Tag: Addiction Treatment

REMINDER: More Live Clinical Q&A Sessions Coming Up

Please join us for our free Clinical Q&A sessions online. The sessions are hosted by our Clinical Director, Kristin Kimmell, LCSW, LCAC, and last approximately one-hour. We invite you to ask questions or share experiences regarding unusual or difficult profiles you may have come across. However, all questions are welcome. We would be delighted if you have profiles you would like to share with the group for discussion. Please send them (de-identified) via email any time prior to the session to scarlett@sassi.com. Your contributions would be of great value.

The next upcoming dates are Tuesday, February 21st and Tuesday, March 21st from 1-2 pm ET. Click here to register today.

Note that these Q&A sessions do not provide CEUs and are not a substitute for SASSI Training.

See you there!

SASSI’s Latest Publication Focuses on Long Term Recovery

On January 19th of this year our latest manuscript was published in Social Behavior Research and Practice.  Examining Sustained Recovery from Substance Use Disorder — A Delicate Process discusses the various aspects and definitional terms involved in achieving sustained abstinence (Long-term recovery).  This article was submitted as the first in a series of manuscripts examining the recovery process; both from the perspective of the recovering individual, but also including persons within that individual’s personal and professional circles. Our goal is to achieve a holistic understanding of recovery as experienced and understood by recovering individuals, but in addition, to achieve a better understanding of what that recovery experience looks like from the perspective of those with direct access to the individual’s recovery sphere. We are actively seeking collaborations with substance use programs, outpatient clinics, halfway houses, and other venues where individuals undergoing their personal recovery experience may be residing or whose service they may be utilizing. We firmly believe in the adage that there can be “Nothing about us without us,” (Jürgens R., 2008). Please help us accomplish what promises to be an exciting and fruitful undertaking as we seek to quell the ongoing ravages of addiction in its many forms.

Jürgens R. (2008) “Nothing about us without us” – Greater, meaningful involvement of people who use illegal drugs: A public health, ethical, and human rights imperative.

We Want to Hear From YOU!

Here at The SASSI Institute we pride ourselves on the work we do to provide validated instruments that help you, as well as your clients.  To do an even better job, we are asking for your feedback.  We want to know how our instruments support your work.  But we also want to hear how we can improve our tools.  Our new Feedback Form gives you an outlet to share your ideas and critiques. 

Click here to complete the feedback form.

If you have a heartwarming experience you would like to share about how our instrument has helped you or a client, we would love to hear that too.  Please feel free to share your story* with us at blog@sassi.com.

*Please exclude identifying client information from the submission

Barriers to Effective Treatment

Addiction treatment today is largely ineffective. Some even call it a “rip-off” because of the cost for so little good that is achieved. It is like putting band aids on terrible wounds. There are five big reasons why it does so little good.

(1) There is no nationally accepted definition of “addiction” or of “recovery”. As a result, treatment providers make up their own definitions, most of which do not even include abstinence as a goal.

(2) The National Institute on Drug Abuse declares that addiction is a “relapsing disorder” and many treatment providers tell their clients that. The result is addicts in treatment get the message that they are expected to relapse and it isn’t their fault, therefore they are not responsible for doing anything to maintain recovery. The implication is that they should just return for another treatment stay.

(3) The length of treatment is determined by the insurance industry. Programs are designed around what insurance will pay for instead of what people need.

(4) The professionals providing addiction treatment are not well trained. The accrediting authorities for graduate degrees in psychology and social work do not require any courses on Substance Use Disorders or addiction. A research study found that 94% of doctors could not correctly diagnose alcoholism when presented with a list of its signs and symptoms.¹

(5) Treatment providers focus on getting client-addicts to comply with rules instead of facilitating a clinical surrender or letting go of their willfulness and insistence they can control their addiction. Compliance is just going along with what others want and not addressing the addiction itself.

D. R. Osborne, Jr.’s forthcoming book You Can’t Fall Out of a Hole: Ripping the Band Aid Off of Our Addiction Epidemic details these problems and what we as a society must do to combat our #1 health and social problem. Learn what you can do to help yourself or someone you care about who struggles with alcoholism or drug addiction.

¹Physician Education in Addiction Medicine, Evan Wood, MD, Jeffrey Samet, MD and Nora Volkow, MD. Journal of the American Medical Association. October, 2013.