Social Mission Revolution

Nikki Langman speaks openly about her personal journey with addiction so that others can receive the help they need to overcome their own battle.  Recognising that she could make a difference in the lives of others who haven’t yet found the help they need, Nikki has become the spokesperson for the Rethink Addiction campaign.  In this episode, we explore her story and the struggles of addiction. Listen to this to understand a little more about what addicts are going through and how you may be able to help them recover. To connect with Nikki visit www.NikkiLangman.com to support the Rethink Addiction campaign, click here.

Transcript

Andrea Putting: 

Welcome to the social mission revolution. Each week we explore some of the greatest and untold stories of businesses and everyday people who are making the ultimate impact world through social mission. They share their stories, their inspirations, their successes and heartaches, on the way to making that difference that we all long to make. This is social mission revolution. This is your host, Andrea putting. Welcome to the social media revolution. And today I am here with Mickey Langman. Nikki is an international speaker, author and emotional intelligence expert, award winning thought leader in the areas of resilience and mental health. And she uses her own experience in overcoming addiction to help change the conversation and stigma related to addiction and advocate for more resources to help Australians and their families who are suffering from addiction in silence. Nikki is the author of amazing number one bestseller, Amazon number one bestseller book, How to be a badass navigating your road to self mastery. Now I’m very excited to have Nikki on the show because I know a lot about Nikki. And we’re going to have a really fun time while we talk about social mission. So welcome, Nikki.

Nikki Langman: 

Thanks, Andrea. It’s wonderful to be here.

Andrea Putting: 

So I’d like to start with asking Nikki, that question that I asked everyone that comes on the podcast, if there’s just one thing for you to fight for, what will that be?

Nikki Langman: 

There was just one thing I could fight for. It would be to be able to give all Australians and their family equal opportunity to resources to treat addiction. And that answer is so clear. And it’s so passionate now. But it’s incredible how long, it took me to actually be able to answer a question like that.

Andrea Putting: 

It is an important one. And I think that people don’t really understand what addiction is really about. You can easily say, well just Stop, just stop it. But it’s not that easy, is it?

Nikki Langman: 

No, it’s not. It’s not? And can I share a little bit of of the journey that I went through in getting to the point where my answer was, if this was the one thing I could fight for, this is what it would be?

Andrea Putting: 

Absolutely, that is what we’d like to hear.

Nikki Langman: 

Good. So just for a little context for your listeners. So I am in what I call comfortable recovery, which means that I have been sober, I have had my own challenges and struggles with addiction, mostly alcohol and prescription medication. And it was about a 30 year battle. And there were many, many, many times where I tried to seek recovery and treatment options and was successful in doing so. But you know, over the over the years, it adds up to a lot of money. You know, help is not widely available, it’s usually available, hinging on your location and the resources you have. So I was actually very fortunate in that. And when I grew up in the States, I was in an urban area in California where there were a lot of treatment options available. My family had very good medical insurance and could afford to put me through treatment. So I, you know, I think I just lived most of my life thinking that that was just how it was that you know, you you, you messed up a bit, you got in a little bit of trouble with the law or had some broken relationships or did some things wrong, hurt some people, and then you just put your hand up for help and go, Okay, well, I’m just gonna go to rehab for 30 days, and then everything will be fine again. And then you relapse and you know, and then you you go see a therapist for six months and everything’s fine again. And then there’s 12 step meetings and this was like the pattern in my life where help was available to me. And I didn’t know that there was any other way of being so I moved to Australia about 13 years ago, and I I was okay then I was in a period of stability at that point. And then I did have a period of time. Early in my days in Australia where I I did have another stumble and I went down that slippery slope again and here I was in a new country. If I didn’t know anything I, you know, I didn’t have family support, I had a young child, I was suffering from postnatal depression, PTSD, and was having a very, very rough time adjusting to life here. And I put my hand up for help, and it didn’t come.

