May 9, 2014Lighthouse Network's Weekly eNews Update

Featured in this issue:

News: May is Mental Health Month

Dr. Benzio Joins Focus on the Family Physicians Resource Council

Resources: Made for Good Works

Free Stepping Stones Devotional

Mental Health Month Aims to Grow Awareness, Dispel Stigmas

Mental health issues affect millions of adults and children in America, along with countless others when spouses, families, friends and co-workers are considered. 

"A healthy mental state, whether dealing with depression, addictions, eating disorders or a multitude of other issues certainly involves every part of the human being-the mind, body and spirit," said Lighthouse Network's Dr. Karl Benzio." To be healthy mentally, we must also nurture our bodies and feed our spirits. When Lighthouse recommends counseling or therapy, we always ensure that the entire person is being treated, looking at health from a three-pronged view." Continue reading...

Dr. Karl Benzio Joins Focus on the Family Physician Resource Council

Dr. Karl Benzio is pleased to announce that he has joined the Focus on the Family Physicians Resource Council.

The goal of the Physicians Resource Council is "to professionally strengthen and spiritually equip medical doctors and their spouses." 

Benzio will be one of five psychiatrists on the council. 

Resources: Made for Good Works

DVD (25 mins) with Karl Benzio, MD

This video focuses on assessing your options and making good choices. In this video you will learn about the Lighthouse Network decision making process, S.P.E.A.R.S. This process walks you step by step through the characteristics of every decision and situation that you encounter in your life. By learning this process and implementing it's methods you will have a tool for evaluating your life situations, understanding the feelings you are encountering, evaluating your options, effectively responding to life situations, and evaluating the outcomes of your choices. God has specially designed us all for good works and to be about His will and plans. This video will help you determine how to make decisions in line with your beliefs and life goals. 

Click here for more information or to order.

Free Stepping Stones Devotional

Click here to receive The Stepping Stones Daily Devotional, which will encourage and challenge you while helping you grow in your daily walk with God. 

If you or someone you love needs help, 

call our FREE 24/7 Lighthouse Network addiction and counseling helpline, 1-844-LIFE-CHANGE. 

Lighthouse Network 

800 W. State Street, Suite 302 

Doylestown, PA 18901 

www.LighthouseNetwork.org | Email | 1.844.LIFE.CHANGE

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About Lighthouse Network: 

Lighthouse Network is a Christian-based, non-profit organization that offers an addiction and mental health counseling helpline providing treatment options and resources to equip people and organizations with the skills necessary to shine God's glory to the world, stand strong on a solid foundation in the storms of their own lives, and provide guidance and safety to others experiencing stormy times, thus impacting their lives, their families and the world. 

Lighthouse Network offers help through two main service choices:

Lighthouse Life Change Helpline (1-844-LIFE-CHANGE), a 24-hour free, national crisis call center, where specialists (Care Guides) help callers understand and access customized treatment options.

Life Growth and self-help training resources for daily life, including online and DVD series and training events to help individu

MAY 9 TWELVE STEPPING WITH POWER IN THE PROVERB

Instruct the wise,

and they will be even wiser.

Teach the righteous,

and they will learn even more.

STEP 12 - Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others , and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

We never stop learning or growing . I try too stay tuned too all the latest treatment methods , laws , treatment centers and the list goes on and on. Whats most important is , continue to pray and seek GOD in all you do. Never , ever forget where it is you came from and how hard it was too get where you are now . Complacency can take out the most seasoned recovery veteran if we are not careful . Always open your heart too others who are still enslaved and suffering , never give up on anyone . GOD still does miracles !Make sure your feet are on solid ground pray in all situations be positive , encourage , support and if its working don't change it .

1 Corinthians :13 4: 5 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

By : Joseph Dickerson

Infant Who Swallowed E-Cigarette Refill Liquid Highlights Emerging Danger: Report

By Join Together Staff | May 8, 2014 | Leave a comment | Filed in Tobacco &Youth

Doctors in Philadelphia say a 10-month-old infant who was rushed to the emergency room after swallowing e-cigarette refill liquid is one of a growing number of children who have been harmed by the fluid.

In this week’s New England Journal of Medicine, the doctors describe the incident. The child recovered, HealthDay reports. But just “one teaspoon of a 1.8 percent nicotine solution could be lethal” to a person who weighs 200 pounds, the doctors note.

The baby boy was taken to the hospital after swallowing a small amount of e-liquid nicotine. He began vomiting after drinking the liquid. His heart rate increased and he showed signs of losing muscle control. His symptoms gradually subsided after about six hours in the hospital.

“With the growing use of e-cigarettes, physicians need to be alert for nicotine poisoning,” the doctors wrote. “They also need to educate patients and parents about this danger and advocate for measures that will help prevent potentially fatal liquid nicotine poisoning of infants and young children.” The liquids do not come in child-protective packaging, and many refill vials have colorful labels and cartoons, they noted.

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported poison control centers are receiving an increased number of callsabout nicotine poisoning from e-cigarettes. This February, centers received 215 calls, compared with about one per month in 2010. About half of calls related to nicotine poisoning from e-cigarettes involved children ages 5 or younger.

