It`s time for a Jefferson Dinner in this field

If we learned anything from the last election, we learned that we all have to be heard—and that there is no wrong answer, no one path, but multiple paths. Everyone has a voice. Everyone has an opinion. The question is, “Do you want your voice to be heard?” And, “Are you willing to come to the table to have the conversation?“

Our nation is facing an epidemic, an opioid epidemic of unparalleled proportion. And it’s not just opioids; it’s not just an overdose epidemic. It’s a substance use disorder epidemic affecting millions of men, women and children. Forty percent of all addiction treatment programs are located here in California. We have more addiction treatment here than anywhere else in the nation. So, why are we in an epidemic? Because we all have a different opinion. Because we don’t say hello to our neighbors. Because we don’t have the conversation. But it all starts with a conversation.

There’s no reason why every street in America can’t take care of its own neighbors. We have the smarts. We have the wherewithal to provide the best possible care for every individual, regardless of socioeconomic status, education, race, or criminal background. We have the right health care professionals—holistic, traditional, integrated, Eastern, and Western. All we need is a bridging of the gaps, where, as medical and clinical, Democrat and Republican, we all come together, willing to hear all sides and not be so attached to this or that idea being the best.

There are pieces of all that we do that can be brought together to be the best. We have the ability to do this, to do it well, and to do it right, so that everyone walks away a winner. We simply need to come to the table and have a different conversation.

Thomas Jefferson said, “I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.” In the early 1800s, if you were invited to dinner at the White House with President Thomas Jefferson, you were in the company of thought leaders and influencers from a variety of backgrounds, fields and contradictory beliefs. Upon entering the dining room, “you would have found a round table—so that there would be no one at its head— (and) without an assigned seat, in a careful attempt to avoid the parade of rank and hierarchy so typical of the European monarchy to which (Jefferson) so strenuously objected. (You) came to work in a spirit of avowed misunderstanding, without the smallest wish to agree.”

The men at these dinners engineered conversations that helped people discover their common humanity. It was a convergence of all of the ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds that make up the melting pot of this wonderful nation. Jefferson’s dinners are credited with saving our nation’s early republic.

A 94-year-old woman by the name of Faith Strong, who is the world’s largest donor to Greenpeace, The Hunger Project, A Place Called Home in Los Angeles, and New Directions For Women—and gives away 75% of her income every year—says everything starts with a conversation, and that conversation can change the world.

As a licensed and certified drug and alcohol counselor with a master's in human services and more than four decades of experience in the healthcare industry, and 13 years as CEO of New Directions for Women (a nationally recognized addiction treatment center), I can honestly say that we don’t have the answers to this epidemic. But we all should have a voice. And I’m willing to start the conversation—a conversation to change the outcome of our spiraling epidemic.

So, I personally invite you to New Directions for Women’s Jeffersonian Dinners, a new cause-centered community committed to hosting bimonthly roundtable conversations that are inclusive, thought-provoking, and forward-moving. Topics will include 12-Step based treatment vs. medication-assisted treatment, fraudulent insurance practices, Western and Eastern philosophies of care, licensing sober homes, and more. We want you, the decision makers: behavioral healthcare CEOs; insurance company administrators; local, state and national political representatives; health providers; the U.S. Surgeon General; fellow care partners and providers; thought leaders; holistic providers; therapists; government officials; Eastern and Western professionals and experts; physicians; ASAM certified doctors; health insurance companies; and those you would like to invite. All perspectives are welcome.

It’s time to reconverge. It’s time to come together to solve our problems. It’s time to figure out how not to derail what we have, while we create what’s needed to be. Everyone has the right to the best possible care—for any disease they suffer from. We have the ability to heal our nation and create the America that we want. The America that’s happy, healthy, joyous, and full of abundance. Those of us who are heading toward resting and sitting in rocking chairs need to leave our lives in good stead for our children and our grandchildren. It is up to us. And it is up to us to teach them how to do this together. We have the ability to heal this epidemic in America and have a different day. Let the conversation begin.

As Jefferson said, “All Tyranny needs to gain a foothold, is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”

For more information on how to host a Jeffersonian dinner, click here.