Andrea Putting: 

And I, I

Nikki Langman: 

just, you know, I didn’t understand. So I sink deeper. And I went deeper into that hole and the shame and the secrecy. And, you know, as you were saying, you know, it is so common for people who have not been affected by addiction, or don’t have the experience and in the tools that you need to help somebody through recovery, to just say, I don’t understand it, why can’t you get out of bed? Why are you doing this? Why are you lying? Why are you not just being responsible? And you know, and then the, I think there’s a lot of, there’s this self imposed shame and stigma that we put ourselves through. So, you know, again, being from a fortunate upbringing, I had a university education, you know, I, I’m an intelligent woman. And, to me, I didn’t fit what the stereotype looks like for a drug addict, or no. And I couldn’t accept that, you know, that. I guess I never really accepted that I was an addict, or that I suffered from addiction of many kinds, whether it was, you know, through food disorders, or alcohol or prescription, whatever the the mechanism was, so it was, you know, just the overarching umbrella of addiction. And I don’t think I ever accepted that. And because, in the environment I grew up in, you know, you know, it was a, and I think I just go back to that lack of exposure. You know, I hadn’t seen what the stereotypes looked like in other parts of the world. So anyway, so fast forward to hitting the bottom of all bottoms. When I got, I had an experience once where my husband came home from work. And, and this was, you know, I think I was just at that point, I felt nothing, I just, I knew that I needed something, I needed a savior of some kind, because I had nothing left to give myself, no more energy to spend no more concern of my own well being. And I just remember staring very blankly at the wall, and he comes through the front door and comes in and just looks at me. And you know, and said, Look, one of these days, I’m going to come home, and you’re going to be dead. And I’ll know you didn’t mean to do it. You just got it wrong. I’m okay. Yeah. Well, that’s good. Because I wouldn’t want anyone to think I was suicidal. Then as soon as that thought, like really sank in and I don’t want to wait a minute is, is that actually where I’m going to surrender? Is that Is that where I’m going to say that this is enough? You know, am I going to accept that the last thing that I actually cared about on this world, was what other people thought about the way I died. And, and suddenly, like, out of nowhere, Andrea, out of nowhere, that strength that like inner rumble of something nests that I can’t even describe because I don’t think there are words to describe that feeling. But all of a sudden, that strength just came like a like a, it was like somebody was open a door and a gust of wind came in and just hit me. And I just went, Oh, no, this is not how my story ends. And so I asked my husband to take me to the emergency room. And I was very an egg and I had no experience and how to get help and Australia because in those first few years, so I’m actually just not to confuse your listeners, there was two husbands, it was husband one and husband two, to deal with it. And things did fall apart when I was not okay. And two was the one that you know, that got me to the emergency room and stayed by my side and didn’t, you know, didn’t blame me, you know, understood that there was this was not me, this was a disease. And, and he was, you know, he had he had to learn to separate the two. And so anyway, fast forwarding, I got the help, I embraced it. I put down the shovel and finally stopped digging that grave and just went alright, well, you know what, I cannot do this anymore. This is I have to move forward and stop fighting. And I’m because I was done fighting. And there was one quote from Sheryl Sandberg that really has been one of those, you know, those quotes that you just repeat yourself? Yeah. Yeah. She said when option A isn’t available, go kick the shit out of option B and that is how I I have chosen to live my life for the last several years in a very, very comfortable state now, where I have, you know, grown so much personally, I have left I’ve closed the door to Option A, I know I can’t do that I spent 30 years fighting that battle, I’m not going to win it. And so I am living option B now, and I am excelling at it. Because I’m able to now use my experience, take that adversity take all that self hatred, the blame, the shame, the the stigma, the comparison, and start learning how to give that back to people who are struggling, who are still in their battle. I came across a foundation, I actually did some foundation, it’s a movement about a year ago called rethink addiction. And I think that’s when, when I was introduced to rethink addiction is when I found the answer to that question you asked, if there was one thing I could fight for. It’s for all people to have the opportunity to recover.

