By David Palmer

I’ve known Bobby Ward for most of his 20 years of sobriety and have been entertained and enlightened at recovery meetings over the years by his story, which he delivers with self-deprecating humor illuminated by a megawatt smile.

So it was with great anticipation that I drove over to the UAMS Psychiatric Hospital in early October to pay him a visit. Bobby is a clinical director for substance abuse treatment and directs the chemical dependence outpatient programs for both marijuana and opiate prescription drug addictions.

Bobby, now happily married with three kids brings to his position plenty of “street cred” and savvy from working at two treatment centers before joining UAMS. It is an interesting background compared to that of the hospital’s largely academic staff whose members are working on a variety of groundbreaking research projects and studies.

Bobby is not an academic type, but he has all the qualifying credentials he needs hanging on the walls of his sunny office. Still, much of his education in the treatment of addictions comes from the streets.

“We put homeless veterans first.”

That’s the welcoming slogan of Little Rock’s Drop-in Day Treatment Center on Second Street.

Estella Morris, a diminutive manager with an easy smile and a quiet authority, presides over the Center which offers meals, shelter, medical care and a leg up in the world to those veterans willing to play by the rules.

Ex-Marine and Vietnam War Veteran Bob G. is the unofficial face of Recovery Central, a new Little Rock facility for 12-Step meetings, mainly Narcotics Anonymous.

An alcoholic and former methamphetamine addict, Bob sponsors more people than he can count. And he does it by the book (See The Narcotics Anonymous Step Working Guides and Working Step Four in Narcotics Anonymous).

When Bob G. is your sponsor, you can figure you’re going to spend a year working with him on the steps. And you’re going to attend meetings. And you’re going to take his “suggestions” about what else you need to do to recover.

By Jan Kucala

Every day modern kids have to make choices that we as parents, teachers and counselors may never have dreamed about when we were kids.

Kids are under more stress today than previous generations. For many the word “family” may not evoke images of love and support but rather arguments and disconnection. Kids hear parents worrying about their jobs and money; they may be responsible for younger siblings; they're under pressure to do well in school and get into colleges; they're under stress to wear the right clothes, be skinny enough, good looking enough, popular enough; excel in sports, and even have a part- time job.