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.
Knowing what signs of drug use to watch for when there are teens or pre-teens in the home means monitoring the changes in the illicit drug market and patterns of use. Check out the 2020 numbers for drug use among 8th, 10th and 12th-grade students.
Though the War on Drugs has been waged in the U.S. for 50 years, it has never been effective in curbing drug addiction. In fact, America's drug problem has only gotten worse.
Heavy drug or alcohol abuse or addiction are tough at any age. When it affects those who should be completing their educations, it can derail the entirety of their future lives.
Even as marijuana legalization continues to advance across the U.S., there is an accumulation of evidence that marijuana is harmful, (possibly permanently damaging), for youths. What must be done to protect adolescents from a drug that is detrimental to them, one that is becoming easier to obtain?
Public health experts usually agree that preventive efforts should be used as a front-line defense against health problems. In the case of drug and alcohol addiction, Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs are useful preventive tools that states can use to reduce the diversion of pharmaceuticals into the hands of addicts.
The subject of heated debate and an ongoing discussion regarding its legalization, marijuana has become a common talking point at American dinner tables, in school classrooms, and on political stages. And though many states have moved towards legalizing the substance, doing so may have harmful implications for young people.
When one drug is banned, illicit drug manufacturers just go looking for another drug to manufacture—one that hasn’t been banned yet. For a while, at least, their product may be legal, no matter how deadly it is.
Recent findings now reveal that women in America drink just as much alcohol as men do, effectively closing the traditional alcohol consumption gap that used to exist between women and men. Why has this occurred?
There is compelling evidence that suggests opioid addiction and overdose rates soared during the Covid-19 pandemic. Was this a direct result of Covid-19? Or was it a continuation of America’s opioid addiction epidemic?
Khat is a mystery drug of sorts, as few people in the western world know what it is or what kind of harm it can do. However, khat is becoming more common in the United States, and Americans must get informed on this substance. Families need to learn about khat and encourage their loved ones to avoid it.
Though alcohol is legal for adults 21 and older, alcohol is not a safe or healthy substance to consume. Case in point, new research shows how a particular type of alcohol is particularly appealing to and dangerous for… underage drinkers.
Some people think they can use alcohol to go to sleep easier but there is a wealth of information revealing the truth: Alcohol consumption interferes with sleep. For a good night's sleep, low or no alcohol does the trick.
The e-cigarette maker Juul is in trouble for marketing nicotine to young people. But what about the arguably even bigger danger, the connection between young people who use e-cigarettes and young people who use marijuana?
From the outside looking in, it always seems that a person addicted to drugs is rarely just struggling with ONE problem. We get the feeling that there are other drug problems, health problems, destructive behavioral issues, negative life patterns, poor health choices, etc. In confirmation of such views, a new study brings fact-based evidence to the table and shows us that, with meth addiction at least, meth is seldom the only problem the individual is struggling with.
The foremost commitment of any medical practitioner is to do no harm, and the vast majority of physicians hold to that. But what happens when the very drugs doctors prescribe are harmful?
When we consider the overall harm of drug addiction in our society, we almost always look at the financial toll of drug abuse, the crime, the loss of life, the ruined families, and the lost workplace productivity. We seldom consider the environmental implications of drug addiction, manufacturing, and trafficking. It’s time we did just that.
When people consider drug or alcohol addiction, the most attention-grabbing, headline-worthy material is always the number of deaths caused by drinking or drug abuse. But as a recent study shows, death is only one of the serious and harmful outcomes of alcohol abuse. There are many others.
