I keep hearing anecdotal reports of people being prescribed naloxone, filling the prescription, and later experiencing discrimination (refusing to write a policy) from an insurance company, typically a life insurance company. I have not been able to have direct contact with anyone who experienced this or get the name of an insurance company engaging in … Continue reading Does naloxone prescribing result in discrimination?
I decided to try something a little different and record an interview with Derek Wolfe, a new medical school graduate and future psychiatrist with a special interest in addiction. (Maybe interviews will be a recurring thing.) One of the outcomes of the opioid crisis is that physicians have been centered in addiction treatment and drug … Continue reading What do medical students learn about addiction?
My organization, PRO-A recently joined 36 other state and regional recovery community organizations across America and sent this letter to Congress to educate them on the woefully inadequate funding for grassroots recovery community organizations. Disparate funding is the norm even as Billions of supplemental dollars flow out to the states. Even when these allocations specifically … Continue reading Attempting to Strengthen Recovery Capital Against a Tide of Disenfranchisement
Getting connected to others is good for us. Finding new social networks is an important part of many recovery journeys. Mutual aid recovery organisations are key to this process. In the UK, referring to mutual aid is embodied in our National Clinical Guidelines, National Drugs Policies and is endorsed by the National Institute for Health … Continue reading Young people and mutual aid – what’s not to like?
My human geography classes have me thinking a lot about the connections between people, place, and the affective dimension or field that arises from communities with a shared purpose, location, and hope. When combined with ideas about develecology1 and the ways identity is shaped and formed through and across dimensions of various social roles, I … Continue reading Recovery Pipelines; A Personal Account
During their ugliest, most severe, and worst stage of their addiction, the start of their recovery is invisible to everyone else. The nascent recovery within them (perhaps nothing more than a simple moment of clarity) seems to have its own voice and is already speaking to them. Later, that suffering person speaks to others about … Continue reading Recovery Orphans
I've been involved in some recent discussions about addiction as a disease and the role of experiences like trauma. A few years ago I had the pleasure of seeing Dr. Jehannine Austin discuss how she approaches genetic counseling around psychiatric disorders and addiction. She doesn't answer all the questions around the etiology of addiction (who … Continue reading Is addiction caused by genetic or environmental factors?
Background: History is incredibly important to how we understand ourselves, where we came from, where we stand now and to assist us in determining our pathways forward. Few things are more important to me than understanding the New Recovery Advocacy Movement and to support efforts to move us towards an expanded recovery community across America. … Continue reading Reflections on the historic 2001 Recovery Summit in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the start of the New Recovery Advocacy Movement Article One – The Thoughts of Recovery Historian Bill White
We should fight to ensure our patients and this field does not accept anything less than flourishing – that should be the goal we bring to our work in research and clinical practice.Eric Strain I grew up in Glasgow, a city whose motto, as every schoolchild was taught, is ‘Let Glasgow flourish’. I think primary … Continue reading Treatment: nothing less than flourishing!
I appreciate the reflections in Dr. Jana Burson's most recent blog post. In particular, the following caught my attention: "I hear abstinence-only proponents criticize medications for opioid use disorder, and I think to myself, 'If you only knew how much some people benefit from methadone/buprenorphine, you would change your mind.' When I hear people who … Continue reading Janaburson’s Blog
