Healing isn’t who you become; it’s who you always were.

You’re not broken — you’re rebuilding with better materials.

Before we start, I want you to do something simple. Take a deep breath and tell your brain: We’re not doing the same old thing today. Because today isn’t about school, the gym, or the playground. It’s not about rules. It’s not about what people think you can or can’t do. Today is about, retraining the brain, the part of you that’s been running old programming from old pain, old environments, and old voices. And if you give me fifteen minutes, I’m going to show you something that writing Hoodzville taught me. You are not stuck. You are trained. And anything trained can be retrained. Welcome, and thank you for joining us today. My name is Larry W. Keys, and I am the author of Hoodzville urban books. Having years of experience being sober over 35 years, working around youths in the work force, and hearing their stories about how their families were affected by their decision making. Along with my Addiction Treatment Counseling studies, and google, I was able to put this Retrain the brain, DARE, 2 B, DIFFERENT presentation outline together for our youth and young adults dealing with peer pressure, bullying, alcohol, and gambling. In DARE. D. stands for DECIDE, A. stands for ACKNOWLEDGE, R. stands for REPLACE, and E. stands for ELEVATE. Now, for some of us our brain has been lying to us for years and today, I’m going to prove it with a quick story from Hoodzville that mirrors a Hoodzville Yangsters struggle. Taken from Hoodzville, Yangsters to Role Model. Like a mirror he saw the reflection of his face. Where did I go wrong? Now somebody who looks like me is going to jail, OR WAS HE? Jim thought out loud, Country better not snitch on me! As he wiped a tear from his eye, he grabbed his stomach, then wiped his nose, and rolled across the bed in pain. Another thought came to him. If only I had some junk, I could work this mess out, and everything would go back to the same! Jim rolled off the bed, and headed for the door, as he slammed the door shut with a nasty attitude, he thought out loud with strong feelings without having any gratitude. Jim said. I’m going to get me some damn junk today! My intentions are that you put yourself in Jim’s shoes for one moment.

D.A.R.E. 2 B DIFFERENT D-Decide-make a decision for your future. A- Acknowledge-you need to be honest with yourself. R-Replace- your negative thoughts with positive ones. E-Elevate- set up steps from where you're at today in life, to where you want to be tomorrow.