After the sauna program at ATMC my mental clarity has much improved. Intrinsic motivation and drive has increased and I feel normal again for the first time in years. I no longer feel the toxic effects of all the chemicals I have polluted my body with. I am sleeping on my own without a sleep aid for the first time in years. I have an appetite again for food and life. My sense of smell and taste has improved, and the quality of my skin is much better. In short, my overall sense of well being has improved and my outlook on life is positive again.

Shaun Smith

I had seven months clean upon coming to Alternative to Meds Center.  I had been and currently was operating in a sort of mental fuzz, and often times would have to get others to do the thinking for me.  It was difficult for me to follow conversations, and often I found myself interjecting at inappropriate times. I came to realize that this clouded thinking was a carryover from my drug history [methamphetamines].  Since I had been in a program where most of the people around me shared that same fuzziness, it didn’t seem so abnormal.  But upon arrival at ATMC, the clarity of other clients at first made me believe that these people were not real drug addicts like I had been and had been around.  Indeed, they were different,  but not because they hadn’t been as bad.  They had just gotten a jump on me in a completely transforming process that I was also to share.  Through the combination of communication drills and other life skills, sauna detox purification, and vitamin and mineral regiments specifically designed to process residual toxins, I was able to lift the mental fog.  I went from believing I was unfit in the workplace, to being capable of generating my own employment as a self-made specialist.

-L.M.  Berkeley resident