Andrea Putting: 

Yes, and it is a such an important one, I do have a close relationship with someone who constantly fights addiction. And and I know how hard it is for for him is just a lot of loneliness. And a lot of people he probably is the stereotype that people do not understand that what he’s going through is it’s not by choice. Yeah. Yeah, yes,

Nikki Langman: 

a choice. And it’s not a matter of will,

Andrea Putting: 

as these will say, is wills there, but he just can’t do it.

Nikki Langman: 

Yeah. Yeah. You know, there’s some, as soon as just six that I’ve learned that our spine chilling, and that one in four Australians will experience some form of addiction, or be in, you know, be affected by addiction in their lifetime.

Andrea Putting: 

Massive. So this does bring us to your social mission that we’re here to talk about today. So let’s get to tell us a little bit about what your social mission is that you’re now involved in?

Nikki Langman: 

Yeah, yeah. So I’ll tell you about the night that I discovered rethink addiction. And this was in May of 2021, I had just released my book. So my book was called How to be a badass navigating your road to self mastery. And badass is the framework that I developed in, in writing my story and in learning how to share my journey and how to overcome adversity, not just addiction, but adversity of any kind. And so I, I looked at how did I gain that strength? So how did I go from, you know, from that day, one of sobriety, to being in a state now, where I’m giving back and I am helping other people, what were the actions that I took to overcome that, and I, you know, so I broke it into an acronym called badass, which was about, you know, bravery. So B, bravery, a authenticity, D direction, a action, as self love, and as self talk, and those were the components, those are the things I do every day, that keep me in a state of comfortable life. And, you know, not even during challenges like COVID, not needing to fall back on old behaviors, which I know a lot of people that didn’t make it through those periods. So having, having just published my book, I mean, just put my story, my framework, talking about my bravery, my journey to discovering who I was, and my authenticity, you know, finding that purpose, a direction, you know, in the in the sense of purpose, taking action, learning to love myself, and learning how to have, you know, the positive self talk that keeps us in a place of strength. And so I went to this, this public information night, that was kind of launching this campaign for rethink addiction. I really want to know what this is about, because I felt like I finally had something to contribute. And I remember watching people on stage telling their story. And the people in the audience, there was probably 300 people there. And the woman that was sitting next to me, it was a dark audience, but I could feel her, even though I never looked at her, but I could feel her and she was quietly sobbing all the time. And everybody around me was either nodding in understanding or equal, you know, quietly sniffling or something, I mean, there was an enormous amount of emotion and pain in that room. And the purpose of it was to say, look, we need to change the conversation in Australia, we need to release people of the stigma and the shame that keeps people suffering in silence for so long. And, you know, the amount of pain and emotion in that room was so overwhelming that it was like, it just struck me and I thought I need to be a part of this. Like, there was it wasn’t a choice. It wasn’t like, all it will let me just, you know, think about minorities and whatnot. This was like a feeling kind of like, you know, that that description of, you know, the opening the door and a gust of wind just hitting you. It was again, it was one of those moments, that indescribable emotion of, I have to do this.

Andrea Putting: 

Yes, I talk about this often the moment of I can’t not do this. Exactly. Snack have to, you’ve got no choice anymore. This is what yeah, they do.

Nikki Langman: 

Yeah, yeah. And every and you have to then just figure out how to make everything work around it. So you know, I, I reached out to the campaign, because I again, like, perfect, I cannot do this. So I reached out. And I got a hold of the of the right people and started to build a connection and a relationship and just said, Look, I you know, this is my experience, this is what I want to do. Just tell me what I can do to help tell me how I can help change the conversation spread this message. And, and the campaign is still, you know, a urine and there was a lot of plans that they had that COVID prevented from. So, you know, there’s a national convention that will be coming up in September of this year and 2022, in Canberra, and that convention, I think was rescheduled a few times. So you know, we’re finally the campaign is growing legs. It’s a national campaign, really aimed at, you know, sharing life experience stories like myself, but also looking at our educators, our policymakers, our state governments and leaders or federal government, and seeing how we can, you know, really change the conversation on many levels, about what addiction is, and at its core, what we need to do to get people the help they deserve.

