Opioid Initiative

Hope is Dope

Join us as we discover a revolutionary approach to the understanding, treatment, and successful recovery of substance-use disorders, addictions, and mental health issues. We are not winning the “war on drugs” using fear and negative energy and we are not helping people out all of these issues by prescribing medication alone. Hope is Dope offers a fresh and optimistic approach to healing. Using the latest neuroscience and easily understood analogies from the texts “Hope is Dope: Achieving Chemical Balance” and “New Eyes: A Unifying Vision of Science & Spirituality” by author and licensed professional counselor Steve Treu, our classes offer insights into healing brain chemistry while providing actionable steps anyone can take for a clear pathway to recovery.

Hope is Dope: Community Series

This Community Series is free and open to the public. This class explores the concepts of addiction and recovery as described in the book Hope is Dope: Achieving Chemical Balance by author and Licensed Professional Counselor Steve Treu. Topics include:

Regulating endorphins and dopamine
Beliefs, Habits, & Neuroplasticity
Spirituality & Recovery

Dates: Tuesdays | Apr. 17, 24, 31

Time: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Location: Butler Art Center & Gallery

Cost: Free

Class Descriptions

Everything one needs to succeed in recovery can be found within themselves. What’s happening inside the brain of someone who is using drugs or alcohol? It isn’t the substance that makes them feel different, it’s their very own neurotransmitters. Drugs only amplify how these neurotransmitters can make someone feel. This is why we call the brain a “pharmacy”. These transmitters, also known as endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin, amongst others, help create our sense of well-being, contentment, excitement, motivation and joy. But drugs eventually hijack these important neurochemicals and make one’s ability to create them naturally extremely difficult, if not impossible. That is how addiction begins.

We all take unique pathways along the journey of life, but our destination is the same. The same can be said to be true of recovery. There are many different recovery methods one may choose and different individual goals they may have. Rather than think one method is superior, studies show that meeting an individual where they are at and working with their own personal goals is more helpful than any one single approach. Neuroscience tells us a lot about the nature of healing and how emotions affect our decisions, but even science lessons from quantum physicists, and scientist who studied the nature of reality, like Albert Einstein, can reveal to us ideas that can have a profound impact on our perception.

Healing is more about embracing the good habits than it is about avoiding the negative ones. With persistence, and overtime, the balance begins to shift towards health. Within each part of the holistic approach to recovery (mind, body, spirit) there are many techniques and habits one can use to increase the body’s ability to make those feel-good neurochemical like endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin again, without the use of drugs or alcohol. Equally important in recovery is having a safe space with support from either friends, family, or community in which the most important aspect of this support is the belief that someone can succeed.

Professional Training: Hope is Dope

Available in person or online. This free 3-part series is open to all professionals. This training provides 6 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for social workers, nurses, counselors, certified recovery specialists, educators and HR personnel. Based on the book Hope is Dope: Achieving Chemical Balance by author and licensed professional counselor Steve Treu, this eye-opening class details how substance misuse changes brain chemistry, leading to addiction, and how to effectively heal these changes using the latest neuroscience on optimizing brain health.

Dates: Tuesdays | Apr. 21, 28 & Mar. 5

Time: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Location: BC3 Main Campus | Business & Workforce Development Building, Room 186

Cost: Free

Hope Nights - Free & Open to the Public

Provided by BC3's Opioid Initiative

Hope Nights are free events open to the public held from March through December, which are aimed at bringing those in recovery and those supportive of recovery together for an evening of fun.

View Hope Nights Schedule

Instructor: Steve Treu

picture of reset instructor steve treu

Licensed Professional Counselor and of author of: Hope is Dope and New Eyes and Quantum Revolution Counseling

Community Collaborators

BC3 would like to thank the following collaborators that support “Reset Your Brain: Opioid Initiative:

Ellen O'Brien Gaiser Center
Alliance for Nonprofit Resources
Veterans Overwatch Foundation
Butler Art Center and Gallery
Butler Family YMCA
Bethel Life Ministries/Life Center

Have questions? Contact us!

Ken Clowes
Community Initiatives Center Assistant
724.287.8711, ext. 8172
kenneth.clowes@bc3.edu