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Medication-Assisted Treatment on the Ground: How Federal Policy Shifts Are Reshaping Outreach in Brooklyn
Opioid use remains a significant public health threat in the United States, with nearly 80,000 opioid‑involved overdoses reported in 2023—accounting for 76% of all overdoses that year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2025). As Substance Use Disorder (SUD) continues to affect more...
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The Recovery Industry’s Policies Are Killing People and They Won’t Change Unless We Make Them
The first time I watched the recovery system harm someone in real time, it was not a mistake. It was merciful advice in the face of restrictive policy. This person described how he voluntarily walked into a rehab facility after his last binge. He was not intoxicated. He was scared, exhausted,...
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The Policy Landscape of Overdose Prevention Centers and the Path Forward
Key Takeaways: Overdose Prevention Centers (OPCs) are harm reduction facilities that provide many addiction services including medical supervision for those using pre-obtained drugs OPCs have consistently shown that they dramatically reduce overdose mortality and the spread of communicable...
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Recovery Policies Consistently Fail When They Ignore Human Behavior
Recovery policies don't fail because people don't want to change; they fail because they're designed for an idealized version of patients that simply doesn't exist. Policies are built in committee rooms, around rational decision-making, clear consequences, and personal responsibility. However, the...
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Peer Supervision: A Model for Enhanced Vocational and Emotional Support
For many of us in the field of mental health and substance use disorder, the idea of peer services feels like a new and welcome change that brings with it equity and a workforce with a more complete perspective on lived experience. Many people are surprised to learn that peer services have a...
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Implementation of Peer Support Roles in Street Medicine and Outreach: Challenges and Possibilities
“We’re not here to belittle you. We’re not here to down talk you. We’re not here to tell you what you should or shouldn’t be doing because that’s not our place.” - Lavaughn Johnson, Peer Navigator at ReVive Center for Housing and Healing At the intersection of homelessness and...
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The Power of Peer Support: Walking Alongside Someone Towards Recovery
I remember the nights I’d cry, looking in the mirror, not recognizing the girl I was looking at. I wanted and needed a way out. With so much shame and stigma around substance use and mental health, I did not know how to ask for help. The process of calling detoxes and getting certain documents...
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Strengthening the Behavioral Health Workforce Through Upstream Overdose Prevention
I came to this work with a personal understanding of how overdose affects families and communities. I lost my brother to an unintentional fentanyl overdose two years ago after he took a pill that he believed was oxycodone, given by someone he trusted. The loss reshaped how I understood...
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A Harm Reduction Approach to Informed and Compassionate Care
Harm Reduction allows us to consider and implement practices that help individuals make safe, viable choices in support of overall wellness. Harm Reduction is also “a movement for social justice built on a belief in, and respect for, the rights of people who use drugs”1 and is “a key pillar...
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Methadone Offers Hope, Not Harm
For more than a decade, I’ve been caring for patients who struggle with opioid addiction and have seen firsthand the devastating toll it takes on their lives. For many, medications for addiction treatment, including methadone, have given them their lives back. Yet, I see time and again the...
