We have another Dawn Farm film, created by alumni Adam Wright about alumni/staff Charles Coleman. We're pretty proud of it. We hope you like it 🙂
Author: Jason Schwartz
I have been an addiction professional and social worker since 1994. I started blogging in 2005 as the Clinical Director at Dawn Farm. I currently serve as the Director of Social Work and Spiritual Care for a healthcare system. I've also served as the Director of Behavioral Health at another hospital. I'm also a lecturer at Eastern Michigan University’s School of Social Work.
Views expressed here are my own.
Keep in mind that the field, the contexts in which the field operates, and my views have changed over time.
Ugh. WTH, Phoenix House?
This is bad. In November last year, OASAS suspended admissions to Belle Terre and four other Phoenix Houses of New York facilities. In a letter to Phoenix House’s then-chief executive in November 2014, OASAS said Phoenix House had “persistent regulatory violations and resident/patient care concerns dating back several years.” An OASAS site report on the … Continue reading Ugh. WTH, Phoenix House?
The risks of the biological model
Bill White reacts to a special addiction-focused supplement in the journal Nature with hope and caution: We should not forget the untoward effects of earlier biological models of addiction. Such a view rose within the early twentieth century eugenics movement on the heels of the American temperance movement’s proclamation “Drunkards beget drunkards.” The eugenics movement … Continue reading The risks of the biological model
Reviewing the evidence-base
The Atlantic summarizes a recently published attempt to assess the evidence-base. No one is entirely clear on how Brian Nosek pulled it off, including Nosek himself. Over the last three years, the psychologist from the University of Virginia persuaded some 270 of his peers to channel their free time intorepeating 100 published psychological experiments to … Continue reading Reviewing the evidence-base
Sentences to ponder
From Jamie Holmes in the NY Times: Presenting ignorance as less extensive than it is, knowledge as more solid and more stable, and discovery as neater also leads students to misunderstand the interplay between answers and questions. People tend to think of not knowing as something to be wiped out or overcome, as if ignorance … Continue reading Sentences to ponder
Drug crimes and incarceration reform
A very smart interview with Senator Corey Booker on criminal justice reform and the role of drug crimes in incarceration rates: One concern I’ve heard from activists and academics is that there’s a conventional wisdom forming that the reason our prison population is so huge is because of nonviolent offenders. Even President Obama, during his … Continue reading Drug crimes and incarceration reform
half-measures are not enough
Bill White provides a great summary of a recent review of research on opioid addiction, treatment and recovery. Bottom line: opioid addiction is deadly opioid addicts can recover treatment that's long enough and intense enough is associated with better outcomes Unfortunately, most opioid addicts seeking treatment never get offered care that meets these criteria. Read the … Continue reading half-measures are not enough
Shame, methadone and recovery
The Boston Globe has an article on the shame that successful methadone patients carry. It makes me sad to hear of anyone doing the deal feeling shame about being a recovering addict. People with opioid addiction ought to have access to methadone, if that's what they want. Without shame. They also ought to have access to … Continue reading Shame, methadone and recovery
Treatment Works, IF . . .
Drug money
From the Forbes list of the richest U.S. families: The richest newcomer to Forbes 2015 list of America’s Richest Families comes in at a stunning $14 billion. The Sackler family, which owns Stamford, Conn.-based Purdue Pharma, flew under the radar when Forbes launched its initial list of wealthiest families in July 2014, but this year … Continue reading Drug money
Recovery Review 