Role for the community in tackling substance abuse?
I recently stumbled across this tweet during a lunch break at work spent idly browsing the internet. I’m still reeling from the power of the HMO Hitmen and Profits of Addiction I re-blogged recently and the tweet’s reference to substance abuse resonated given the frequency of overdoses.
With overdoses happening nearly every day in some communities, first responders are taking a new approach . http://t.co/aUkTxNyr5J
— MarkLamplughJr (@ResponderTx) September 16, 2015
Station House is an American treatment centre for substance abuse whose philosophy is
“…to combine a safe, supportive environment with evidence-based care to help our patients enter a long term recovery from their substance addiction”
A key part of this philosophy is about supporting emergency services (or ‘first responders’) to better respond, prevent and treat substance abusers. The clip is a brief but interesting glimpse at the role of community in tackling substance abuse. A supportive and sympathetic community appears to be the ‘cement’ that binds together the proactive professional interventions and treatments, abusers themselves and their families