Working to rebuild lives and communities affected by addiction
Ethan Castro //June 5, 2018//
Working to rebuild lives and communities affected by addiction
Ethan Castro //June 5, 2018//
Twenty-three million Americans have a substance-use disorder. In other words, more than one out of every 15 adults in this country is addicted to drugs, alcohol or some combination of the two. They are friends, wives, fathers, sons, daughters and colleagues dealing daily with an often undiagnosed and deadly chronic disease.
In addition to the physical, social and emotional repercussions for so many addicts, there are major financial costs to the U.S. economy.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), abuse of alcohol and illicit drugs costs our nation more than $700 billion annually in costs related to crime, lost work productivity and health care. While the addiction and mental health industry may not be able to cure every addict who comes in for treatment, the positive work done for many in the addicted population is vital from both an economic and social standpoint.
The addiction recovery industry is primarily made up of dedicated and caring therapists, nurses, doctors and case managers whose sole purpose is to help those in need and save lives. Working in an addiction treatment center is not easy. The path to wellness is trying and, in turn, so are the jobs of the treatment center staff. They are there because they care about every individual suffering from addiction. They care about making broken people better and helping them return to their families, friends and jobs.
The addiction treatment industry has been hit with some bad press due to a handful of bad actors. These stories paint a grim picture of the addiction recovery industry. However, most people who work in addiction and mental health services are there for the right reasons and to effect positive social change in the midst of major drug and alcohol epidemics. They are there to make as much of a difference in each life as possible, and we need them and the addiction recovery industry to help the millions of Americans who are suffering from addiction. Demonizing an entire industry due to a few bad actors not only doesn’t help, it hurts – and makes it more difficult for people to access good treatment.
While most rehabilitation providers are well-intentioned, it’s important to know how to avoid the bad ones. The primary differentiators for high quality, ethical, patient-centered treatment centers revolve around the concept of “practicing what you preach.” Every addiction recovery center will say they provide patient-centered care, use evidence-based practices, provide trauma-informed treatment, and so on, and most do those things really well. Sadly, the ones that don't often say those things too.
Here are a few ways to identify a high-quality treatment center that is practicing what they preach:
As a family looking for help for a loved one or a company trying to support a once-valuable employee, it can be difficult to determine the good treatment centers from those that misrepresent their level of care. Here are a few questions to ask to guide your search for high-quality, ethical treatment:
As an industry, we need to do a better job of providing impartial, effective guidance and transparency for those who need it. It is our duty to help people find and get the ethical, quality care they need in order to rebuild their lives. The vast majority of the addiction and mental health services industry is comprised of hard working and mission-driven professionals who recognize the social need and are working tirelessly to help each individual. With more than 65,000 people dying of overdoses each year in our country, these professionals and the reputable treatment centers for which they work will be instrumental in our fight against the addiction epidemic in our country.
Ethan Castro is the executive officer of AspenRidge Recovery, an addiction treatment center with locations in Lakewood and Fort Collins.