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Barbara is an annual guest lecturer at the Stanford University PsyD Consortium in a class entitled Substance Use Disorder Treatment.

A paper written by Barbara, A Call for Kindness, Connection, and Science, was published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 2022.

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She has also advocated in Sacramento, CA, for the passage of two Senate Bills involving banning the sales of nitrous oxide in smoke and tobacco shops.

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An essay written by Barbara Straus Lodge appears in Mediumship: Sacred Communications with Loved Ones from Across the Veil (Common Sentience) 2024.

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Other published essays include: The Rumpus, Voices of Addiction (2017,) Chicken Soup for the Soul, Random Acts of Kindness, (2017,) Parabola Magazine (2016,) The Good Men Project (2016,) The Literary Reflections section of Literary Mama (2014,) The Examined Life: A Literary Journal of the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine (2014,) Eloji Gadugi Literary Journal (2014,) The New York Times Motherlode blog (2013,) and the LA Affairs section of the Los Angeles Times (2012). 

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The Los Angeles Times published a 2019 Op-Ed regarding the dangers of smoke shops selling nitrous oxide. And a 2018 Op-Ed appeared in the Huffington Post involving society's perceptions of those struggling with drug addiction. 

 

Additionally, an essay entitled "It Takes A Villa" is in the anthology Blended, edited by Samantha Ducolax Waltz (Seal Press 2015), "Into the Light" is in the anthology Exit Laughing – How We Use Humor To Take The Sting Out Of Death, edited by Victoria Zackheim (North Atlantic Books/ Random House May 2012.) Essays have also been published in The Sun Magazine, Amarillo Bay Online Literary Magazine, and Whole Life Times Magazine.

 

Mirror Image, written under her pen name, Leigh Stuart, was published in the anthology Dear John I Love Jane, (Seal Press 2010) and was a Lambda Literary Award Finalist.  She co-edited the sequel anthology entitled Greetings from Janeland, (Cleis Press, 2017) which was also a Lambda Literary Award Finalist.

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A native Angeleno, Barbara earned a B.A. in English from UCLA, and a Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law. Barbara has earned her Certificate, with distinction, in Creative Nonfiction from the UCLA Extension Writer’s Program. Barbara is currently consulting with RAND Corporation on a study called eINSPIRE which looks at the the role family members and support people play in a loved one's recovery from substance use. Additionally, in 2016, she founded TruthTalks which provides facilitated workshops for parents struggling with their child's substance abuse.

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