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CoveCare and MHA Putnam Team up to Provide Continuity and Services
CoveCare Center and the Mental Health Association in Putnam (MHA) have formed an affiliation that will leverage the strengths of both organizations in order to continue and grow the robust mental health services available to residents of Putnam and neighboring counties. Through this partnership,...
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Legalization of Drugs: The Ultimate Harm Reduction Measure
Illegal drugs are dangerous, but many of their dangers are caused by their illegality rather than the drugs themselves. Yes, the use of illegal (and some legal) drugs results in addiction. But if we really want to reduce the dangers of drug abuse, we must address its illegality as well as the...
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Finding the Right Recovery Path: Welcoming Everyone into Treatment
This nation is in an epidemic. There are no two ways about it. By now you have undoubtedly heard that more people died of overdose in New York State in 2016 than died of motor vehicle accidents, homicide and suicide, combined. In responding to this crisis, we do not have the luxury of closing our...
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Why Not Harm Reduction for Problem Gambling?
Harmful gambling is a public health issue. As types of gambling products and accessibility to gambling have increased, so too have concerns as to the harm associated with this behavior. While there is evidence of the harm cause by some forms of land-based gambling such as electronic gambling...
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Self-Reflections on Self-Determination in Harm Reduction
When I was a social work student in the early 1960s, I assumed that it was imperative, even obligatory, that I respect the right of client self-determination, but I certainly didn’t know how to put self-determination into practice. I was placed at Henry Street Settlement and worked with two...
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Our Realizations and Truths About Harm Reduction
Looking around the room in our focus group, we all realized two really interesting things about who we are and where we’ve been. Number one, that none of us were kids anymore, which is a nice way of saying that most of us already crossed the threshold of mid-life and were heading somewhere on the...
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Striving for Compassionate Recovery-Oriented Substance Use Care
Nationally, people with substance use disorders in the United States are often treated with an expensive acute care model that highlights inpatient treatment as the hallmark component of treatment. For many, recovery is a life-long process, and the focus on acute care is a missed opportunity for...
