Mending The Broken

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.– Sitting across from a once prevalent student athlete, LaTisha Bader works to help him get through his struggle with substance abuse with opioids. And every day brings a new challenge, for both of them, with an addiction that kills nearly 11.4 million people each year.

LaTisha Bader, 41, works as the Chief Clinical Officer at Women’s Recover, working with intense outpatients and also for the USA Cycling Olympic Team. As a licensed psychologist, she worked in colleges with student athletes for goal setting, a mental consultant, but mostly with those who abused substances.

“I absolutely love what I do. I love that I am able to help someone that truly needs it,” Bader said.

As a prior student athlete who played soccer at the University of North Texas, Bader knows and recognizes the struggles that athletes go through on a daily basis. Growing up, she was very interested in psychology, but it wasn’t as widespread as it is today as a major. Her mother told her that if she wanted to stay in the sports world, she should just become a teacher and coach like everyone else. But that wasn’t the plan that Bader had for herself.

 “I was really into sports psychology. It was something that I wish I had when I was playing sports. Everyone tries to ask how things are going, but it seemed like heaven to go to this confidential place and try to figure out how to navigate and try to have a “normal life”,” Bader said.

As she started looking more into the specific type of psychology she was interested in, it became evident that this was the path she was supposed to be on. But while attending school and working in the psychology department for student athletes, Bader saw something that has sparked the passion that she carries with her now.

And that is the fact that women do not receive the same resources that men do.

After completing college and retiring from sports to enter into her professional career, she was shocked by how this continued and it killed her that only men were receiving the best care and given the best resources. But now she works at a place that makes her proud of the work that they do every day.

“The whole staff I work for is women and this was my boss’ dream,” Bader said. “I took a big pay cut and was demoted but this is helping women. I wanted to advocate for women and with the resources that you are given.”

But even though she works at a place that is dedicated to women, she has worked with men in the past to help them recover from substance abuse.

One of those men was Ryan Weiner, a former field hockey and softball player.

Weiner retired from sports but was in an immense amount of pain from injuries that he sustained from his four years in college, and two years on the national team. And following his second hip surgery, he became addicted to opiates.

While in rehab in 2013, Weiner got in contact with Bader and worked with her for years until he finally “graduated” from rehab.

But the process wasn’t without struggles. Before entering rehab, Weiner was dealing with family problems. With a son and wife to help take care of, his addiction put tension on his relationships.

“My addiction impacted my marriage and relationship with my son in profound ways. I lost years with my son that I’ll never get back,” Weiner said. “Ultimately, after being 8-9 months in recovery, my wife left me citing “not wanting to be with an addict”- someone who would always need to place recovery first. I lost everything that meant anything to me at the time.”

While working with Bader, Weiner recounted that it was the most horrific, yet amazing experience he had ever gone through. And credited her to everything he is able to achieve in his life now. Without the hard exercises he had to do in rehab, especially trauma work, he would have never been able to “find himself.”

“One day Bader gave me a book- I think for celebrating 1 year in recovery- she wrote inside the cover something to the effect of “we started in the trees, but now you’re finding your way out of the forest,” Weiner said. “That’s stayed with me always. I actually have a 1/2 sleeve tattoo of a forest mountaintop scene. I don’t think she knows this, but that tattoo is based on what she wrote me because it became central to how I view my recovery. Once out of the darkness of the forest, I found the light.”

When asked to describe Bader in one word, Weiner answered with, “family.”

Bader’s “family” is unconventional, with a swarm of patients that view her that close to their heart, but her real family consists of another interesting person: a sports psychologist husband.

Christopher Bader, 43, works as one of three sports psychologists at the University of Arkansas. Both of the Bader’s agree that being married to another psychologist is amazing and allows for great communication. And although they joke, asking one another “so how is your totally confidential day?”, they understand each other and don’t have to go into detail about the struggles they might have had throughout the day. Bader says that he loves his wife’s passion and is astounded by how much knowledge she has about a drug that she has never used before. In his words, “She is amazing.”

Bader is very proud of the work that she and her colleagues do every day and loves that she is able to help others when it seems that they have no hope left. But she acknowledges that some days are harder than others.

“Addiction is a chronic relapsing disease. I wish that once we put someone through care that they would be in “remission”. When I get to talk to women it’s a lovely day but when I talk to a disease, it’s less than lovely,” Bader said.

And although the process can take many years to help her patients get to a point where they need to be, Bader’s programs and dedication to her patients is relentless. She loves being able to create a strong relationship with them but practices the rule of not having a relationship with her patient until after two years of them being clean. And although that is hard after seeing someone come so far in their life, she remains a professional to make sure that her patients are where they need to be in their recovery.

“The irony is I don’t stay connected because of the ethics, and it may sound weird to outside people, but it’s like you get matched up with this perfect stranger and they don’t follow you home. You kind of get to “break up” in a healthy way,” Bader said. “Never give up. Never, never, never give up. And always find a community.”

According to WHO, one in four people will suffer from mental health issues. And it’s people like Bader who will help those in need, learn to live and function normally while fighting their battles.