SHIFT INTO A NEW IDENTITY
I remember the moment I shifted. My identity, that is. And that simple event turned me in a completely different direction and marked the beginning of the long road back from...
“We Shall Overcome…” Transcending Trauma and Thriving Through Group Psychotherapy
When I was a rookie addictions counselor, I had repeated run-ins with clinical supervisors. The conflicts centered around the abuse histories of men and women at the treatment centers where I...
NEW OREGON DRUG POLICY MAKES WAVES IN RECOVERY COMMUNITIES
By following public health models rolled out in Portugal, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, Oregon is spearheading a new attempt to improve the ongoing opioid epidemic.
Oregon has particularly high rates of substance...
INVOLUNTARY COMMITMENT TO TREATMENT IS AN EFFECTIVE TOOL
“After a one year drop in 2018, U.S. opioid overdose deaths increased again in 2019, topping 50,000 for the first time according to the CDC.” (Associated Press 10-22-2020) There were 82,000...
The Fire Extinguisher: A Breakthrough In Relapse Prevention
In my 30 years of working with addiction in various levels of care and treatment modalities, I have seen clients who relapse even after numerous treatment attempts and continually fail to...
Stigmatizing Language- Changing the Way We Talk About Substance Use
On the initiative of a graduate social work intern, McLean is looking closely at the language used to talk and write about addiction.
Jessica Lareau, a graduate social work intern in the Center...
Let Go? Are You Kidding Me?
‘It is Important to Let Go Without Giving Up or Giving In’
The BALM® (Be A Loving Mirror) Family Recovery method teaches families how to ‘be there’ for their struggling loved one...
BEING READY, WILLING, AND ABLE FOR CHANGE
People change when they are ready, willing, and able. We know this because of exciting scientific data backing up this worn cliché. In the 1970s, Rhode Island University researchers James Prochaska...
MUSIC THERAPY IN ADDICTIONS TREATMENT
I sit in a small, unadorned room with ten other women—all residents of an addictions treatment facility in Dayton, Ohio. Samia’s hands rest casually on the tubano drum, positioned on the...
Addiction: It’s Not a Crime, It’s a Chronic Disease
We’ve all read the headlines.
Drugs reportedly found strapped under woman’s vehicle
Vehicle search uncovers pot, coke, heroin, and meth
Jail inmate dies of suspected overdose
Inmate dies of dehydration in holding cell while detoxing...
