4th National Conference on Women, Addiction and Recovery: Thriving in Changing Times

One of the key elements to the recovery community is the community, the strong network that alcoholics and addicts use to lean on in times of struggle. Staying connected to your peers who are also working for a better life through recovery is so important; how well one stays connected to the community will make or break one's success. Within the 12 Step community there are a number of ways one can reach out on top of one's daily or weekly meetings that can help strengthen one's recovery and help give back to the community that has helped them. Every year countless conferences are held all over the world that bring hundreds and thousands in recovery together.

Thriving in Changing Times will be the theme of this year's National Conference on Women, Addiction and Recovery. It will happen at the Chicago Marriott Downtown, Magnificent Mile, on July 26-28, 2010. "The conference is grounded in the principles of recovery and gender-responsive, trauma-informed care", according to JoinTogether.

The conference offers opportunities to explore a wide array of topics such as the following:

• family-centered treatment
• health policy affecting women's treatment
• women and the criminal justice system
• co-occurring mental and health conditions
• comprehensive recovery support for women
• using technology in innovative ways
• culturally responsive approaches
• workforce development strategies

Speakers include:

Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., Stephanie Covington, Ph.D., Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D., Carol McDaid, Lisa Najavits, Ph.D., Francine Ward, J.D., Hon. Pamela S. Hyde (invited), Hon. R. Gil Kerlikowske (invited), Hon. Richard M. Daley (invited), Ijeoma Achara, Ph.D., Hortensia Amaro, Ph.D., Aida Giachello, Ph.D., Nancy Young, Ph.D. among others!

Sponsored by:
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in partnership with Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC).

Co-Sponsored by:
NASADAD Women's Service Network; The National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare; and State Associations of Addiction Services (SAAS); in partnership with SAMHSA's Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) Network.

"Substance Abuser" or "Substance Use Disorder"

The labels society place on people or groups could directly affect one's life. At times, the perception peers place upon people greatly impacts one's decision making process, sometimes dissuading them from seeking help. The words we use to name and help us describe everything in life can bring negative connotations along with them, changing how we perceive and react. When I say that someone is clever it is one thing, but, to say someone is a con is completely another. The same idea applies to labeling someone an alcoholic as opposed to labeling them a drunk, naturally the latter has a more negative stigma attached to it. How we choose to describe those suffering from addiction can have an effect on one's willingness to enter treatment. John F. Kelly of Massachusetts General Hospital, the leader of a new study, noticed that health professionals' answers to survey questions about a hypothetical patient varied depending on the patient being described as a "substance abuser" or as "having a substance use disorder". The UPI reported, "only 10 percent of those who misuse alcohol and other drugs seek treatment. The stigma against addiction problems is often cited as a major reason for not seeking treatment".

"We found that referring to someone with the 'abuser' terminology evokes more punitive attitudes than does describing that person's situation in exactly the same words except for using 'disorder' terminology. Reducing the use of such stigmatizing terms could help diminish the shame, guilt and embarrassment that act as barriers, keeping people from seeking help", stated Kelly. This study is making public that which many in recovery and the treatment industry have known for a long time; how addicts are described or termed changes societies' view of them, thus keeping them trapped in a class of people that are less-than.

The study which is scheduled to be published in the International Journal of Drug Policy, distributed surveys to more than 700 mental health professionals who were at two mental health conferences last year. The study participants that were given the paragraph that labeled the individual as a "substance abuser" were, as you might have guessed, much more likely to agree that the individual should be punished for not following their treatment plan. "Our results imply that these punitive attitudes may be evoked by use of the 'abuser' term, whether individuals are conscious of it or not", said Kelly.

How society views alcoholics has come a long way with the advancements in mental health and our understanding that addiction is a disease that needs to be treated - not punished. Kelly's new study has shown us that we still have a long way to go, people still have very negative views of addicts and in a lot of ways view them as criminals. That modality has to be smashed!