Blog

3 Ways To Improve Your Relationship With Your Drug Using Children
We at Family Opioid Coaching have gotten hundreds of calls from frustrated, scared parents asking what they can do when their adult children refuse to consider the idea of NOT using drugs. Sometimes they live with a person who uses drugs (PWUD); too fearful to ask...

Beware of “Rehab” and “Detox” in the $35B Addiction Treatment Industry
Some items posted by credible sources on Twitter have a remarkable ability to cut to the truth; like this, from Jon Hislop, MD, PhD of Vancouver B.C. @HislopMD . I find myself cringing when I hear the terms "Rehab" or "Detox" used to describe treatment for alcohol or...
“To Improve Substance Use Disorder Prevention, Treatment and Recovery: Engage the Family”
[based on Ventura AS, Bagley SM, To Improve Substance Use Disorder Prevention, Treatment and Recovery: Engage the Family, J Addict Med 2017;11:339-341] While it’s GOOD to see from personal experience that a certain intervention can solve a problem; it’s BETTER to...

“People say Narcotics Anonymous has saved their life. In a meeting, I said, ‘I love Narcotics Anonymous but it’s the Suboxone that’s saved my life.’ And it’s the truth.”
https://nyti.ms/2KcIGnc “I had to learn how to have a more open mind and just be O.K. with meeting patients where they’re at,” she said. “A lot of our nurses and staff have also grown and been more empathetic than in the very beginning, when it was more like, ‘Oh, you...

Can People Who Had a Drug Addiction Ever Drink Alcohol?
Useful presentation of research and evidence testing some traditional beliefs about addiction and recovery by Zach Siegel. We looked into the concept of "once an addict, always an addict." Zachary Siegel Jun 15 2018, 3:01pm Amid the outpouring of praise and...

The Power of Family Opioid Coaching
How greatly does Opioid and other drug misuse impact the family and how can we aim to reduce it? This post examines the problem and describes an innovative solution. Substance use can erode the trust, love, and respect forming the foundation of family life. In order...

Drug addiction affects the user’s entire family — but where are the support groups for that?
Important event in Cincinatti Ohio to support families who have lost a loved one through addiction. I'm hearing that such families often feel uncomfortable attending traditional bereavement support programs, from the reactions received from others upon disclosing the...

“Enabling” vs. Positive Reinforcement: Helping A Person With Substance Use Issues
They call it 'Tough Love" but there's nothing LOVING about distancing yourself from the person with substance use issues; and it usually doesn't work for you or your loved one, except possibly as a last resort. The reality is that you can increase the likelihood for...
Meet 91-Year-Old Dr. Melissa Freeman; first MD to treat women with opioid addiction
She's a 91-year-old practicing physician, granddaughter of a slave, and one of the first doctors to treat women with opioid addiction. #InternationalWomensDay How amazing and inspirational; for women, for all of us....

Why Do We Avoid Medication Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD)?
Thinking about why we avoid Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) medication treatment that has been proven to lower mortality rate by 50-70%, in favor of abstinence-based rehab which has… well, not as much documented efficacy.