May 3, 2024

I just finished up a project with Casa Santa Isabel. This is a clinic from Rosarito, Beach, Mexico that treats addiction and mental health issues with ibogaine.

Ibogaine comes from the Iboga shrub, the vast majority of which are from Gabon.

This is Gabon:

Casa Santa Isabel hired me to work on their storytelling. Addiction is on the rise, and overdose deaths are quite literally through the roof:

Mental health issues are equally troubling:

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I began my career working at an emergency psychiatric facility for adults and children who were deemed a danger to themselves and others. That’s another post (or 147 posts) for another day, but what I learned working with Casa Santa Isabel is standard treatment methods don’t work on everyone.

Before engaging with the clinic, I had heard of ibogaine but knew very little of its practical use. Despite having attended the University of Colorado at Boulder in the 1990s and coming in regular contact with scenes like this …

… I always held a healthy skepticism of alternative treatments for addiction and mental health issues.

Well, put that to rest after my work with the clinic.

As we worked on marketing, storytelling, and presenting the clinic to its potential client base—the people who were sick and tired of being sick and tired and their family members suffering as a result—it was impossible to ignore the hundreds upon hundreds of patients the clinic had helped over the years.

It’s 2024, and with stats like the above, odds are we all know someone or a friend of someone with an addiction and/or struggling with mental health issues. Ibogaine treatment might not be for everyone, but I would keep the option in mind. The clinic’s medical team is engaged in very important work.

Lastly, of course, the sports reference is here, and while there are lots of examples of athletes, actors, and other prominent cultural figures who have battled addiction, Dennis Rodman, for me stands out.

I am not sure of Dennis’ current whereabouts, but his Hall of Fame speech is one the truest, realest, heartfelt speeches that I return to consistently. Even if you’re not a sports fan and don’t know Dennis Rodman from Dennis Hooper, do watch his speech. It’s human, through and through.