This week's tribe is LifeRing Secular Recovery: LifeRing Secular Recovery is an abstinence-based, worldwide network of people who are choosing to live in recovery from alcohol and other drugs. We encourage individuals to build their own personal recovery programs based on three principles: sobriety, secularity, and self-direction. We believe our personal recoveries require communication and … Continue reading Tribes of the Recovering Community
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.
Sentences to ponder
"If alcohol policies were a newly discovered gene, pill or vaccine, we'd be investing billions of dollars to bring them to market," - Dr. Tim Naimi
Treat The Symptoms Or The Cause?
This article was a good reminder that we're not the only profession struggling with whether harm-reduction should be the de facto treatment. However, it's worth noting that the statement here ("cut in half") provides considerably more information than most addicts get. A huge new study out today in The Lancet shows that reducing three … Continue reading Treat The Symptoms Or The Cause?
“Recovery High” a Respite for Young Addicts
Maybe this is a better way to address pediatric addiction? Called The Bridge Way School, the specialized high school in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia focuses on getting teenagers back on track with their education and lives after exiting rehab. It is the only school of its kind in the region – one of only … Continue reading “Recovery High” a Respite for Young Addicts
On a lighter note…
Community Recovery Capital
This weekend is the fist time I recall seeing Bill White discuss the concept of community recovery capital. I've heard him discuss community recovery and the ecology of recovery, but I think I must have missed community recovery capital. The prognosis for community recovery is influenced by the ratio between problem prevalence, severity, and complexity … Continue reading Community Recovery Capital
Pediatric use of buprenorphine
Drugfree.org has a piece advocating more use of buprenorphine with children. Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) for opioid dependence is a science-based and proven-effective option for teens and young adults. It should be administered with age appropriate psychosocial therapy and drug testing. Unfortunately, it has been subject to controversy and stigma. Yet the neuroscience of addiction and … Continue reading Pediatric use of buprenorphine
Tribes of the Recovering Community
This week's tribe is Millati Islami: Millati Islami is a fellowship of men and women, joined together on the "Path of Peace". We share our experiences, strengths, and hopes while recovering from our active addiction to mind and mood altering substances. We have sought to integrate the treatment requirements of both Al-Islam and the Twelve Step … Continue reading Tribes of the Recovering Community
Drug Overdose Deaths Are Increasing Pretty Much Everywhere
These images speak for themselves. Here are a couple of important sentences: Between 1999 and 2009, drug poisoning deaths grew by 394 percent in rural areas and 279 percent for large metropolitan areas, according to the CDC’s county-level look at the data. According to the CDC, roughly 60 percent of all OD deaths in 2010 … Continue reading Drug Overdose Deaths Are Increasing Pretty Much Everywhere
Precovery
Bill White introduces a new concept, precovery: Precovery involves several simultaneous processes: physical depletion of the drug's once esteemed value, cognitive disillusionment with the using lifestyle (a "crystallization of discontent" resulting from a pro/con analysis of "the life"), growing emotional distress and self-repugnance, spiritual hunger for greater meaning and purpose in life, breakthroughs in perception … Continue reading Precovery
Recovery Review 