Dear NADA Friends,
In the 90’s we were asked to train a US doctor and nurse to set up non-pharma hospital detox unit in 3 Saudi hospitals serving only the royal family (in Riyadh, Dammam, and Jeddah). Most of the protocol (12 steps, family groups, etc.) was rejected after one year as not being culturally appropriate. NADA was used 10 years more, indeed it may be still being used. I have never heard any negative feedback from Saudi. My colleague, Larry Taylor trained many doctors from Musilm countries in Africa and the Middle East over several years. Later he trained NADA trainers in each hospital before returning to Arkansas. They liked me to sign their certificates with a special stamp. I conducted a 2 hour case conference through the US embassy Each of the 20 doctors asked 2 questions. No one was skeptical about acupuncture; no one said it was from an alien culture.
Also in the 80’s or 90’s a psychiatrist Dr Hassan Rezvani took a training at Lincoln. Several years Dr Rezvani called me from Iran and told me that he had told a psychiatric conference about our training and had asked to be trained by him. I said fine. Rezvani trained several groups of Iranianpsychiatrists (more actual psychiatrists than ever trained in the US). Rezvani asked the Iranian government more than once wanting to set up a pilot program in Iran while already retired in the US and living in Florida. 2 years ago he sent me a list of 25 Iranian psychiatrists for ADS certificates.
In a late 90’s conference in Istanbul I had a unique positive experience. Dr. Bondaram was listed as a speaker from NADA Iran. I had never met a NADA national chairman and speaker for the first time at the podium
He was tall and impressive and spoke with great confidence ---proof of Rezvani’s training skill. Bondaram was a recovering person and is now deceased. A friend from Toronto visited him twice a decade ago.
Presently NADA has small team of clinicians behind enemy lines in a conflict in the Middle East for the past 3 years. They are treating war and stress victims. They have translated several basic documents for us. We are keeping their contact information confidential. Obviously we have had other contacts with Muslim trainees---I just mentioned some you might not know about. Your contact sounds very promising and I would be glad to help her. I have phone numbers In Florida and Toronto at present.
A lot of our photos are from Ethiopians in poor desert outfits, though they are often described as from other places. Please ask for more help—from any of us. MIKE