Tag: Mental Health

Recovery Languaging: Moving from Normalizing Healing to Normalizing Use & Pathology

~ billstaufferpa ~ 3 Comments

For well over a decade, significant focus of effort within the recovery community and across our service space has focused on changing how we talk about substance use conditions and those who experience them. As noted in the 2014 paper Language, Substance Use Disorders, and Policy: The Need to Reach Consensus on an “Addiction-ary” our … Continue reading Recovery Languaging: Moving from Normalizing Healing to Normalizing Use & Pathology

Medicaid: The Backbone of Behavioral Health—And What Happens If We Break It

~ Jason Schwartz ~ 2 Comments

If you care about access to substance use disorder (SUD) and mental health treatment in America, you care about Medicaid—even if you don’t know it yet. Medicaid is the largest single payer for behavioral health services in the country, covering about 24% of all mental health and SUD treatment costs. It’s a lifeline for people … Continue reading Medicaid: The Backbone of Behavioral Health—And What Happens If We Break It

More on “The Historical Essence of Addiction Counseling”

~ Jason Schwartz

Yesterday, Bill Stauffer revisited William White's article, The Historical Essence of Addiction Counseling. I won't re-summarize the article, but I want to focus on one particular theme If AOD problems could be solved by physically unraveling the person-drug relationship, only physicians and nurses trained in the mechanics of detoxification would be needed to address these … Continue reading More on “The Historical Essence of Addiction Counseling”

Revisiting the Work of William White: The Historical Essence of Addiction Counseling (2004)

~ billstaufferpa ~ 4 Comments

“What the addiction counselor knows that other service professionals do not is the very soul of the addicted—their terrifying fear of insanity, the shame of their wretchedness, their guilt over drug-induced sins of omission and commission, their desperate struggle to sustain their personhood, their need to avoid the psychological and social taint of addiction, and … Continue reading Revisiting the Work of William White: The Historical Essence of Addiction Counseling (2004)

What does SAMHSA do?

~ Jason Schwartz ~ 4 Comments

What does SAMHSA do, and should I care if their staff are fired in significant numbers? It's my impression that most probationary SAMHSA employees have been fired. Terminations started there because terminating probationary employees is easy procedurally. Permanent employees require a process to justify Reductions in Force (RIF) to move ahead with termination. Some people … Continue reading What does SAMHSA do?

Recovery Capitalists and the Industries of Dependency

~ billstaufferpa

We are at the 25th anniversary of the new recovery advocacy movement in America. A movement to elevate and expand recovery opportunities nationally. It began as a grassroot community vision that rose up across the county. It envisioned a more cohesive treatment and community-based recovery model. A system to expand beyond the acute and fragmented … Continue reading Recovery Capitalists and the Industries of Dependency

Eliminating Inequities for Black Mothers With Substance Use Disorder

~ Alexandra Plante ~ 2 Comments

Between 2010 and 2017, the U.S. saw a 131% increase in maternal opioid use disorder at delivery. There also was an 83% rise in cases of neonatal abstinence syndrome due to prenatal opioid exposure. Additionally, between 2016 and 2020, there was a 3.6% increase in prenatal substance exposure, including alcohol, with significant variation across states. The rising rates of … Continue reading Eliminating Inequities for Black Mothers With Substance Use Disorder

Substance use disorder sets off a cascade of category errors

~ Jason Schwartz ~ 2 Comments

A recent letter to JAMA analyzes the National Survey of Drug Use and Health regarding the need for treatment: Among 657 583 participants, the prevalence of individuals needing SUD treatment increased from 8.2% in 2013 to 17.1% in 2023. AUD increased from 6.6% to 10.2%, while DUD increased from 2.6% to 9.6%. OUD more than doubled … Continue reading Substance use disorder sets off a cascade of category errors

Low Expectations Yield Low Rates of Recovery from Addiction

~ billstaufferpa ~ 3 Comments

The primary limitation in life is our low expectations for ourselves and others. When we expect minimum results, that's usually what we get.” - John C. Maxwell How are we measuring our war against addiction in the United States? We have one single metric in the arena of public discourse on our progress. The increase … Continue reading Low Expectations Yield Low Rates of Recovery from Addiction