Harm reduction has been a huge focus of mine recently and I am happy to be conversing with Gretchen for this episode. I have to admit, I am a fan of toughness. That is not to say I am a fan of tough love, many people see my approach as one that stems from tough love but that’s not the case. Love, deep love, when we have it for ourselves and can offer it to others can very quickly look tough as it relates to the tough love movement, but it is what motivates those actions that are the measure.

Love can at times look quite tough but there are a lot of things that cannot be explained along the journey of love looking like what we expect, and it looks tough. The “Tough Love” idea is a simple one, get tough and you’ll see results, but that has rarely been the case and like the disease model never was backed by research. However, that never stopped anyone from making the statement that it was backed by research. I have no problem with love looking tough but when we take steps to be tough alone we are only doing more harm.

Gretchen Burns Bergman is the Executive Director and a Co-Founder of A New PATH (Parents for Addiction Treatment & Healing), a 22-year-old non-profit organization that works to reduce the stigma associated with substance use disorders through education and compassionate support while advocating for therapeutic rather than punitive drug policies.

She served as California State Chairperson for Proposition 36 in 2000 (treatment instead of incarceration), and she was one of the three signers of Prop 64 in 2016 to legalize marijuana. She is the lead organizer of the Moms United to End the War on Drugs international campaign. Her articles on therapeutic justice and harm reduction strategies have been published nationwide, and she has spoken before countless audiences. Since 2014, A New PATH has been providing overdose prevention training and Narcan distribution in San Diego County. Currently, over 9000 individuals have been trained and 2040 lives are reported saved. She is also a fashion show producer and has two grown sons who are in long-term recovery from heroin addiction.

• Websites: www.anewpath.org and www.momsunited.net

• Facebook: facebook.com/anewpathsite

• Youtube: https://youtube.com/user/PATHMomsUnited

• To support our work: https://www.anewpath.org/support-usTeasers

As my work suggests I am always looking to recover myself completely and my aim is to help others recover themselves. I see a client for a total of 4 sessions which is designed to launch self-directed lives and separate us from the constant draw of codependency. This starts with my doing a portrait of my client. The portrait is an intimate experience, these open a vocabulary to trauma and are healing. This process is not for everyone and if you are not ready, I will not work with you. It is important that you are ready to step into yourself and stop playing a victim cursed by things around you. If you are interested in working together reach out at https://www.martinjon.com/

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