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Peers and Recovery: Models for Success
This article is part of a quarterly series giving voice to the perspectives of individuals with lived experiences as they share their opinions on a particular topic. The authors of this column facilitated a focus group of their peers to inform this writing. The authors are provided with services by...
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Opioid Epidemic and Partnerships: Working Together to Solve Problems
It feels like not a day goes by where the sheer scale of the opioid epidemic is not felt. The epidemic impacts nearly every American through our families, friends, loved ones, co-workers and classmates. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), in 2017: On average, 130 Americans died...
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The Case for Community Recovery Centers
According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, “Every day, more than 130 people in the United States die after overdosing on opioids.” In 2018 alone, opioids claimed the lives of more than 3,000 New Yorkers, according to the New York State Department of Health. The misuse of and...
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Integrating Peers within Behavioral Health Programs
The implementation of peer support professionals throughout the behavioral health field has proven to be a valuable resource for clients, patients, and service providers across the continuum (SAMHSA, Value of Peers, 2017). Whether it be in an outpatient clinic, emergency room, or community setting,...
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BHN Spring 2018 Issue
"Harm Reduction: Theory and Practice” Articles in This...
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Supervised Injection Facilities: A Logical Progression in Harm Reduction or a Bridge Too Far?
The scourge of opiate abuse continues to rage unabated. It claimed 42,000 lives in 2016, more than in any previous year (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2018). That’s 115 human lives per day. Five of our brothers and sisters are lost each hour. One of our parents, spouses, sons or...
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NYS OMH ACT Teams Utilize Harm Reduction Techniques
Harm Reduction can be a useful tool to help address potentially risky, dangerous, or self-destructive behaviors, including drug addiction, unsafe sexual activities, self-harm, and binge eating. The goal of harm reduction is to make dangerous behaviors safer, and to reduce the level of harmful...
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Compassionate Care for Substance Users in Traditional Settings
Like many other mental health treatments, substance use treatment has struggled with high dropout rates and problems with engaging clients. Only 0.9 percent of people who have some substance use issues engage in treatment. While some of this may be the client’s internal reluctance to get care,...
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Through Health Care System Integration
In many communities, harm reduction programs have helped prevent overdoses, lower HIV risk and hepatitis transmission and open the door to treatment for substance users. Originally started in the late 1980s, harm reduction approaches introduced syringe exchange initiatives with the goal of reducing...
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Harm Reduction: Theory and Practice
If we want to reduce the harm that derives from psychoactive substances, we need to begin by ending two ineffective, enduring and hugely expensive policies and practices in this country. Then we can get to true harm reduction. The first are strategies that seek to control access to and...
