Bobby Newman’s Intervention
Activity – with Marvin Carolina
In this episode, Marvin Carolina, President and CEO of Better Business Bureau Kansas City, talks with Bobby Newman, from how he started his intervention activity to what legacy he wants to leave.
Bobby Newman is a Certified Substance Abuse Counselor, Prevention Specialist and Intervention Professional with a 90% success rate of getting people into treatment. He is a former addict, so knows all the whys and hows that prevent the addict from getting clean and sober.
Bobby discusses what causes addiction, overcoming his former addictions, dealing with family members suffering from addiction, what led him to start his activity, and the successes he’s had along the way.
Bobby has developed a “25 Tips for a Successful Intervention” guide and an online course consisting of a series of videos to help YOU to do your own intervention and get your loved one into treatment now.
Transcript
Marvin Carolina Jr:
Welcome to the Better Business Podcast. I am your host, Marvin Carolina Jr, and I am also the President and CEO of the Better Business Bureau. Our guest today is Robert Newman. He is the owner of Newman Intervention and Addiction Services. Robert, welcome to the show.
Robert Newman:
Hi, thank you. Thank you.
Marvin Carolina Jr:
Okay. Tell me a little bit about Newman Intervention and Addiction Services. How long have you been in business? And obviously it’s pretty self-explanatory, but talk a little bit about what you do.
Robert Newman:
Well, I’ve been in business for myself since 2017, so the very beginning of 2017. And what I started out doing is interventions for drug and alcohol treatment. Treatment centers would call me with families who had loved ones that needed treatment, that were refusing help. I started out in drug prevention after completing my own rehab program over 21 years ago. And I started out … I wanted to speak to kids about the dangers of drugs. So I started out as a prevention specialist. And then it grew into that, one thing led to another. I worked in a treatment center network for about 16 years. And after completing that, then I went into my own … I started doing a lot of interventions for the treatment network and developed a knack for it.
Robert Newman:
And then as I got out and went out on my own, I decided to start my own business. I moved to Kansas City. I’ve been in Kansas City about two and a half years. And I’m also involved with other programs, not only helping … I help families and save lives by helping them deal with loved ones who are struggling. But I also have helped addicts who are looking for help find a treatment program that’s suitable for them as well. And then I’m going to be getting into prevention. I have a prevention program and curriculum that I work with that I want to be reaching out to local schools and other community groups that are interested in preventing substance abuse from ever getting started.
Marvin Carolina Jr:
Now, when you talk about the prevention side, is there any high areas of focus? Is it school? Is it sports? Is it other areas? Are there any particular areas that you focus on or that are high pressure areas, if you will?
Robert Newman:
I couldn’t necessarily answer that question right now. It’s been a while since I’ve been in prevention. I’ve always been associated with it, I have colleagues that are into it. I have a friend of mine who’s the number one booked presenter in the United States, so he does hundreds of thousands of kids a year, he might be better suited to answer that question. But for me, anybody that would listen. I don’t care if I’m in an elevator or where I’m at.
Robert Newman:
I mean, I could give them a little information about drugs or the effects of drugs. And what I found to be more effective is telling somebody how someone becomes addicted. There’s things to be learned about this drug or that drug or anything, but most kids particularly, would be how you be, how do you become addicted?
Marvin Carolina Jr:
Well, how does someone become addicted?
Robert Newman:
Well, there’s physical reasons, and also mental, emotional reasons. A person usually starts taking a drug because they’re in some sort of pain, whether it be physical pain or mental, emotional pain. They’ve taken the drug, or maybe they’re taking it to solve some sort of a problem. Now me, when I was a teenager, I lived in a small town in Oklahoma, where I’m originally from, and boredom was a big issue. So drinking solved that problem. And then it became a habit and then it led to other things. But usually people will take a drug to solve some sort of a problem or pain of some sort. And then eventually it becomes a habit and it leads on to other things.
Robert Newman:
But there’s physical reasons why, that the body will become adapted to, and actually crave the drug. And it also influences the way the brain works. So the brain will become accustomed to it. And I give an example of when you walk into a grocery store, and the bakery is there. You walk in there to get, maybe some toilet paper or whatever, and then you come out with a bag of groceries and about $150 …
Marvin Carolina Jr:
Absolutely. Been there.