Andrea Putting: 

Yes, it sounds like a great campaign. And I know that this is what’s needed and can make a big difference. And it says grasp of kind of grassroots activities that that get things moving into the leadership of the country. Now while we we need this grassroots is where it’s at, until we can get them to notice, nothing seems to happen. And if we can change from the get the top to change, then things start to move. And I’m sure there’s a lot of that in Canberra.

Unknown: 

There is there’s quite a bit of current activity happening around the subject of addiction in Canberra. And Queensland as well, I’ve recently seen some news articles. So, you know, in in a way when we try to find the good and bad things COVID had a wonderful impact in us recognizing across the entire country. I mean, not just our country, but across the world, the impacts of social isolation and the impacts of loneliness. And it started to really open conversations about mental health and make it less scary. So, you know, the the entire area in mental health, whether we’re talking about anxiety, depression, addiction, you know, trauma of any kind, it it’s, you know, it’s it’s all been very hush, hush, we don’t talk about that we don’t have workplace policies. We don’t have cultures that embrace, talk about mental health, and it’s been very stigmatized, but I think slowly, like, you know, just chipping away at it one step at a time. We are starting to, you know, make it okay to normalize discussions about mental health conditions, and how they all affect us. And you know, that nobody is immune to it. There’s no discrimination. Addiction remains the most heavily stigmatized type of mental health affliction. And I think that is largely because of the lack of understanding and the stigma associated with it. So the more people that we can give permission to tell their stories To the more people like myself, who can talk to people like you, and share our stories and share our social missions, and say, You know what there is, you know, the there, there are people who need to come forward and give other people permission to, and to normalize it, and to melt away that stigma. And when that happens, and when that happens in droves, you know, not just in the ones in the 10s, and the hundreds, but the 1000s, and the millions, that’s when we’ll really start to take notice and be okay with it. And I hope that I’m a part of that, and a big part of being able to make that happen, and knocking on the door of every policymaker in the country to start, you know, giving more resources to the people who aren’t privileged enough to be able to afford it.

Andrea Putting: 

Because it really is one of those things that is behind closed doors. So we’re not really aware of the numbers of people who are dealing with this,

Nikki Langman: 

at the moment, the statistics that I currently have across the world. So this is one global statistics, there’s about 300,000, I’m sorry, 300 million people who currently identify with having an alcohol use disorder. So alcoholism 300 million people across the world are admitting to that. Now, just for Harrison, the population of the United States is 330 million. So that’s almost the entire population of the United States in our globe, or putting their hand up and saying, Yeah, I’m not using alcohol correctly. Now that that’s, that makes me think, wow, how many more are there that are not, you know, that are still in that state of denial are not yet ready to admit that they have an inappropriate relationship with alcohol.

Andrea Putting: 

I’m sure there is a lot, especially coming out of COVID, where people were at home and they were a lot of people were drinking a hell of a lot more than what they normally would. Yeah. And not recognizing that that’s a problem, maybe they’ve kept doing that. But then I know that there’s a lot of people who will do don’t think twice about having a couple of drinks in the evening, and don’t really recognize that, that’s too much.

Nikki Langman: 

And it’s very subjective, too. So, you know, I think that it’s, it’s not the amount that matters is the impact that it has on the life on your life and the life of the people around you. And, you know, for someone like me, who who, you know, was actively struggling for 30 years, I heard a lot of people, I did a lot of damage to the people I loved. And, and they have had to walk through their own journey of recovery as well. And trust, you know, rebuilding trust and reestablishing it, you know, those things don’t happen overnight. It’s, you know, it takes the average person in Australia who is currently getting help, so only we believe only about 10% of people actually get help. But the average length of time it is taking from the onset of the problem to when people accept the solution of you know, recovery is about 20 years. So, you know, my journey was not unusual. It wasn’t unusually long in that respect. So I want to know, you know, if the millions of people in Australia who are currently in some state of suffering, how long have they been there? And what is it going to take? You know, what is it going to take for us to give them permission to just stop suffering?

