Chief Clinical Editor for Narconon, Claire Pinelli
Claire Pinelli has been a teacher and counselor for over 45 years. Claire has always been interested in helping others, even while working on her degree in mathematics. Eventually, Claire took a year off to follow her passion, then returned to finish her degree graduating Cum Laude for Brooklyn College, CUNY.
Throughout the 1970s Claire continued to counsel others, moving to Los Angeles before eventually settling in New York City where she married. While in New York Claire began a new chapter in her life by teaching in the New York City School System, where she helped establish the first computer science curriculum for the New York City School System. Despite her busy schedule, Claire found the time to earn her Master of Science Degree, Cum Laude, in Computer Engineering from Polytechnic Institute of New York (now New York University).
In 1985 she left New York with her husband and moved to Los Angeles finding herself managing a multi-specialty medical clinic in Los Angeles. As time went on, Claire’s family grew to 3 children and with her husband, they made the decision to move to Northern California for her children to have a quality education. It was here that Claire began one of the most fulfilling chapters in her life when a local Narconon drug and alcohol rehab center asked for her help. She agreed, and it was there she realized her passion and ability to use her counseling skills to help those addicted to drugs and alcohol as well as their families. While there, she was able to put in a standard withdrawal protocol and double the program enrollment.
In 2004 she moved on to work at a larger Narconon facility in Oklahoma. Here she was met with a new challenge. Over the course of her 2-year tenure, Claire saw the enrollment double as she supervised treatment for over 200 clients at a time. Her skills as an administrator as well as a counselor were put to good use as she helped thousands of addicts discover how to live life free from drugs and alcohol. After ensuring a smooth transition, in 2007 she decided to move to Houston, Texas, where she and her family live today. In Houston, she and her husband founded Q.U.A.D. Consultants of Texas, Inc. A Texas corporation whose goal is to help people Quit Using Alcohol and Drugs by treating and educating not only the addict, but the counselors, the family and the facility as well.
Over the years, she never stopped learning and advancing her knowledge and certification to increase her expertise and skill to help others. She became an LADC with Clinical Supervision Certification from the Oklahoma Board of Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselors; an Internationally Certified Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor (ICAADC) and a Certified Clinical Supervisor (CCS) from the International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium; a Registered Addiction Specialist (RAS) from the Breining Institute in California; and a Master’s Level Certified Addiction Professional and Certified Addiction Professional (MCAP) from the state of Florida.
Claire has been doing talks and lectures on drug addiction and treatment as well as classes for professionals since 2005.
She currently is living in Houston with her family and consulting for several facilities and creating and delivering Board Approved Continuing Education training for professional and lay people alike.
The Greater Los Angeles area is home to a staggering 18.7 million people. This is nearly half the population of the entire state. Within an hour’s drive of Downtown Los Angeles, there are nearly 500 drug rehabs or detoxes of various types. But with some estimates of 700,000 drug users in the entire region, this is not nearly enough.
California’s huge population gives it a similarly huge problem with drugs and a soaring need for drug rehabilitation. Too many people fail to get any help at all and those who find rehab programs may only receive medications that prevent rehab but do not provide recovery from addiction.
Preserving the health and safety of teens is priority #1 for parents. Every parent wants their sons and daughters to grow up to lead healthy and fulfilling lives. With that in mind, it is extremely worrisome that teen drug overdose deaths have more than doubled in just two years.
Because kratom is legal in many U.S. states, some people could get the impression that it is a harmless drug. But since the drug has effects like respiratory depression, seizures and death, this is an erroneous impression.
A long-held point of view has been that young people will experiment with drugs and alcohol because “that’s just what young people do” often maintaining that young people will transition out of drug and alcohol experimentation when they grow older and more mature. New research suggests that this is not the case.
Does it really make sense to blanket legalize drugs? On the other hand, does it really make sense to continue the War on Drugs? Or is it possible that leaving some penalties in place but altering or lessening them if treatment is completed might be more effective than either blanket legalization of drugs or ruthlessly throwing people in jail for drug use?
For those of us who follow the medical news, we may have heard whisperings about the use of psychedelic drugs for addressing mental health issues. This is a relatively new movement, or at the very least, it’s a new spin on the 1970s-era effort to create legitimacy for psychedelics in the field of mental health.
A recently published study suggests medical marijuana may not be as effective as the narrative has suggested. Further, it may carry risk for addiction.
Find more information about cocaine and cocaine addiction with professionally reviewed up-to-date articles. Getting informed is the first step in overcoming cocaine addiction.
Find more information about club drug and club drug addiction with professionally reviewed up-to-date articles. Getting informed is the first step in overcoming club drug addiction.
Find more information about alcohol and alcohol addiction with professionally reviewed up-to-date articles. Getting informed is the first step in overcoming alcohol addiction.
Find more information about MDMA and MDMA addiction with professionally reviewed up-to-date articles. Getting informed is the first step in overcoming MDMA addiction.
Find more information about fentanyl and fentanyl addiction with professionally reviewed up-to-date articles. Getting informed is the first step in overcoming fentanyl addiction.
Find more information about heroin and heroin addiction with professionally reviewed up-to-date articles. Getting informed is the first step in overcoming heroin addiction.
Find more information about inhalant and inhalant addiction with professionally reviewed up-to-date articles. Getting informed is the first step in overcoming inhalant addiction.
Find more information about marijuana and marijuana addiction with professionally reviewed up-to-date articles. Getting informed is the first step in overcoming marijuna addiction.
Find more information about meth and meth addiction with professionally reviewed up-to-date articles. Getting informed is the first step in overcoming meth addiction.
Find more information about opioid and opioid addiction with professionally reviewed up-to-date articles. Getting informed is the first step in overcoming opioid addiction.