Robert Newman:
You smelled the bakery and you got hungry and you go, oh, well, I’m just going to grab this. Your body went into automated response system, right? Well, people don’t realize that drugs are toxins, and your body will become accustomed to it the more you do it. And it’ll deplete the vitamins and nutritional … it’ll create a nutritional deficiency, which will affect your hormones and a number of other things.
Robert Newman:
Usually I have a presentation that I give, with how it affects the body and the mind and the thought process. And then kids will come away going, oh, wow. I didn’t know that. I said, so there’s a lot more to it that goes on behind the scenes when you do drugs. And meanwhile, the problem that you were trying to solve never got solved to begin with. So it’s still there.
Marvin Carolina Jr:
Right, right. What are the popular drugs right now with the kids? Or with anybody, I guess, any age group.
Robert Newman:
Well, marijuana is obviously an issue. It’s becoming more legalized and people are … I hear all the time, well, he’s just smoking weed. Well, the weed today is not anything like it was when I was a kid. I mean, they’re cooking this stuff down into a wax that’s like 97%, if not 100% pure THC. And I’m seeing more and more people develop a psychosis as a result. Matter of fact, I’ve got to go help a family here in the Kansas City Metro area today, with a kid that was just smoking weed and he’s developed a psychosis. And hopefully we can keep him out of a psychiatric unit, but we’re going to try to help him. But even the stuff that you’re buying out of the dispensaries is 20 to 30% THC and it still creates a psychosis. So marijuana, more and more people are smoking that.
Robert Newman:
And then alcohol is still a problem, of course. And then methamphetamine, believe it or not, is making a … is a big deal, even on the east coast. Which, heroin was a big problem on the east coast. So we still have heroin as well. So those things that have been around a while, or they seem to go through in waves now. Synthetic marijuana popped its head up for a few years ago. I haven’t seen that much lately. So, anyway.
Marvin Carolina Jr:
Wow. What is the age group that’s most exposed to drugs?
Robert Newman:
I mean, not having dealt with teenagers as much as I … because most of my crowd now is 18 and up.
Marvin Carolina Jr:
Okay.
Robert Newman:
But I would say that most people start using drugs between the ages of 12 to 17 years old. And I actually had a friend of mine who did an unofficial study … question was, when did you first start using drugs? And like 87% out of about 10,000 people, 87% of them was between the ages of 12 to 17 years old. So his theory was, if you can keep your kids off of drugs, of habitually using drugs between those ages, you’ve got about a 87% chance that they’re not going to become addicted. That was his logic behind that.
Robert Newman:
And so that’s where we hopefully get them to stop making … I had a discussion the other day with a guy about the fact of marijuana being a gateway drug. And I even asked him … well, he and I both had went through treatment, and admitted it. And I said, well, what’d you start with? And he said, same things. Alcohol, marijuana, and then went on to harder drugs. And I said, well, so if those other opportunities hadn’t had been there, maybe you wouldn’t have went down that path, right?
Marvin Carolina Jr:
Right.
Robert Newman:
And his argument was, well, you can’t say, because these other drugs led to that. And I said, well, there’s physical reasons why, and there is logic behind the fact that you tried … because it’s just like, you get a certain stimulation from that drug. It provides you with something that … When I talked to kids I would say, I’m not going to tell you that the first time you do drugs, you’re going to go out and die. I’m going to tell you that you’re going to see your friends doing it, and they’re going to be laughing and joking and it’s going to look like a lot of fun and you’re going to want to try it. Then you may laugh and joke and have a good time and you’ll want to do it again, right?
Marvin Carolina Jr:
Right.
Robert Newman:
And so that leads to you … eventually, you do the same thing over and over and over again, what do you become with it? You get bored. So then the likelihood you’re going to want some more sensation or whatever that is that it’s providing for you, it’s greater. And there’s a number of reasons why that occurs, but … then it dawns on them. Oh, yeah. I could see. It’s like when you’re riding your bicycle and you make that first little jump, right? Well, after a while that little jump is not … a bigger jump or a longer jump or do something different. Because that same trick is not providing that excitement anymore.
