Psychiatrist drums up support for alternative substance-abuse therapy
The drumbeat that shuddered through the floor of a hotel meeting room, vibrating in the chests of its closest listeners, was beating out many messages: honor, tradition and perhaps wellness.
The Wellbriety drummers, from left, Gabe Castro, 11, Albert Titman, Dean Hoaglin and Marty Montgomery play and sing Tuesday in Sacramento during a conference on behavioral health among American Indians and Alaska natives Drumming helped Hoaglin celebrate 18 years of recovery from alcohol and drug abuse, he says. "It gave me comfort; it gave me peace; it brought me calm."