Welcome to The Recovery Playbook, Menninger’s YouTube series featuring Daryl I. Shorter, MD, medical director for the Menninger Addictions & Recovery Medicine Center, and Ryan Leaf, who is The Clinic's Ambassador in Recovery and a college and professional football analyst.
Each month, they discuss relevant recovery topics on the minds of individuals, family and friends, and treatment providers alike. They look at what’s new in substance-use recovery today, sticking points that affect relationships, coping with adversity, and breakthroughs in treatment and policy matters.
Their goal is to elevate conversation about real issues of substance use and addictions. Join us each month as Dr. Shorter and Ryan open The Recovery Playbook.
Inaugural Episode: Recovery Today
What’s it like being in recovery from opioid use disorder or other substances today? In the inaugural episode of the Recovery Playbook, our co-hosts run out the clock discussing this topic and more.
With increasing media attention on opioid addiction and overdoses in America, and with more money being spent to tackle this issue, more of us are aware of the impact it’s having on individuals. Yet what kind of recovery is possible? What does it take to recover?
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” says Leaf. “I made it to the NFL … and this is the hardest thing I’ve done. But there is a solution.”
For Leaf, understanding the science of addiction and taking advantage of medication-assisted therapy were the keys to jumpstarting his recovery, which he’s been in for 11 years. Dr. Shorter addresses what medications can help, how long they work and the multiple benefits of using them.
“Medications can actually reduce the craving or the desire to use substances of all kinds, but opioids in particular,” says Dr. Shorter. In addition, medications can also assist with the symptoms of detox, which should always be done under the supervision of a physician.
Dr. Shorter also discuss the impact of stigma, controversies within the recovery field and more in this exciting discussion.
If you'd rather listen than watch, you can find The Recovery Playbook wherever you get your podcasts, including here.
Meet the Hosts
Ryan Leaf is a Heisman trophy finalist and second overall pick in the 1998 National Football League draft, who became known as one of the NFL’s greatest draft “busts.” He played four seasons before depression and addiction contributed to the end of his professional football career.
Leaf said that being accepted into a treatment facility, receiving a mental health diagnosis, and focusing on service to others has helped him to turn his life around. “I’m okay with who I am,” Leaf said. “I’m this flawed human being, like everybody else, who is trying to be better every day.” He shares his recovery journey with large and small groups in addition to hosting a radio show about football.
Daryl I. Shorter, MD, board certified in addictions psychiatry and adult psychiatry, is medical director of Addictions Services and leads the Addictions Medicine & Recovery Center at Menninger. An associate professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, he oversees the Addictions Medicine Fellowship Training Program. He presents nationwide at conferences for mental health professionals and his research has been published in peer-reviewed journals.
He earned his bachelor’s degree at Rice University in Houston and his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine. His postgraduate training included a general psychiatry residency at The Ohio State University and an addictions fellowship at New York University.
Welcome to The Recovery Playbook, Menninger’s YouTube series featuring Daryl I. Shorter, MD, medical director for the Menninger Addictions & Recovery Medicine Center, and Ryan Leaf, who is The Clinic's Ambassador in Recovery and a college and professional football analyst.