DEA Arrests at Least 150 People in Synthetic Drug Operation in 29 States

By Join Together Staff | May 8, 2014 | Leave a comment | Filed in Drugs,Government & Legal

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced Wednesday it conducted a major crackdown on synthetic drugs that involved the arrest of at least 150 people in 29 states, and the seizure of more than $20 million in products and cash. Hundreds of thousands of packets of synthetic drugs were seized.

The operation comes a week after more than 100 people in Texas became ill from synthetic marijuana, the Los Angeles Times reports. “There’s a cluster of people with severe anxiety, some with seizures, that could be because of synthetic cannaboids,” Dr. Miguel Fernandez, Director of South Texas Poison Center, told the newspaper. “I would caution people not to use them because they are not like typical marijuana.”

Law enforcement officials and prosecutors have found it difficult to win convictions against makers of synthetic drugs, who are constantly changing the chemistry of the products to stay one step ahead of the law. In order to convict a synthetic drug maker, officials must prove the person sold the drug, and that the drug was substantially similar to a specifically banned substance. All a drug maker has to do is make small chemical changes to the products so they are not considered “analogues,” or chemical compounds that are similar to banned drugs.

Last year, the DEA and authorities in three other countries announced the arrests of dozens of people involved in trafficking designer drugs such as bath salts and synthetic marijuana. In the United States, the enforcement operations took place in 49 cities, and targeted retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers. The operations included more than 150 arrest warrants and almost 375 search warrants.

In 2013, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported 29,000 emergency department visits nationwide in 2011 resulting from use of synthetic marijuana, up from 11,000 in 2010.

Pentagon Targets Alcohol Consumption in Effort to Reduce Sexual Assault in the Military

By Join Together Staff | May 8, 2014 | Leave a comment | Filed in Alcohol,Military & Prevention

The Defense Department (DOD) will target alcohol consumption as part of its campaign to reduce sexual assault in the military, Stars and Stripes reports. There were more than 5,000 reports of sexual assault by service members last year—a 50 percent jump from the previous year.

More than two-thirds of the reports involved alcohol use by either the victim, the assailant, or both. “[The alcohol policies] will be revised, where necessary, to address risks that alcohol poses to others, including the risk that alcohol is used as a weapon against victims in a predatory way,” said Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel.

Major General Jeffrey Snow, the Director of DOD’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO), said the department will encourage responsible sales practices and train bartenders and other alcohol providers in communities around military installations.

Nate Galbreath, a senior adviser to SAPRO, told the newspaper several states, including California, have programs that the DOD could use as a model. California’s Responsible Beverage Service program is designed to prevent bar and restaurant patrons from getting dangerously drunk. Bar and restaurant workers are told to provide a food menu to someone who orders a drink, and to encourage them to eat something to slow the absorption of alcohol into the system. “You [also] look at times associated with when you sell things. Do you really need to sell someone five-fifths of bourbon at 2:00 in the morning? Probably not,” he said.

Last October, the Marines announced Marine Corps Exchange stores around the world would impose new limits on alcohol sales in an effort to limit irresponsible drinking. Earlier last year, the Navy announced it would be cutting back the sale hours for alcohol at base stores, in an effort to reduce sexual assaults. The Navy also made changes to its policy about alcohol placement in stores.

MAY 8 v 17 TWELVE STEPPING WITH POWER IN THE PROVERB

“I love all who love me.

Those who search will surely find me.

STEP 2 - Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity .

Its a cold , cold world in which we live. Addiction is that false god we run to when we are afraid and alone , when we cant take what this world dishes out. The problem is that false god (addiction) will steal your friends , family , health and your sanity . We run to addiction in every situation good or bad , We will steal and maybe even kill for that false god (addiction) . The problem with the false god of addiction is it will enslave you steal your soul so not only will it destroy you in the here and now it will destroy you for the here after . Now there is a real GOD we seek HIM in step one and once we find HIM we hand our lives over too HIM in step two. The Proverb is the promise and it says the one and only true real GOD LOVES us , is that not what we are all looking for . Someone who will love us unconditionally , meet us right where we are at and not judge, The GOD who created you me this world and everything in the universe . GOD who has a plan for your life and wrote it down before you were born . GOD who misses you in this life and earnestly awaits your return in the here after . GOD who loved us so much that HE gave HIS only son JESUS CHRIST to die for us on a cross . We all have too pay for the bad we do and GOD knew we couldn't so HE gave HIS son JESUS in our place . There is a two thousand page plus book that GOD has written for our lives , because he loved us so much HE knew we couldn't go it alone. Who do you want to follow the false god (addiction) who promises slavery , depression , fear , guilt , rejection , and a eternity spent in a lake of fire . Or the one and only true GOD who promises acceptance , forgiveness , peace , love , joy , freedom , and everlasting life . THE CHOICE IS A NO - BRAINER. !

(Ephesians 2:8,9 ) "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast."

By :Joseph Dickerson