In the first part of this article, I’ll note one particular barrier I have heard expressed about the idea of changing an addiction treatment campus to “tobacco-free” or to the idea of a tobacco-free model of care.  And then I’ll discuss a few responses to that barrier.  In the second part of the article, I’ll … Continue reading Our Unconscious Relationship with Tobacco

Preface:  I see a lot of change going on.  Sometimes I like to take notes and get things down on paper in an organized way so I can clear my mind and try to make better sense of what I am noticing.  This article is that.  I share this writing for the sake of the … Continue reading Addiction:  Understandings and Enactments of the Current Era

Disclaimer:  nothing in this post should be taken or held as clinical instruction, clinical supervision, or advisory concerning patient care.  Spiritual care is a clinical discipline. Spiritual care can be a clinical team member in the separate settings for physical health problems, psychiatric problems, or substance use disorders. And spiritual care can be a member of … Continue reading Comments On the Practical Use of Spiritual Care

Lately I’ve been working out a practical structure1 for a 5-year model of clinical involvement for patients with addiction illness (not less severe presentations).  What I have in mind is quite concrete but would take a lot of words to say.  I am often a visual or spatial thinker, and for this topic it’s true … Continue reading Working Out a Multi-Year Support Structure

Recently here on Recovery Review Jason Schwartz has been posting some fairly interesting new material, as well as re-posting older material, about the idea of addiction as a disease.  The material he has shared has grown interesting enough and produced enough thoughtful conversation on various platforms, that I wanted to share a version of my very first … Continue reading A Fresh Look at “The Big 5” Substance Use Disorder Criteria

I watched an informational video about search patterns used by the Coast Guard and gained some thoughts I decided to share.  The video was just under 30 minutes long and you can find it right here if you’re interested.  As you read this article, see what you notice from outside our field that could serve … Continue reading Coast Guard Search and Rescue:  Lessons and Inspiration

In their 2020 Commentary published in The Journal of Addiction Medicine (a journal of the American Society of Addiction Medicine aka ASAM), Kelly and Bergman state that: “Individuals with regular and increasing very heavy alcohol consumption cannot be considered as maintaining ‘recovery’ due to toxicity and intoxication-related risks”.  Why did they publish a commentary about … Continue reading Top ten of 2021 #9 – Continuing “Very Heavy Drinking” and Also Meeting An Improved Definition of Recovery?

In the most recent 10 years especially, I’ve been noticing some activity in our field concerning advancement of public health measures (e.g. cigarettes) and harm reduction strategies (e.g. opioids).  Some of these efforts seem to include the notion that widespread harms would be reduced, and widespread health would be advanced, if use of drugs was: … Continue reading Study Betel Nut Before You Finalize Your Public Health or Harm Reduction Policy

In a recent conversation, a colleague in the field told me they are attempting to “Catalog the biases at work among many of the scientific and medical experts in the field.” And they said to me, “I'd like to hear what biases you observe.” This blog post serves as my attempt to respond to that … Continue reading What Biases Do You Observe Among Many of the Scientific and Medical Experts in the Field?

Note:  nothing in this post should be considered clinically instructive or supervisory.  Rather, I wanted to simply share an inspiration and my thoughts about it with others in our field. Back in the early 2000’s, the organization where I worked joined the Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment (NIATx).  For those that might not … Continue reading Gathering Ideas From Outside the Field:  Lessons from Jackson Pollock