The Coleman Institute Blog

On Sunday morning Dr. Coleman and I were returning from a weekend in Boston. We were rolling our bags through the airport when a young man came up to us and excitedly said, "Um, excuse me. . . don't mean to interrupt you. . . but, do you remember me?'

I've been a nurse practitioner for about 16 years, almost nine of those at The Coleman Institute. When I interviewed with Dr. Coleman, I understood he needed a family nurse practitioner.

It was a nice setting--close enough that I could walk or bike if I chose--and he seemed like a cool, laid-back Kiwi and a reasonable boss. I was strongly considering the position when he informed me that he actually ran two businesses under one roof: in addition to the family practice he also had a substance abuse program where he did outpatient rapid opiate detoxes.

What would you have to give up if you stopped blaming yourself?

I heard this question asked during a podcast by Tara Brach, who teaches topics on meditation. She was making the point that so often the voice that appears and reappears in our head has the tone of Aversive Judgment. This voice is not like the Wise Discrimination voice that cleanly processes problems to arrive at solutions; this is the voice that is telling - if not shouting - the story of What's Wrong With Me.

A lot of the patients who come to us to be detoxed off opiates have never used street drugs. They are chronic pain patients who have become dependent on opiate pain medicine prescribed to them in a doctor’s office.

Patients who come to The Coleman Institute for a rapid opioid detox return every two months for their follow up naltrexone implants. I must admit it sometimes takes me a few minutes before I completely remember them.