Topics
Going to Pot
Clients who struggle to stay drug-free can resent the presence in group of others who openly use substances.
Topics: cannabis, compliance and noncompliance, program development
The Exact Wrong Thing
The system that was supposed to help them was unwittingly undermining their recovery.
Topics: systems, types of treatment
Faith of a Different Sort
True religious fanaticism is, in my experience, quite different from the sort of spiritual practice we find in most 12 Step groups.
Topics: 12Step, spirituality
The Maintenance Biz
The fewer services you provide, the fewer staff you need, and the more likely you are to have a healthy profit margin.
Theory
We develop habits and routines that seem to have a life of their own– and you’re never more aware of that than when you go to change them.
Topics: disease model, models of addiction, research
Witnessing
You understand, on an emotional level, that you’re not really alone, and that everyone isn’t looking down on you for being who you are.
Topics: 12Step, recognizing addiction, self diagnosis, tools for recovery
Working the Program
Maybe for some individuals, whose goal is simply to get off drugs and meet like-minded people, a 12 Step fellowship fits the bill better than, say, the local church or civic group.
Topics: 12Step, maintaining sobriety, recovery support groups, relapse
Medical Cannabis: A Review
It may alter the nature of society’s challenges, and move them to other sectors of the economy, but I expect we’ll continue to have difficulties.
Topics: cannabis, health care, risk factors
Reducing Harm vs… Well, Reducing Harm
My longstanding rule is to design your program to treat your population, not some idealized group of subjects who did well in a research setting with a significantly different structure.
Topics: abstinence, harm reduction, program development, treatment models