Andrea Putting: 

Yeah, it’s a lot of people in a very long time of dealing with something that would just be eating them away in so many ways. Yeah. If there’s a piece of advice, I’m just thinking on multiple levels here, for that person who is going through that? What is it that they can do? If they’re, what’s that, you know, we’ve got to go step by step here make life easy to make it doable. What would be their first step?

Nikki Langman: 

I’m a I’m a very strong supporter of the 12 step programs as a first step. They have a long established history of of being successful. And this social connection. And even for some people, they, you know, the level of anonymity is, is really powerful. It’s available to anyone. Now, I admit, I don’t go to AAA meetings or any kind of tools that meetings regularly because it’s, it’s not something that I, I need at this point in my life, I have other, you know, things that I do that, you know, that helped me in my journey of recovery. But in the early days, in the days where I was not yet ready to stop biting, but also wasn’t ready to admit to anyone, I, I did kind of seek solace in those meetings. And I honestly, I’m, I’d have in a couple shots of vodka before going in just to have the bravery to step in. And then, you know, it’d be, you know, it’d be like a 12:12pm to 1pm meeting. And by 130, I was drinking again. But I kept going. And I was able to admit to the people in there because there were strangers. And I figured, well, okay, you know, what, if I decide not to quit this, I mean, I quit 100 times before, but, you know, each time it was a different set of circumstances. And, and this was, this was one time this was in Australia, and this was before that, into the end, where, you know, I finally stopped fighting, but for about six months before that, I went to these meetings, and, and I admitted to the people there, I said, I don’t want to give up my right to drink. And I because I thought I Right. And I think a lot of people will relate to this. I thought if I went to my family, my husband and said, I think I need help, then I felt like at that point, I no longer had a choice. You know, it’s like, well, you admitted you had a problem. So now if you keep doing it, then you know, it’s on you, you know, the you know what’s wrong? You know, why don’t you just stop. And the people in those rooms that I didn’t even know their names, but I felt like I could trust them. Because they had been there, they had said the same thing that had the same battle that I had in my mind. And for that reason, I would think I would say to anyone who is hearing this, who was even questioning that maybe during the last few years that they have changed their behavior, and now they’re struggling to you know, reestablish those healthy habits. Reach out, you know, it won’t cost you anything, you’ll get a heck of a lot of, of community support, social support, and people who understand. And then if you decided it’s not right for you, it’s not a problem for you, and you do have the ability to change the behavior, then by all means you haven’t lost anything. But that was the that was the step that I needed to take first was to admit to strangers that I’m scared to say, I can’t do this anymore.

Andrea Putting: 

That’s powerful, supportive community. And I can understand that and that being in a, in a place where nobody knows you, and they’re not going to be judgmental on you. It’s just very important at that point. And I do love the way that you say that you stopped fighting. It’s like, that’s the battle. Not now. It’s like the battle was while you were while you were drinking while you were under the control the addiction. Yeah.

Nikki Langman: 

And the battle wasn’t the substances themselves. That was the escape. Yeah, I don’t know. It was the secrecy, the deception, the lies, the you know, hiding the shame, you know, in a workplace and it was even took me I had several years of sobriety, before I even felt comfortable disclosing that I was in recovery in a workplace because I felt like even you know, it was not a you know, even after it wasn’t a current problem, I still felt like society won’t accept me. And and when you’re in that, when you’re in that shame yourself, when you can’t look at yourself in the mirror for years, and all you feel and you have your negative tapes of just self hatred and self loathing. That is the suffering and nobody deserves that

Andrea Putting: 

know. So now, I wanted to ask you another question on, on advice. And for those who who are suffering from an addiction. What can I do to help somebody that may be someone that they love someone that they work with? How can they help in a positive way? How can they treat people in a positive way? That’s actually going to be of value to them?

