet with them between an hour and hour and a half.

And, basically we're gathering in a lot of the facts, the person's driving record, we go over their use history. We go over the DSM-5 symptoms. There's 11 of those. And then we basically do what's called a Mortimer Filkins assessment, to try and get an idea of where the person is.

Mortimer Filkins has been around for a while, and when you answer those questions, sometimes it's a cry for help. And, you know, so we'll get a pretty good idea if the person's, you know, needing the help, wanting the help, that kind of thing. But it's a collaborative, thing going on here is that we're asking the person in an interview as well a whole bunch of questions, too.

So, then what I do is I take that information and I go into the state of illinois portal system And I enter all the information in In there, and then the state of Illinois assigns the level of treatment.

[00:05:01] Chris Langley: I see. I see. So it's down to the actual state and not yourself as the assessor that does that. Okay.

That's, that's really interesting. So, how do people come to access your service and where do you receive most of your referrals from?

[00:05:15] Tony Miserendino: Well, a lot of the people actually, there's a court list, in my county, that, you know, treatment providers are on the list. But, a lot of times people Google, "DUI classes near me" and, you know, then of course they call and the two questions I get is, you know, where exactly are you and how much is this. You know, but, but yeah, it's, it's usually, it's usually the court and then they usually will find me, online through Google.

[00:05:46] Chris Langley: So, you get a lot of referrals online and through obviously the state. Okay. So with, with Illinois becoming a recreational state for cannabis, have you seen a big uptake in people accessing your services, especially for DUIs? Has that been something new?

[00:06:01] Tony Miserendino: Well, I would say, Chris, marijuana has always been the second most found drug in people's systems when they get pulled over for a DUI. The number one has always been alcohol, but, since they legalized marijuana, I have done less drug testing. I would say the majority of people that I drug tested for in the past was for marijuana.

I'm not seeing that much now. Yeah, of course we're getting people that are getting DUIs, you know, with marijuana in their system. Still of course, but, I, I really don't know if the numbers have changed a whole lot.

[00:06:43] Chris Langley: Yeah, I just, I just wanted to ask because obviously many states around the country now are opening up to recreational, and I was kind of wondering as well, Tony, what are the legalities for driving if you're a medical or recreational, marijuana user in Illinois?

[00:07:01] Tony Miserendino: Well, this is pretty tricky because in Illinois, as far as I know, the police don't have a way to test somebody to see if someone recently smoked marijuana. Okay. And I know that the Germans, they have a swab, and I heard the Canadians have some kind of a box that they, you know, a person could blow in.

But, essentially if you have a medical card, you have to be very careful because if you get pulled over. The police could go on a Skype and pull a judge up if you don't want to blow on a breathalyzer. And if the judge orders you to go to have your blood drawn, you go down to the hospital and have your blood drawn.

And if you have smoked marijuana within 30 days, you're going to come up positive most likely because THC stays in your system, and it's going to be very hard for you to prove in the court that you didn't just recently smoke that marijuana.

[00:07:56] Chris Langley: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Because there's no real levels, ways of testing the levels of how under the influence you are, I suppose, and kind of how it affects, because cannabis just sits dormant in your system for such a long time.

So that was a question I've wanted to ask an expert for a long time as to how, how kind of the courts deal with this with, with obviously the legalities of, Marijuana around the country. I mean here in Iowa, it's a zero tolerance. That's it. You know that there's no there's no let up in that, but I was wondering coming from a legal state how you deal with it.

So it's pretty much the same nationwide, I guess then really. So would you agree with that?

[00:08:35] Tony Miserendino: Yes, I would. and like I said if the person has a card for you know, medicinal purposes, they have to be very careful because if they get pulled over, And like I said, the police have, you know, they draw the blood and it comes up positive for THC,

the person has to then go on the court and prove or try and prove that they didn't just recently smoke that marijuana, which is very difficult.

[00:09:01] Chris Langley: That's probably next to impossible, I suppose, really, isn't it? I mean, how do you, how do you prove that over a month's period? So, yeah, that's a real tricky one, that's for sure.

So, Tony, what are the main drugs of choice that are most prevalent in your community and how do you help address these in particular?

[00:09:23] Tony Miserendino: Well, I I would say the majority of people that I see come to me for alcohol .Alcohol is a drug Which most people don't think of it as.

[00:09:31] Chris Langley: Oh it is.

[00:09:31] Tony Miserendino: It is a depressant drug. It slows down the central nervous system the vital functions of the body. I would say then would be marijuana, and then of course we have the occasional we have cocaine.

Okay, but but those are the top three

[00:09:47] Chris Langley: Okay.

And over the time that you've run Wayward DUI, have you seen any changes in drug use or even risks around drug use?

[00:09:58] Tony Miserendino: You know, it's been people that, that use substances that usually comes from an underlying issue and to use an analogy, if you think of a weed, like a dandelion, what most people do is they the lawnmower and they cut the dandelion. So on the surface of the grass, everything looks nice and normal, but underneath is that root.

And if you don't really address the root cause of your problem or problems that weed just keeps growing back in the person's life. And it could be a bunch of different drugs that people will experiment with.

