Substance Abuse Personal Statement

I received my Masters of Arts in Mental Health Counseling from Tennessee Technological University. Prior to that I received my Bachelors of Science in Psychology from Tennessee Technological University as well. Currently I am a Licensed Professional Counselor/Mental Health Service Provider in Tennessee. My previous clinical work includes a 100 hr practicum and 300 hr internship at Health Connect

My future career is highly influenced by my own passion, experience, and knowledge. My experience as an addict drives my passion to help others, and the knowledge of psychology will be used to further my career goal of becoming a Recovery Coach for those living with HIV or AIDS. I believe that there is a direct correlation between an HIV or AIDS diagnosis, and substance abuse. I want to understand these connections in order to help others through clinical, counseling, forensic, and public service psychology. All four areas of psychology are interesting to me because they are all directly connected to the areas of psychology in which I wish to focus my career.

Substance abuse counseling is the profession that I will be pursuing upon my completion of my educational requirements needed

Ever since I was a little girl I have always aspired to follow in my grandfather’s footsteps and become a prosperous attorney like him. He exerted himself strenuously, graduated from Northeastern Law School and was one of the founding partners of the Morrison, Mahoney and Miller Law firm currently located in Boston. It has been an arduous journey for me to verbally express the least endeavoring to follow my grandfather’s legacy. Shortly after graduating high school, my life consummately spiraled out of control and I was faced with adversity that seemed insurmountable. It is paramount to take a moment and apportion some brief history considering that I my past has molded me into the strenuously exertive, goal oriented student I have always aspired to be.

In 2013, I graduated from Mount Olive College with a Bachelor of Science is Clinical Psychology. As an undergraduate I did my internship with the state of North Carolina – Vocational Rehabilitation at WorkSource East in Goldsboro, NC. I am currently in a counseling training program at East Carolina University where I am working on obtaining my Master’s in Substance Abuse and Clinical Counseling.

I have recently begun my internship, which is scheduled to last one year. In this year I am expected to complete at least one thousand hours. I received a sheet of paper with three suggested internship sites. I was very distressed to learn none of these sites had any substance abuse. I went back to the administration which distributed the sheet and asked for an internship site with substance abuse. I received the information for CSEDNY. I was a little shocked to learn I would be mostly working with court mandated substance abuse; however I did not want to cause the administration distributing the internship sites too much of a headache so I accepted the internship. I have met my supervisor. I honestly like my supervisor so far. She seems very nice and excited to work with me.

My mother taught me that a key factor to being successful is having the right tools for the job. I learned what that meant to me in my early years at Southern Illinois University. Growing up, I was challenged by Dyslexia. A disability that made school difficult. Until college, I found ways around it.

abusive and unstable. An example of this instability was a day when my siblings and I were told

The article of “The Justice Policy Institute of 2008 on Substance Abuse Treatment and Public Safety” emphasized the beneficial effects of treatment for the drug abuser in the criminal justice system (Jama, 2009). These interventions include therapeutic alternatives to incarceration, treatment merged with judicial oversight in drug courts, prison- and jail-based treatments, and reentry programs intended to help offenders transition from incarceration back into the community. Through monitoring, supervision, and threat of legal sanctions, the justice system can provide leverage to encourage drug abusers to enter and remain in treatment.

When I was twenty one my brother was arrested for selling cocaine, the youngest member of a family riddled with addicts to go to jail. Last year, he graduated from UC Riverside with a degree in Psychology and aspirations to become a substance abuse counselor. The achievement is his alone, but helping him find his path to sobriety has been a great source of pride for me; seeing him graduate has been one of the more satisfying moments of my life. My highest career goal is to research and find effective treatment for drug and alcohol addiction, as well as work hands-on with addicts through their successful recovery. Finding a therapy that will help members of my own family would be the greatest achievement I can think of.

It has been observed in clinical and epidemiological samples that the majority of individuals with substance use disorder have a co-occurring present or past mental health diagnosis (Sloboda, Glantz, & Tarter, 2012, p.950). Although studies have observed that early antisocial behaviors and deviance are risk factors for drug abuse, the two most common psychopathologies that have been identified repeatedly are depression and antisocial personality. Surveys show that nearly one-third of patients involved in treatment are substance users (Institute of Medicine, 1996, p.121). Studies also show that mental disorders often begin at earlier stages than substance use disorders, and that, for various reason that are debatable, prior occurring mental disorders predict subsequent substance use disorders, and that once established, secondary substance use disorders can reciprocal effects, leading to more and more persistent mental health disorders (Sloboda, Glantz, & Tarter, 2012, p.950).

Compare and contrast the medical model of chemical addiction to the biopsychosocial model. Which model is more accepted by the medical fraternity and why? Alcohol and drug abuse is a real problem these days. It is the cause of much suffering and dysfunction within society.

Evidence has suggested through studies shared neurobiological conduits and irregularities involved with addiction and numerous psychological disorders. In context of the neurobiological structure two theories can be suggested to solve the comorbidity: 1. mental health disorders and addiction are different expressions of the same abnormal neurological condition. 2. Neuroadaptation from repeated drug use changes the brain to base abnormalities that are consistent with those who have psychiatric disorders (American journal of psychiatry). “In the Epidemiologic Catchment Area study an estimated 45% of individuals with alcohol use disorders and 72% of individuals with drug use disorders had at least one co-occurring psychiatric disorder. In the National Comorbidity Study approximately 78% of alcohol-dependent men and 86% of alcohol-dependent women met the criteria for a lifetime diagnosis of another psychiatric disorder, including drug dependence. The risk relationship appears to be reciprocal, with psychiatric disorder predicting increased risk of later substance use and vice versa…” (AJP) There appears to be a higher correlation of drug and etoh abuse in individuals that have been diagnosed with these mental health conditions

Many different people throughout the world can be placed in the category of a substance abuser. A substance abuser is described as a person who participates in the incorrect use of addictive substances including drugs and alcohol. Individuals partake in the use of addictive substances at the following different levels: socially, regularly, and addictively.

Hello dr. Anderson. I am contacting you on behalf of my husband. We continue to struggle with his uncontrolled illicit substance abuse. He has detoxed many times at home but would relapse immediately. He said that he "cannot stand to be in his skin, hates himself so much and feels suicidal." Drugs make him feel numb and that is the only way to survive the day so he continues to self-medicate. "I feel things have reached a new low and his both physical and mental health are collapsing. He is ready to try something different and he is ready to receive professional help. Per my personal observation, he did relatively well while he was inpatient but transition to "intensive outpatient " was horrible and was disappointing experience for him. Especially