Nikki Langman: 

That’s a great question. I love it. And I think it starts with sharing your having the willingness and the vulnerability to share your own adversity, because we all have adversity of some kind, you know, we were all hostage to some something or have been, and everybody’s journey is different. And that was, you know, when I was writing my book I was I was trying to tell my story that at the same time, talk about overcoming adversity and building resilience in general. And I think, you know, one of the things that I’ve learned, especially through COVID, is that resilience is not an individual sport, it’s a team sport. And let’s say I’ll give you an example of, you know, let’s say you’re a leader in a workplace, and maybe you know that there are people in your team or someone on your team who was struggling with something doesn’t matter what that something is. Sharing your own journeys, and how you have walked through, you know, adversity of your own, gives people permission to be human. So, you know, talking about a failed marriage, or overcoming an addiction, or going through postnatal depression, or, you know, grieving the suicide of a good friend, any, you know, losing a child, I mean, anything that you can share with other people will empower them to go, wow, you’re human. You’ve failed to really, okay, so, yeah, let’s do this, let’s fail together better. And, you know, we can teach each other, whatever our journey has looked like, we can teach each other the tools that we need to, you know, to stop the struggle, whatever the struggle was

Andrea Putting: 

a really good, good piece of advice. One thing that I like to keep in mind, when I consider I have a friend who, who suffers with alcoholism, and doesn’t have a lot of people around, and I’ve been questioned why I keep in contact with them. And the only thing I can say is that everyone deserves to feel like someone cares. And if we can remember that, that everyone is important in some way, no matter what they’re doing, no matter what their experience, deserting them in their time of need is not the answer. When they’re at their lowest point, they need to know that somebody cares.

Nikki Langman: 

Yeah, that’s it. You know, I just honestly, I just got chills all day on my body when saying that. And I think it’s also important to remember that it’s not your responsibility to save someone. And that that is something that I, I struggle with. And I have to keep reminding myself, because now I do have people that come to me for mentoring and people that come to me for help. And, you know, and sometimes I feel like I’m a bit of a bleeding heart. And other times, I feel like I’m too calloused. And so it’s like, striking that balance is really important. So self protection is critical. Yes, I think and that’s something I’ve learned from my family and my loved ones, as I said, they had to go through their own journey of recovery with me to overcome the hurt and pain that I had caused. And, you know, and they had to learn to not let themselves become a meshed in my journey. So, you know, I think there’s, you know, you have to maintain your own level of self protection, while still being able to be empathetic, and, you know, available for people. So, I, I have a friend, I kind of call him a good friend, now, who is homeless, and we’ve struck up a friendship, because I’m a runner, and he lives on my running road. And I, you know, again, kind of being this, this little rich girl from California, you know, I think it it’s, I really was a very bad part of the US and then mentality for, for all of, you know, I would not, I would not imagine myself talking to a homeless person on the street. But there was something about this guy that just really brought me in. And I finally one day, he had a sign up, and I really liked the wording on the sign. And I saw that he was, he was not asking for handouts, he didn’t have a jar in front of him. He was saying, you know, I want to work and you know, I’m willing to do small jobs, and I’ll do anything. I don’t want you to give me money. I just want work. And I was really taken by that. So one day, I stopped running and you know, and I said, Yeah, I to kind of talk to you for a few minutes. And I asked him about his pain, his struggle. I asked him about his journey. And he told me he’s like, yeah, he’s like, I use alcohol. I use drugs. He’s like, when I have the, you know, the extra money to do it. He’s like, it doesn’t come first. He’s like, but hey, you know, when you’re out here, and it’s freezing cold at night, and it’s like, you’ll do anything to not feel. Yeah, I’ll get that. But Um, you know, he also told me stories about, you know, just being asleep, you know, at nights just trying to sleep and having, you know, groups of drunk young people come by and kick him in, and, you know, smash bottles on his face and things and things that I, the life I grew up in, I could never imagine. And I could never imagine, you know, that kind of shame, that kind of pain. And so I, you know, I, I started a campaign to to help him get to Bunnings to get some equipment so that he could work so that he was able to do the jobs that he had the chainsaw and the safety equipment. Because when I asked him, I said, you know, what, that conversation the the last thing I asked him, before I got up, as I said, right now, what do you need more than anything, and I was fully prepared to go get him a coffee, or a pack of cigarettes, or, you know, whatever he needed, because he had just generously shared his story with me. And he looked at me said, a chainsaw. And I just went, Oh, you’re really serious about this work thing. And so I went home, and I thought, Okay, I got to do something. So I started a GoFundMe campaign, and was amazed at like, within 24 hours, I had exceeded the amount that I had that because he told me how much the chainsaw was, he knew exactly what he needed from Bunnings, and how much it costs. And, wow, and there was so much generosity, there was so much support. And I think we all will have that, that desire to be generous with our hearts and our energy and to help people who are in need. But sometimes they, you know, it’s we don’t have the financial resources to donate to every charity, we don’t have the time and energy to help every person who is putting their hand out with a, you know, a Salvation Army jar, or, you know, I mean, there’s so many great causes out there, there’s so many foundations that, you know, we have to be a bit selective. And to me, it’s, I go with the ones that cause that fire inside of me that feeling like that gust of wind hitting you when I feel that feeling. Like you said, I cannot do something.

