Wellness & Well-being Highlights December 22
Wellness & Well-being Highlights
for the
Week of December 22, 2025
This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog looks into how both Fentanyl and Marijuana have been reclassified in DC—to how new techniques can assist General Practitioners identify suicide risks—to how Whistleblowers are facing job losses.
This week I would like to comment on the Reiner family’s tragedy. A number of articles have been published since last Sunday speculating what transpired between an adult child and his (famous) parents. The first one listed below indicates how many parents will go to the ends of the earth to protect their children who have issues with drugs and/or mental health.[1]
The second article below reveals how despite the many attempts at rehab, love nor money, at times, is not enough to tame these demons.[2] Meanwhile, the third article quotes a rehab specialist, noting that [3]:
Nick Reiner’s history spotlights a need to improve mental health and addiction treatment centers and to provide ongoing services after patients leave rehab.
The last few words of this statement should provide us an opportunity to step back and review how some of us still view rehab and recovery. Several of these centers do assist people with substance use disorders move towards a life without drugs via a variety of therapies and sometimes prescription drugs. However, we often forget that once a patient is discharged, s/he often returns to the same environment that contributed to their maladaptive ways. Therefore, once a person moves from rehab into the recovery stage, they will ALWAYS be in recovery.
Finally, it seems that due to our busy lives we often fail to connect with the challenges of others—unless and until those challenges hit squarely on our dinner tables. For this purpose, I encourage readers take the opportunity to listen to the podcast below.[4] This provides an overview of how my son’s journey—from sports injuries that led to mental health challenges and, in the end, suicide. I connected to much of what was said in the first 3 articles previously mentioned. Accordingly, I often say, “As parents/guardians, we must not give up, despite the difficulties ahead. We must continue to do our best. However, in the end, we must also realize that sometimes our best is not good enough!”
Please check out the rest of this week’s blog: https://moworksinitiative.org/category/worker-wellness-news/
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/us/rob-reiner-family-murder-addiction.html
[4] https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/157
Parents / Adult Children / Interventions
Mistake: Rescheduling Marijuana
Adderall / Pill Mill / Conviction
Alzheimer’s / Blood Test / Biomarkers
Canada: Mandatory Workplace Trainings
Trump / Workers / Hostile Environment
Trump Misled Blue-collar Workers
Pardons: Rewarding Criminals & Punishing Victims
International Law: Killing Attack Survivors
EPA / Data Centers / Fast Tracking
Tech Whistleblowers & Job Loss
Upcoming webinars, etc.:
NOTE: The links provided above are for informational purposes only. None of these serve as a substitute for medical advice one should obtain from his/her own primary care physician and/or mental health professional. Please contact jgaal@moworks.org with related questions or comments.
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