There have been devastating impacts on our entire helping systems workforce over the long siege of the COVID Pandemic. Recently, I read the Ohio PHP Executive Report, the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Health and Well-being of Ohio's Healthcare Workers. The report summarizes data collected from 13,532 respondents across 13 of Ohio’s Professional … Continue reading Embracing Recovery Capital Within Our Care System to Save It
Sean Fogler and William Stauffer: How to help people who use drugs stop
SEAN FOGLER AND WILLIAM STAUFFER - AUG 15, 2022 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Op-ed Today drug overdose deaths will claim almost three hundred American lives — thanks to stigma. The labels and stereotypes so many of us use are stigma in action, and separate us from those we mark as inferior, people to avoid. We judge and discriminate, … Continue reading Sean Fogler and William Stauffer: How to help people who use drugs stop
Addiction, Stigma, and Liberation
I recently stumbled on this educational page about stigma from the National Harm Reduction Coalition. It's well done and illuminates the assumptions and goals for their stigma reduction efforts. They frame responding to drug use as a choice between liberation and stigma, with harm reduction as the path to liberation. While it may work for … Continue reading Addiction, Stigma, and Liberation
Is Medication Assisted Treatment like the Hotel California?
The tragedy of Scotland’s drug-related death figures has been in my mind this last week or so. The media may have largely moved on, but those of us who work in the field of addiction, those of us who know individuals who have died and those of us with lived experience of addiction will not … Continue reading Is Medication Assisted Treatment like the Hotel California?
Preaddiction as a Missing Concept in Articulating the Dynamics of Healing & Recovery
Earlier this month, Dr. Thomas McLellan, Dr George Koob, and Dr Nora Volkow published a viewpoint article at JAMA titled Preaddiction—A Missing Concept for Treating Substance Use Disorders. It is an important piece. The concept of preaddiction could dramatically expand our intervention strategies and better help us address the horrific consequences of harmful substance use … Continue reading Preaddiction as a Missing Concept in Articulating the Dynamics of Healing & Recovery
Let’s talk critique- Part deux
Credit: knowledgeworks I received some interesting questions regarding my post on critique, so I figure it is time, as Paul Harvey says, to tell the rest of the story (while I have the time). Anyone who has studied politics and philosophy knows that for every argument there are counterarguments and alternative theories that come from … Continue reading Let’s talk critique- Part deux
When rehab is not right
I saw an exchange on Twitter the other day that on first reading raised my eyebrows and created empathetic frustration. An individual was apparently being refused rehab because “he continued to use drugs”. Surely that’s the best reason for going to rehab. We don’t refuse treatment to diabetics because their diets are problematic, or because … Continue reading When rehab is not right
The Recovery Alliance Initiative – System Change
So far in this series I've... covered the origin and early evolution of the Recovery Alliance Initiative; provided a description of the expansion and clarification of our model and methods; outlined a recipe we uncovered of general similarities among effective sectors; and shared a variety of our concrete practical perspectives. In the previous post I … Continue reading The Recovery Alliance Initiative – System Change
Let’s Talk About Critique
Credit: The Virtual Instructor I've been working on a paper on recovery that is sort of a philosophical treatise on what it means to be critical regarding science, practices, and system design in relation to substance use disorders, care, and treatment. As Jason had noted in one of his earlier posts, there is plenty of … Continue reading Let’s Talk About Critique
Addiction professionals? Substance use professionals? Recovery professionals?
For 28 years, an important part of my professional identity has been "addiction professional." Over that 28 years, addiction professionals have never been a very harmonious group. There have always been disagreements about things like policy, the best treatment models, credentialing, and many other controversies. Despite these disagreements, I never really questioned whether we all … Continue reading Addiction professionals? Substance use professionals? Recovery professionals?
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