Marvin Carolina Jr:
Right. Our guest today is Robert Newman. He is with Newman Interventions and Addiction Services. Robert, give us your contact information. How would somebody contact you?
Robert Newman:
You can go to my website at newmaninterventions.com. That’s N-E-W-M-A-N, interventions, with an S on the end, dot com. You can Google me if you’re in the Kansas City area, just Newman Intervention Services, and I’ll pop up. I have a Google My Business page. And then you can also call (866) 989-4499.
Marvin Carolina Jr:
Gotcha. Now, as we have progressed through our COVID pandemic, how has that impacted drugs and the addiction?
Robert Newman:
When the COVID first hit two years ago, it was really strange because it seemed to have, for a first few weeks, it just put a freeze on everything. And then the supply line for the drugs actually shut down.
Marvin Carolina Jr:
Okay.
Robert Newman:
And then I had friends of mine that work in treatment centers and they would go, oh, man, people are just calling in that we’ve been working with for months trying to get them in. And they’re calling in going, they’re coming in. Especially the ones on opiates, because they start the withdrawal. A person on opiates, when they start withdrawing, they get really sick. They don’t want to go through that so they’re going into treatment then. So then there was a flood of intakes. And then it just seemed to go back to normal. For me, in 2020, it was about … I don’t know. I think I had three or four weeks of a little bit of a drought, and then it just took back off again. And I probably did as much business or more business, unfortunately, than I had in previous years.
Marvin Carolina Jr:
Is it still on the rise or has it balanced out? Kind of like the economy and everything else?
Robert Newman:
It goes through in waves, and it depends on the time of year and what’s going on. For me, personally, it’s been … weird. A lot of times people don’t realize what a person has to do to get your name out there, to let people know that you exist and what you do. And there’s a lot of effort put into that. There’s different things that influence that. So I don’t know if that’s had anything … I can’t say whether it’s that, or what’s going on in the world. I think it all plays … I have a website and I try to put very, very valuable information out there for people.
Robert Newman:
And I’m talking to the guy, how many people are visiting the site? And I was talking to an expert and he’s like, it’s really hard to gauge. We’re going through something in the world right now nobody’s ever gone through. Especially in the internet age. And so it’s hard to gauge why people aren’t doing this or not doing that or whatever.
Marvin Carolina Jr:
Right. I remember I played sports in college and we had someone come in and talk to us about drugs. And they went through a variety of drugs. And I can’t recall it right now, but they went through a variety of drugs and the impact that it had on you. Your speed, your endurance, your hand-eye coordination. And each drug, he went up and down how it impacted you. And I can’t remember the drug right now, but when they went down it, everything went up. Your speed went up, your endurance went up, your hand-eye coordination went up, everything went up.
Marvin Carolina Jr:
And then the gentleman explained, he used to be able to take drugs at the beginning of a game. And then he would take drugs at the beginning of the game and the halftime. And then he had to actually take the drugs on the field with him because he needed it more often. And he said, it’s like driving a small car 120 miles an hour. It’s just not built to do that.
Marvin Carolina Jr:
And I thought he did a really good job of explaining, yes, you may think it works. But over a period of time, you’re going down. And that’s just … it rings in my ear how he explained that. Because it’s like, wow, I can run faster. I can run longer. I can have better eye-hand coordination. But it doesn’t last.
Robert Newman:
Uh-huh (affirmative).
Marvin Carolina Jr:
You just burn out. And he really highlighted that, which I felt was interesting.
Robert Newman:
No, that’s actually very interesting, because it’s similar to what I’ve tried to communicate, along with other presenters. And the fact that you remember it today, it must’ve been impactful.
Marvin Carolina Jr:
It was very impactful.
