When it comes to his clients, Alex Dicken is “all the way in”

ALAMOSA — Alex Dicken describes himself as an “extreme” person.  “I’m either all the way in or all the way out,” he says, “and that’s pretty true no matter what I’m doing.”

It is an interesting statement coming from a man who works as a case manager at Advantage Treatment Center’s Intensive Residential Treatment program for offenders who are transitioning back into the community. But Dicken backs up his statement with action.

For fifteen days, Alex is consuming nothing but water – no food, no fruit juices, no vitamins, nothing but water. He says that fasting has a myriad of health benefits from impacting blood sugar to cleaning the system.  But Alex is not just fasting for his health; he’s going without anything but water for fifteen days as a way of relating to the 48 clients on his caseload, 24 men and 24 women, all of whom have a history of substance abuse.

According to Dicken, eating food has the capacity to activate the same response in the brain’s neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin, as taking certain substances. Depriving the body of those things can, likewise, trigger similar physical responses. “Avoiding food is very similar to avoiding doing drugs  A lot of the things that happen to your body and your mind when you’re avoiding food are the same things that happen to your body when you avoid drugs.”

Among his other duties as a case manager, Dicken teaches classes to clients on wellness, transitioning and nutrition, including the physiological effects of withdrawing from drugs and tools that can help his clients stay clean once they are back in the community. 

“Fasting for an extended period of time is a way of me relating to my clients, showing them ‘hey, I’m right here with you. I’m experiencing the same things you’re experiencing, and I’m having to use all the same tools that we’re teaching you.”

By sharing with his clients that he is fasting and why, they can witness, firsthand, what he’s experiencing in terms of energy level, attention span, mood and productivity and how those things change over the duration of the fast.

It also allows him to talk, from experience, about how he’s feeling and the tools he is using to continue to go without food for an extended period of time.

“I’m honest with them about what I’m experiencing. We talk about impulse control. The other day I just picked up a fortune cookie and started opening it without even thinking about it. It’s the same things with substances. I have to be aware of triggers. Where I’m going, What the people are doing where I’m going. Who I’m going to be around at what times. I can talk about being mindful of our triggers and our cravings. I’m also going out of my way to put myself in a situation they’ve gone through.  I think they appreciate that and, when they see what I can do, I think that inspires them. And that’s part of what I think my job is—to inspire them to do better in their lives than maybe they think they can.”

Dicken is not just fasting to teach his clients important lessons; he’s also fasting as a way of becoming better at what he does.

“Statistics show that the best case managers are people who have used in the past. I don’t have that in my past, but I’m taking this step to relate to the clients in a different level, to go outside of what I normally do to connect with them in their experiences. And, by doing this, I think I have at least an idea of what they’re going through.”

For their part, the clients seem to be responding well. “Everything I’ve gotten back has been really positive. They’ll ask me, ‘how are you doing? Have you eaten anything? What tools are you using to get through it?’ And I think some of them are seeing the similarities with what they’re experiencing.”

Dicken also says his fasting has prompted some good dialogue about ways his clients can respond to family members who want to know why they can’t “just stop taking drugs. “The need is not that different. Your body – your brain -- is telling you that you literally need the drugs just like your body will tell you that you need food.” He hopes that drawing parallels may help his clients discuss their addiction with family members in ways that lead to better understanding.

Alex has fasted before, both for class and for the personal health benefits fasting can bring. But he has never gone fifteen days – or “half a month”, as he phrases it—before, and he won’t deny that it’s been difficult, at times. One night, the symptoms he was feeling had him wondering if he might have taken it a little too far. But he’s continuing to monitor his symptoms, which subsided, and Monday will mark the fifteenth and last day of his fast.

Three days to go, and he will take them one day at a time.

When asked if he thinks the experience was worth it, Alex thinks for a moment before answering. “I think they’re seeing that if I can go through this, they can, too. And I think that might inspire them. At least, I hope it will.”