Heads Up: This episode discusses substance abuse and addiction. If these topics are problematic for you, please use discretion when consuming this episode and its accompanying material.

Richard Capriola spent 11 years working as an addictions counselor for Menninger Clinic in Houston, Texas before retiring in 2019. His passion for helping this vulnerable population continues through his book, “The Addicted Child, A Parent’s Guide to Adolescent Substance Abuse,” with a companion workbook containing assessments and tests for parents to use to best help their children.

In this episode, we discuss the challenges parents face in recognizing the signs their child may be struggling with substance use disorder and possible underlying mental health issues. We talk about how the COVID19 global pandemic affected adolescents, some of the experiences Richard had while working at the Meninger Clinic, and most importantly, the book he has written as a resource for parents to use if they are uncertain how to move forward with helping their adolescent child who may be struggling.

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To visit Richard’s website, click here: https://helptheaddictedchild.com/

To purchase Richard’s Book: The Addicted Child: A Parent’s Guide to Adolescent Substance Abuse,” click here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KJHJYBY

Today’s Parting Thought is titled, “A Mother’s Love Never Dies,” by Patricia Gale.
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Cool Gray in Studio A is an interview podcast that offers interesting conversations with interesting people on a wide variety of topics in hopes of inspiring deeper thought. Some of Cool Gray’s favorite topics are the arts, health and wellness, the paranormal, theoretical physics, and the mysteries of consciousness and the mind. Episodes release every 2 weeks on Thursdays. Listen on your favorite podcast platform or watch the full video version on my YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/coolgraystudios/.

Take my Listener Survey and be entered to win a prize! https://coolgraystudios.com/podcast-listener-survey/

To visit the companion blog about this episode, click here: https://coolgraystudios.com/blog/

All the links you’ll need to find and follow Cool Gray Studios: https://linktr.ee/coolgraystudios

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Music Credits
Opening Theme: “Busy City,” by Track Tribe from Epidemic Sound
End Title: “Walk Through the Park,” by Track Tribe from Epidemic Sound

Heads Up: This episode discusses nudity in art (the companion blog and my guest’s website display nudity) including some imagery of human models bound with the Japanese binding art form of Shibari. If these topics and images are problematic for you, please use discretion when consuming this episode and its accompanying material.

Randy Lagana was 6 years old when he drew his first serious piece of art. At age 13 he did his first oil painting and immediately knew that painting was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He has been exploring art and how to express himself through art for more than 60 years! Randy paints in acrylics using brushes, palette knives, sponge, paper, plastic, fingers, or anything else that will get the effect I’m looking for. In recent years, he has branched into photography and digital composites, applying his painterly skills to this newer medium. His photography work features nude models in both beautiful and decaying environments, which presents certain challenges when sharing on social media.

Community Guidelines on popular social platforms can be difficult to understand and may be subject to the platform reviewer’s opinion. Here, we discuss those frustrations and challenges as well as get to know Randy and his creative process. It’s an intimate look at the life of an artist over a lifetime, how his life experience has influenced his work and how his work has evolved through the years.

Randy believes art is a way to see, much like poetry is a way to speak.

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To view Randy’s work on his website, click here: https://randylagana.com.

Today’s Parting Thought is by Amy Weatherly: “Some people could be given an entire field of roses, and only see the thorns in it. Others could be given a single weed and only see the wildflower in it. Perception is a key component to gratitude. And gratitude is a key component to joy.”

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Cool Gray in Studio A is an interview podcast that offers interesting conversations with interesting people on a wide variety of topics in hopes of inspiring deeper thought. Some of Cool Gray’s favorite topics are the arts, health and wellness, the paranormal, theoretical physics, and the mysteries of consciousness and the mind. Episodes release every 2 weeks on Thursdays. Listen on your favorite podcast platform or watch the full video version on my YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/coolgraystudios/.

Take my Listener Survey and be entered to win a prize! https://coolgraystudios.com/podcast-listener-survey/

To visit the companion blog about this episode, click here: https://coolgraystudios.com/blog/

All the links you’ll need to find and follow Cool Gray Studios: https://linktr.ee/coolgraystudios

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Music Credits

Opening Theme: “Busy City,” by Track Tribe from Epidemic Sound

End Title: “Walk Through the Park,” by Track Tribe from Epidemic Sound

Melvin L Morse, MD, was an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington for 20 years and is the author of several books (along with science writer and documentary film maker Paul Perry) about the science and spirituality of near-death experiences. His international best seller “Closer to the Light” describes the near-death experiences of children and was based on his studies at Seattle Children’s Hospital under the supervision of the University of Washington’s Human Subject Review Board.

This episode contains the portion of the recorded interview that was concerned with Dr. Morse’s groundbreaking study on near-death experiences in children. The study was conducted over 30 years ago and included 27 children who had been through a resuscitation experience in Dr. Morse’s hospital after being clinically dead, as well as a control group of children who had also suffered trauma and been in the same intensive care environment, who may have been comatose, but were never deceased. The results were unexpected to the team and changed Dr. Morse’s life from that point forward.

However, our conversation went into some other areas and stretched to over 2 hours in length. So, I’ve extracted the parts of the interview that were about other topics and compiled them in a special video supplemental “minisode,” which can be found on my YouTube channel. There’s a link below. In that minisode, you can hear our conversations about:
*Split Brain surgery and its effects on consciousness
*Functional Neurogenesis (the concept that every thought and experience physically changes the brain)
*The nature of memory and where it is stored
*Dr. Morse’s latest book, “Where God Lives,” which is about Spiritual Neuroscience.

That’s a lot of great dialogue…too great to end up on the cutting room floor, so I’m grateful to Dr. Morse for that bonus content and I’m confident you will be, too!

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To visit Dr, Morse’s website, click here: https://melvinmorsemd.com.

Today’s Parting Thought is by Roald Dahl: “And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”

For the special video supplement to this episode, click here: https://youtu.be/uIx8nDGzENE

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Cool Gray in Studio A is an interview podcast that offers interesting conversations with interesting people on a wide variety of topics in hopes of inspiring deeper thought. Some of Cool Gray’s favorite topics are the arts, health and wellness, the paranormal, theoretical physics, and the mysteries of consciousness and the mind. Episodes release every 2 weeks on Thursdays. Listen on your favorite podcast platform or watch the full video version on my YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/coolgraystudios/.

Take my Listener Survey and be entered to win a prize! https://coolgraystudios.com/podcast-listener-survey/

To visit the companion blog about this episode, click here: https://coolgraystudios.com/blog/

All the links you’ll need to find and follow Cool Gray Studios: https://linktr.ee/coolgraystudios

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Music Credits

Opening Theme: “Busy City,” by Track Tribe from Epidemic Sound
End Title: “Walk Through the Park,” by Track Tribe from Epidemic Sound