How One Veteran Tackled Physical Pain, PTSD and Addiction
Every year, in the second week of November, this country honors its heroes. Veteran’s Day is a stark reminder that courageous men and women have fought hard for America’s freedoms. In the addiction community, it inspires us to pause and reflect on the effects of war on our soldiers, long ...
The Forgotten Population: Inmates in Recovery
An Airing Addiction Recap In a recent study conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, it was found that 84 percent of current inmates in the state prison system were under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol at the time of their crime. While that may come as a ...
Are States Ready to Implement Medication-Assisted Treatment in Correctional Settings?
Recently, State Director Earl Warren and Regional Program Director Nicole Rendon from Spectrum’s Correctional Division conducted a workshop on medication-assisted treatment to administrators and behavioral health practitioners attending the American Correctional Association’s 148th Congress of Corrections in Minneapolis. Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is being considered by many criminal justice authorities to ...
What We Can All Learn From Demi Lovato’s Relapse
Pop singer Demi Lovato’s story is common. She was six years sober before she overdosed in her home on July 24. She was revived with naloxone and transported to the hospital. Relapse is often part of the lifelong recovery journey and should not be viewed as a failure. In fact, ...
Inside Look: Peer Recovery Support
You may have noticed that a lot of our treatment programs revolve around group meetings, group therapy and group activities. Peer recovery support best exemplifies the power of groups to not only help people strive for and maintain recovery, but build a foundation for the rest of their lives. Our ...
Road to Recovery: David Crawley’s Story
Fifty-four-year-old David Crawley grew up in a big family – two brothers, two sisters and two parents. The Crawley family was supportive and loving, but his hometown of Roxbury, Massachusetts was filled with drugs, violence and crime which were hard to avoid. “My parents were instrumental in teaching me how ...
How Spectrum Helps Clients and Staff Cope with Death
“We didn’t need news articles to tell us how bad the opioid epidemic is,” claims Heidi DiRoberto, MA, LMHC, program director at Spectrum Health Systems. Before news of the opioid epidemic was being reported in almost every media outlet across the nation, our medical and clinical staff were already into ...
An Inside Look: The Family Education Forum
If you’ve been involved in the Spectrum Health Systems or New England Recovery Center communities for any amount of time, you’ve seen or heard us stress the importance of involving family and loved ones in the recovery process. For many years, we’ve offered the Family Education Forum at each of ...
For Spectrum Health Systems, Treating Addiction Often Means Treating Trauma Too
For many of our clients, addiction is usually not an isolated problem. Many also experience mental health issues and the after-effects of physical and mental trauma. The Trauma-Informed Care Program, which we introduced last year, is designed to build understanding amongst our staff and enhance their ability to effectively interact ...
Examining Co-occurring Mental and Substance Use Disorders – A 3-Part Series
Part 1: The Challenge of Mental Illness in Substance Abuse Treatment This is the first of three blogs to examine co-occurring mental and substance use disorders. In this first blog, we review the prevalence of mental disorders among persons in addiction treatment, myths related to mental illness, key problems ...
