LinkedIn dialogues inspire professionals

  Our Addiction Professionals group on LinkedIn continues to show substantial growth (we’re on pace to surpass 7,000 members by early January), and the dialogues that develop on the site cover everything from everyday work challenges to the policy debates that will shape the field’s future. I am so impressed with the diversity of subjects that group members bring to the table, and I encourage those of you not already participating to join the conversation.

Here are just three examples of thought-provoking discussions that have been active in the group over the past few weeks:

·        A clinician who works with young adults asked colleagues if they could identify a research basis behind the often-heard warning in 12-Step treatment that recovering individuals should avoid intimate relationships in their first year of sobriety. While most respondents could not point to specific studies, they said the theory is clearly grounded in experience. “It is my theory, not that relationships cause relapse, but that relationships at this place in recovery are entered by those likely already to relapse, as another way to manage their newly sober emotional life,” one member wrote. Said another, “I can tell you, there’s something wrong with the picture when your client isn’t calling that sponsor like they should on a regular basis, but boy, do they spend a lot of time on the phone to their girlfriend.”

·        As of Dec. 24, nearly 75 responses had been registered for a counselor who was hesitant to disclose a past felony charge to prospective employers, despite his sponsor’s endorsement of taking the honest approach. Nearly all respondents have agreed with the sponsor’s advice, offering comments such as “I ask my clients, ‘Is bending the truth with prospective employers the type of behavior that would promote their recovery?’, and without hesitation they say no,” and “Besides, your past does not have to define who you are as a person, and as long as you have made the appropriate changes in order to turn your life around, that is what is most important.”

·        Several members have commented on warnings from national leaders that outpatient treatment and not residential care will dominate the landscape under health reform. A good number see evidence from insurers that this has already been happening for some time. “The push seems to be for more outpatient treatment and more Suboxone maintenance programs,” wrote one group member. Another added a similar comment: “Many insurances are putting young people on Suboxone and skipping treatment.”