Testing is complete! We have now successfully worked with clients using the different formats we have available: by conference call; by internet audio/video using Doxy (better than Skype and HIPPA compliant); by office visits and by using mixtures. For example, this past week’s client came to the Calabasas office and we connected with Mary Ellen via Doxy for the Monday – Wednesday sessions then wrapped up the Thursday session vis conference call. A week’s rain inspired some of that innovation but all the possibilities are available to you too.

Alcohol at 50+ It shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of us, but it seems to anyway. After 50, either our consumption changes and/or the effects alcohol has on us changes. Additionally, the reasons we drink change as do the opportunities and temptation to increase our consumption.

Really? With the New Year comes the usual flood of “treatment” offers descending on us and we presume you. A new twist this year is receiving an offer through a mass email campaign using at least a dozen different names and claiming to personally address the following laundry list of “addictions.”

And Another Year Slips Away… We don’t pay much attention to New Year’s Resolutions. Many make them, but few are kept. We once belonged to a gym that tracked members’ attendance. In December there would be the same dozen or so of us showing up as usual. In January that number would swell to 50 or more. By February the number would shrink to perhaps 3 dozen, by March, 2 dozen, and by April we’d be back to the same dozen plus two or three “newlies” who’d still be around in December, having joined the ranks of the regulars.

Today we have opted for the Holiday Greeting Card approach. No serious missives or New Year’s offerings, just a wish to you and yours that the holidays go smoothly and that this finds you well.

More About Last Week’s Reported Program Changes As always, as soon as I read the Newsletter on Sunday morning I find things I overlooked or could have added. I guess that’s what everyone who writes a weekly column finds, but I do try and amend things the next week. So here goes: The 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. session hours are guidelines. We don’t automatically end a session just because the clock says it’s 11:00. If we’re in the middle of something we’ll keep going until the topic is resolved.

And Our Revised Program Includes: Despite fires, broken down moving vans, and the usual problems associated with relocating a practice, we seem to have survived the turmoil, discussed the changes in delivery, and are now prepared to offer you easier access to services. We have always realized that our “one location for your convenience” wasn’t very convenient and that the travel, both the expense and time involved, was preventing many of you from receiving the confidential and comprehensive services you wanted.

Placation Years ago we had an exasperated family member call. For years the family had been trying to get Mother to go to AA and fix her drinking problem. Finally she succumbed to the pressure and agreed, looked up a women’s meeting and went off to test the waters. She returned after a couple of hours and reported that they were a very nice group of women and it had been an interesting evening and they had agreed to add her to their waiting list should they ever have an opening.

Our Move Is Half Complete! And the fires are under control. The destruction is enormous and we are thankful to have been spared. Moving the office from Palos Verdes to Calabasas, which was in the fire zone, was looking very uncertain for awhile. This uncertainty was exacerbated by my own concurrent move to the area.

And the Fires Continue… Moving our physical office and resuming services, as well as my move, has been delayed by the Woolsey fire which continues to keep Calabasas under lock down. But we are fine and fires do not affect our new office location or my living arrangements, just the timing. So if this is short, it’s because we are scrambling to rearrange the schedule we had made to manage the changes.