Robert Newman:
And what he said is true. You first start doing it, oh, yeah. This is the greatest thing. And then after a while, you got to do it … Matter of fact, the first time I did stimulants, I was in college playing football. And I went out and this … I don’t even know. It was a pharmaceutical of some sort in a capsule. And I remember the first time I took it, I was like, oh, wow. Man, where’s this stuff been? I’m doing it on Thursday night because that’s when all the college kids went out, and then I could take it some more on Friday and not be hung over. I thought, man, this is awesome.
Robert Newman:
Then it was doing it on Thursday night, and then on Saturday. And then I just got to where it was just more and more frequent. And pretty soon you start going downhill, just like he talked about. Having to have more and more of the same thing to provide the same stimulation, and then eventually it just takes you out.
Marvin Carolina Jr:
Can you talk any about the family impact? I mean, obviously if the individual is obviously fully engaged in the process. But what has been the impact on some of families?
Robert Newman:
Well, what happens is, is that you get caught up into the behavior. And people start having problems, mistakes, things start happening, whether it be even what I call the red flags or the little orange warning signs as you’re going down the highway of life. He starts, maybe he drops out of college or he drops out of high school or he starts having car accidents. Or this mess happened, that mess happened. The tendency to want to help and try to solve that problem for the person, it just gets into where now the person is 32 years old and they’re still living at home, they’re not working. Mom and dad’s still washing clothes, paying for all the bills and stuff like that. And then that’s usually when I get the phone call … and then people can’t break that habit.
Robert Newman:
And if they would’ve started in the beginning, when the person started having the problems, and started setting down and analyzing, okay, what’s causing this? And trying to help the person solve those problems without continuing and inevitably contributing to the behavior, then they’re more likely to end … stop the behavior. If that makes sense.
Marvin Carolina Jr:
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Once again, we’re here with Robert Newman from Newman Interventions and Addiction Services. Robert, give us your contact information one more time.
Robert Newman:
That’s newmaninterventions.com. N-E-W-M-A-N, interventions, with an S, dot com. And then (866) 989-4499.
Marvin Carolina Jr:
Great. As we close out our podcast for today, what are some words of wisdom that you would like to give to our listeners about, just drugs and interventions and prevention and addiction? What would you like to say to them?
Robert Newman:
There’s a lot of things I would like to say. Number one, I want to back up a second. When my own family, my dad and my sisters and mom … I would go out and have a problem. Wreck a car, get thrown in jail. They’d always bail me out, make sure I had something to drive. I always had to pay them back, and I never was able to take something and not … I did a lot of things I shouldn’t have done. But at the same time, I never stole from my family. And believe it or not, sometimes people will get into that, and they allow it to happen and they don’t expect accountability.
Robert Newman:
But when they stop doing that, when my family stopped doing those type of things, that’s when I started really trying to figure out, okay, how can I change my ways? Because I didn’t have that safety net anymore. They yanked it out. They said, we’re done. But anyway, what I would say is that you’re never going to lower your standards … when somebody’s going down the path, the road, it doesn’t matter how bad it is. It’s never too soon to do an intervention. It’s always too late.
Marvin Carolina Jr:
Okay.
Robert Newman:
An intervention’s coming for that person. Most of the time, you don’t have control over what it is. It’s going to be jail. It’s going to be an overdose. It’s going to be an accident, something bad. Now, you intervene ahead of time to try to stop the behavior, then you’ve got a better chance of controlling what happens. My motto is it’s never too soon, it’s always too late. And I don’t care if the person starts … if they’re on the path, they’re on the path. It doesn’t matter how far down the path they’ve gone.
Robert Newman:
My son was 15 years old. He’s 30 years old now. He lives in Miami. He just married, doing great. But when he was about 14, 15 years old, we had to do an intervention on him. And I thought, I want to give this kid a shot. He’s very personable, very outgoing, very smart. But he was on the path. He just got on it. We’re going to get him off of it as quick as possible. And he was able to figure it out, get his life back. And went back to high school, enjoyed high school, had a great … three years of football. And so that’s my motto. Anyway, I could go on about that, but …
Marvin Carolina Jr:
All right. Well, Robert, thank you for being our guest today. And thank all of our listeners. Once again, this is Marvin Carolina, your host and President and CEO of the Better Business Bureau. Thank you for listening in today, and have a wonderful day.