Andrea Putting: 

It’s a wonderful story. And I’m sure that his life has been deeply enriched by having a chainsaw.

Nikki Langman: 

He has a chainsaw. Yeah. And now saved. Yeah, it’s so cute. Even like, one day, he even showed me the receipts, almost like kind of, you know, proving the honesty of the action. And just any other, you know, thank you. No, and it was just beautiful. And so now every time I see him on my run, I stop. And yeah. And then there’s other people in my life, too, that have come to me for help. And then they’ve backed away, you know, come to me for mentoring or advice. And then those are the people I have realized that it’s not my job to chase you. That is, if you’re me, you know where I am. And I will be here for you.

Andrea Putting: 

And on that note, how can people get in touch with you or the foundation?

Nikki Langman: 

Ah, well, please, by all means, I would love to hear from you. If there’s anything that you’ve heard in this, that has struck a chord with you, or you’d love further discussion, I would love to engage with you on that. My website is Nikki landman.com. Very easy. I know, you’ll have it in the show notes, please reach out to the contact and reach out to me or even on LinkedIn or Facebook, I would love to hear your message and your feedback. As far as the rethink addiction campaign, we are growing and we need support. So at the moment, even if your life has not been touched by addiction, would you please go onto the rethink addiction.org.au website, and there is a tab on the top that says take action. And under that tab, I’m just making sure I’m gonna click it now. Yes, under the tab, it says take action. It says sign petition. Please help us sign the petition. Those signatures are what we’re going to take to the policy makers and the change makers. And the more signatures we have, the better. There are other ways that you can contribute to the campaign at the moment it is it is not a foundation, but we are looking for support through corporations just in partnerships to help spread the message to you know, to raise the awareness. And if you can attend the convention in Canberra in September, that also would be fantastic because that is open to the public. So there’s lots of ways to get involved but it is very much grassroots at the moment. So you know, the more we can distribute these resources, the better for everyone.

Andrea Putting: 

Thank you so much for being on the show today. Nikki It’s been a real pleasure and if given us a lot to think about, and I think that a lot of people will devote will open their eyes about what addiction is about and how they can help others.

Nikki Langman: 

Thank you so much for having me on the show today, Andrew.

Andrea Putting: 

And that’s all we have time for today on the social mission revolution, and I’ll be back next time with another social mission revolutionist. Discover how you can become a social mission revolutionist in your business by reading Andrea’s latest book, compassionate prosperity when success is not enough. Grab your copy now at www.socialmissionrevolution.com or from your favourite online bookseller.