Substance Abuse Memo

There are some barriers or weaknesses common to most interventions that target addictive behaviors in the community. Heterogeneity in the population and cultural barriers has contributed to the lack of knowledge regarding substance use and its effects. Issues related to taboo, denial and loss of face mask understanding of the extent of the problem. Institutional barriers and lack of community infrastructure make treatment efforts difficult in serving a diverse population (Ja, 1993). In addition to the psychological barriers, other physical problems also exist. Most primary care physicians do not feel competent to treat alcohol and drug related disorders. Physicians generally do not like to work with patients with these disorders and do not find treating them rewarding. There is substantial evidence that physicians fail even to identify a large percentage of patients with these disorders (Miller, Sheppard, Colenda, & Magen, 2001). Financial barriers include inability to access treatment services by addicted individuals as indicated in various studies. There is also a competition for resources that has to be considered. Local governments allocate some part of their funding for specific issues and there is a competition among several stakeholders to ensure that their cause is represented. Research shows that prevention programs in the community on the issues of substance abuse, risky sexual behavior, school failure, juvenile delinquency and violence have to be

There is no doubt that there is a prevalence of substance abuse throughout several age groups. To a certain extent, a society is faced with the reality of controlling substance abuse. Or allow it run rampant throughout the community. Often times, we hear and read about the level of substance abuse among teen, young adults and mid-aged

Establishing positive parenting skills within the community will assist the parents in gaining new alternatives to their current practices. “Often we get the same families that are repeat offenders or they never really learn their ways of parenting are not acceptable” (Ruiz, 2015). Providing the “Strong Families” curriculum will reduce the number of children that are

I am currently interning at Volunteers of America Los Angeles (VOALA), and the program that I am placed in is a Harm Reduction program. I work with homeless veterans who are diagnosed with a mental and substance abuse disorder. For the past couple of months, I have seen the positive effects of Harm Reduction, and how safe it is with our clients. For this assignment, I specifically chose a conversation with Rusty Foster and Luis Lopez on Harm Reduction, because this is what I am interested in. As a recovering alcoholic myself, I want to work and help clients who are struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. I believe that addiction is hard to overcome, but Harm Reduction can be cost effective, educational, and a healthier way of using drugs and alcohol. While listening to this conversation, I immediately thought of my internship, and what I already know, and what I could learn.

Wow, thank you for sharing your personal experience and provoking questions. I do resonate with you that it is difficult to label the conduct of covert medication as ethical or unethical since it can be different from case to case. The goal for care providers is to provide care with patients’ best interest. When a patient is not in a good state of mind, necessary interventions like you have mention in the post are appropriate.

The program that will be discussed is call the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment but I will refer to it as RSAT for short. RSAT is a program that last at least six months but no more than twelve months if needed. The treatment program will be provided in treatment facilities set apart-in a completely separate facility or even better yet a dedicated housing unit in a facility exclusively used only by RSAT participants, keeping them separated from the general correctional population. RSAT will be focus on the substance abuse problems of the individual inmate. The program will help develop the inmate's, behavioral, cognitive, vocational, social skills, and other techniques used to help solve the substance abuse problems. Within the program they will begin or continue require proven reliable forms of drug and alcohol testing, including urinalysis for program participants and former participants while they remain in the custody of the state or local government. To decrease the chance of recidivism due to drug use or related crimes, RSAT should be limited to inmates with 6 to 12 months remaining in their time behind bars, this way they can just be

Programs that talk about drug and alcohol prevent such as D.A.R.E is funded by this committee. This committee is also responsible for the educational needed of students in the juvenile justice

*** was founded with a mission to be an alternative to incarceration. The organization is a private, free-standing, non-profit agency which is accessible to all, regardless of economic, ethnic or religious backgrounds. Since 1971, ***. has provided a highly successful, comprehensive, continuum of behavioral health services. Our formal treatment services have helped over 20,000 young people and their families. Under the *** umbrella, broad arrays of evidence-based prevention services have also been implemented in the treatment of substance use and co-occurring disorders. With their focus on identifying risk and protective factors, these programs have helped to educate and support