[00:10:36] Chris Langley: Yep, obviously with dual drug use, that obviously increases risks as well, doesn't it? So if someone's using cocaine and alcohol, that has much bigger effects than just cocaine on its own or alcohol on its own.

So when you're using two drugs at the same time or three, even the risks just keep escalating. So. Absolutely. So have you noticed more people accessing your services with addictions to opiates, opioids at all and now with fentanyl in the mix? And have you heard about any more people overdosing or what they believe were opiates, opioids or even cocaine because of the fentanyl?

[00:11:14] Tony Miserendino: Yeah, you know, this is a, this is a ongoing, probably escalating problem, all over. And I would say that the majority of people who are addicted to those type of drugs, they would go to either an inpatient setting or an intensive outpatient. I am just, I'm what's called the outpatient, so meaning I don't see my clients for more than two and a half to three hours at a time.

The majority of people using fentanyl or heroin and things like that. like I said, they would be looking at a higher level of treatment. Obviously if they had a DUI, they do classes with me to try and satisfy for court. But as far as that addiction goes, that one is a little bit deeper and more intense

than what I do.

[00:12:10] Chris Langley: Mm-Hmm. Yeah. Very, very high risk as well, obviously. okay.

[00:12:16] Tony Miserendino: Absolutely.

[00:12:17] Chris Langley: So, through these podcasts that I've been doing over the last few months, Tony, I've discovered many different opinions on harm reduction. Harm reduction in the UK is very different to what I guess is harm reduction in America, but what I'm finding in America is different states kind of have different opinions or ways they describe harm reduction.

So if you can tell us your ideal explanation of what harm reduction is to you, Tony, that'll be great.

[00:12:44] Tony Miserendino: Well, what we're trying to do with an individual is trying to get them to, you know, change their ways as far as, you know, their behaviors, cognitive behavioral therapy is one way, in my field, we have a saying it's stinking thinking leads to drinking.

So instead of drinking, we want to rewire their thinking and have them try and do something else instead. And that's the hard part because the people that are addicted or using that substance, they're using it for a specific reason, usually to feel good, to feel less bad, to escape a problem, to fit in with their peers.

There's steps that the, you know, the state is doing as far as trying to, you know, pump money into, you know, the system for the treatment providers, for the, for the clients and things. But. You know, I would think the best would be to, you know, outreach and education and things like that, before people even get involved with doing this substance.

[00:13:46] Chris Langley: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely No, that's that's a that's a perfect description of harm reduction. So thank you very much indeed for that Just going to move on for the last couple just going to move on to the last couple of questions Tony to talk about you and what what are the future if you have any future plans at all for Wayward DUI Counseling. What's in the pipeline for you?

[00:14:04] Tony Miserendino: Well, Thank you I'm hoping that my daughter, she's in school right now. I'm hoping that she you know, she's wanting to be a counselor and that we could maybe open up another office or too. I can't do it alone And I don't have any employees. It's just me. So, ideally I'd like her to go to school get her degree and get like CADC me, and obviously she wants to move on and get a master's or doctorate, but I wouldn't mind expanding.

[00:14:37] Chris Langley: That's, oh, wonderful.

That's great news to hear. And it's, very admirable to hear that your daughter wants to go into the same profession as her dad. So that, that says an awful lot about you as well. So that's amazing. Where can people find you online if they need to speak with you or even access your service, Tony?

So where could people find you?

[00:15:00] Tony Miserendino: waywardduicounseling.com

You just put that in the search engine.

It's waywardDUIcounseling.com.

Put in Wayward DUI, Illinois, obviously, but it'll, it'll pop up there, and, yeah, they could call me. They could also send me a personal message.

It comes right to my email. Either way is fine. Calling me, emailing me, faxing me, either way.

[00:15:29] Chris Langley: Yep. Fabulous. Excellent. So, last thing, Tony, is there anything at all that I've forgotten to mention or is there anything you would like to add for our audience here today?

[00:15:41] Tony Miserendino: I would say when I get asked about addiction or, you know, somebody comes to me and says my brother is using and they always ask, "Well, what could I do? What could I say?" Because a lot of times families don't know how to cope with this. My answer is always have that person respect themselves and love themselves and actually care about themselves.

Because the dangerous mind, when it comes to this is the people that have just completely given up. They don't care anymore. And, you know, if you, if you care about your life, you're gonna protect your health. You're gonna protect your finances. You're gonna protect your relationships.

You know, you're gonna protect your driving privileges. You're, you're just gonna be more. And so that, that's really what it's really about, is trying to help people recognize the importance of things in their life and those in their life. And I say love themselves, but not in the vain way, I'm talking about the caring way.

That's where I find a lot of people are lacking who use substances. A lot of them just don't care. And it's a shame. It really is.

[00:16:58] Chris Langley: It is. Well, I don't think there could have been a better way of ending today's podcast, Tony, than that description. And thank you so much for your time, Tony. And, I really appreciate you spending, you know, 15 minutes with us today from your very busy schedule.

And, thanks very much indeed. I look forward to having you on again sometime. Thanks very much.

[00:17:18] Tony Miserendino: Anytime, Chris. Anytime. Thank you so much, sir. You're fantastic. Thank you so much.

[00:17:23] Chris Langley: Thank you, Tony.

Do, do, do, do, do.