Topic: Service Providers
Practitioners are on the frontline of the drug crisis.
Giving practitioners the support they need is vital. Long experience confirms there are many pathways of recovery: there is no simple, one-shot solution for addiction. Financial, family, community, religious and other factors all add to or detract from recovery capital. Yet funding is too often given to just one or two aspects of the full picture. To make real progress, all phases of recovery must be supported.
Is In-Person Substance Abuse Treatment Is Better Than Online?
As the world become more connected through the Internet, online support groups are revolutionizing the addiction treatment space. Especially in light of the COVID-19 Pandemic, online support groups have become a vital part of telehealth and addiction treatment. For those in recovery, online support groups may be one of the few ways to maintain connection during the pandemic. The reason for the recent popularity of these groups is clear. There is a plethora of online support groups that offer people in recovery the opportunity to reach out and connect with others who are similarly seeking stability in their lives without drugs and alcohol. But are these online support groups effective at helping people become or stay sober? Will they eclipse traditional in-person treatment? Or will online support group eventually be relegated to a supporting role in addiction treatment and recovery?
Black adults’ experiences with drug treatment charted in new study
Abstract
CLICK HERE to view the full study.
Alcohol policy, treatment & research: new directions
This event included a book symposium ‘Evaluating the brain disease model of addiction’, with speakers including:
Prof Derek Heim & Dr Rebecca Monk, Recovery is Possible: Overcoming ‘Addiction’ and its Rescue Hypotheses
Dr Frank Ryan, Psychotherapeutic strategies to enhance motivation and cognitive control
Dr Tim Leighton, Brains or persons? Is it coherent to ascribe psychological powers to brains?
Dr James Morris, Before ‘rock bottom’ Does a disease model hinder public health goals for alcohol?
Dr Ed Day, discussant for the ‘evaluating the brain disease model of addiction’ symposium
Study: Buprenorphine treatment in emergency rooms not sustained
Conclusion
Does ASAM oppose “drug-free” and “abstinence-based” paths to recovery?
The posts answered a message from a practitioner who said "I work as the Medical Director at an "abstinent based" facility. I am Board Certified in Psych and ASAM certified... I am struggling to accept the abstinence based treatment philosophy." In responding to this message, ASAM said (among other statements) that, "Patients appropriately taking a physician prescribed medication are abstinent from their substance of misuse."
White House 2022 drug strategy includes recovery support services
President Joe Biden sent his Administration’s inaugural National Drug Control Strategy to Congress at a time when drug overdoses have reached a record high. The Strategy delivers on the call to action in President Biden’s Unity Agenda through a whole-of-government approach to beat the overdose epidemic. It proposes targeted actions to expand access to evidence-based prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery services while reducing the supply of drugs like fentanyl.
SAMHSA Treatment Website Contains Inaccurate Information, Experts Say
The national government website designed to help people find addiction treatment contains inaccurate and outdated information, addiction experts tell Kaiser Health News. The site, Findtreatment.gov, has information about more than 13,000 state-licensed treatment facilities, including what types of services are provided, which insurance plans the facilities accept and what ages they serve.
Doctors, companies push to keep looser rules for prescribing opioid treatment drugs
WASHINGTON — It got a lot easier for patients with opioid addiction to get their medication remotely during the pandemic — and now addiction doctors and telehealth companies are pushing Congress to make those flexibilities permanent. Before Covid-19, patients had to see a doctor in person for prescriptions to help them with their addictions, like buprenorphine. Now, at least temporarily, they can get them via telehealth appointments. Experts say loosening the rules helped eliminate longstanding barriers to addiction care, like a lack of transportation or a shortage of clinicians who prescribe medically assisted treatment, especially in rural communities. But the changes are temporary, tied to the state of “emergency” associated with the pandemic — and proponents want them made permanent.