For instance, if an individual lives in the ghetto, they are mostly connected in some way to the use of illicit drugs and alcohol use. Indeed, this can be due to the numerous amount of bars located in a low-income neighborhood or sale of illicit drugs within the community. In the article Five Stereotypes about Poor Families and Education, Valerie Strauss asserted, “We also should realize that when these problems do exist in low-income families, they have the potential to be particularly devastating because people in poverty who are struggling with substance abuse generally do not have at their disposal the sorts of recovery opportunities available to wealthier families. Nor do they have access to preventative medical attention that might catch and treat growing dependencies before they become full-fledged additions.” (Strauss, 2013) Therefore, instead of labeling poor individuals as the responsibility of the drug and alcohol abuse epidemic, a solution can be given to assist these individuals with these problems before the addiction grows and becomes out of hand to

There are many contributing factors and political issues that address substance abuse. Throughout the years, many researchers have designed many interventions and social policies designed to treat people who have used, abused, and became addicted to substances. Today, there are many new studies that address substance abuse at the individual, group, family, and community or policy levels. Today, there are many services that are effective for decreasing recidivism in youth who have completed a substance abuse program. A substance abuse treatment program or center is the best way to treat individuals who have abused substances.

In this paper, I look at forms of substance abuse and the effects on children. I will be using the following headings to break down the different issues associated with this social problem: social causes, phenomenon, and consequences. I hope to educate those that may be ignorant to the situation, and help to spark a flame that can be used to not be a bystander, but a solution to the problem at hand.

The Parenting Our Children to Excellence (PACE) has been established as a research-based preventative intervention to support families by using discussion and activities to address practical parenting issues and promote child-competence (Dumas, Arriaga, Begle and Longoria, 2010). It attempts to teach parents to focus on their parental strengthens rather than on remediating deficits in behavior of their children. It especially, gives parents tools to better deal with young children who regularly refuse to cooperate and become aggressive or withdrawal when frustrated (Dumas et al., 2010). This intervention is an 8 week intervention geared toward parents of children ages 2-6 years old and is usually provided in conjunction with the child’s current child-care placement (Dumas et al., 2010; Begle and Dumas, 2011).

Substance abuse and addiction have become a social problem that afflicts millions of individuals and disrupts the lives of their families and friends. Just one example reveals the extent of the problem: in the United States each year, more women and men die of smoking related lung cancer than of colon, breast and prostate cancers combined (Kola & Kruszynski, 2010). In addition to the personal impact of so much illness and early death, there are dire social costs: huge expenses for medical and social services; millions of hours lost in the workplace; elevated rates of crime associated with illicit drugs; and scores of children who are damaged by their parents’ substance abuse behavior (Lee, 2010). This paper will look at

Introductory Paragraph: Infants and adolescents make a big percentage of the population in the society. These stages of life are very essential, and unless they are carefully given a closer eye, the society risks losing track. Infants typically rely on their parents as they learn much from their parents and baby caretakers since they spent much of the time with them. Adolescents, on the other hand, tend to emulate new things in their lifestyles, but since it is a stage that connects childhood to adulthood, they need intensive guidance to make the correct decisions. ABC community center has been established with the purpose of dealing with the development of children as well as adolescents. The center seeks to train the groups in dealing with life challenges and making the right decisions so that they may be established with good morals. The proposal employs theories and activities that will be used to implement the theory as well as the reasons supporting that particular theory.

Intro-I am working on becoming a more competent communicator and disciplinarian, without escalating conflict, specifically with my five teenage children, ages 17, 15, 14, 14 and 14. After my divorce, my children were exhibiting at risk behaviors, such as sneaking out of the home, disregarding family rules and expectations with regard to homework, chores and their overall safety. Eventually, a friend referred me to Youth Services. This resulted in attending Strengthening Families, a weekly class taught over ten weeks aimed at reducing conflict and finding new ways to communicate with my children. The class provides an atmosphere for me to work with youth counselors who actively assist me in changing my parenting style to successfully implement a more collaborative approach. I have been a parent for 22 years, thus, I found changing the ways in which I respond to conflict to be difficult. However, I also realize that now I’m parenting alone. Through my coursework in this class, my research and my hands on practice with Strengthening Families I have been able to adopt a more collaborative approach to managing conflict.