Will education help to battle stigma and unmet needs in addiction treatment?

When I share that I’m going to yet another addiction conference, friends and family respond with silence, then say: “There she goes again: addicted to addiction.”

Taking a deep breath, I let their comments go. How can I convince people of the joy I derive from working as an executive coach with high performing individuals who understand the value of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing above all else? Conversations with them leave me with more energy not less. They, too, value open-mindedness, integrity, honesty, and compassion.

One day, before boarding a flight to London to attend Europe’s largest addiction conference, I read the program titles to a friend: “The human fire extinguished — The rise of burnout; Bio-hacking the nervous system for mental and behavioral health recovery; Nutrition, sleep and physical exercise: Impact on mental health…”

She stopped me and said: “Cool! Now, THAT interests me! I had no idea that’s what you’re going to learn there.”

Why do people respond with such coolness to the word “addiction?”

“It’s stigma,” a recovery coach in long-time recovery recently explained. The word “addiction” is charged. We have visions of the dirty, smelly, abscess-covered addict with needles coming out of his arm, or the pill popping wife who breaks into her husband’s safe to steal checks and more pills, the alcoholic who drives drunk despite countless DUI’s, or the dad who makes covert sexual comments to his teenage daughter after chasing multiple women on line.

Addicts don’t get much sympathy.

The truth is everyone one of us or a loved one is just one accident, one pill, one drink, one job loss, or one betrayal away from starting on that downward spiral. The themes are universal and include: loneliness, anxiety, burnout, low self-esteem, being sedentary, poor habits, poor nutrition, lack of sleep, toxic relationships, rage, non-performing co-workers, etc…

Why not learn directly from the best mental health professionals in the world? They say, if you want to learn to cook, go to a chef.

According to the CDC, nearly 800,000 people have died in the USA from drug overdoses in the last 10 years. This isn’t counting alcohol and nicotine related deaths. 88,000 people die each year from alcohol-related causes alone.

Considering these statistics, I am still dismayed at the lack of knowledge and compassion out there. People still see addicts as subhuman, as morally depraved individuals who lack discipline and self-will. I’ve even heard people say: the world is over-populated. Why try to save them?

With that kind of attitude, no wonder people are dying. Then, I wonder how their attitude would change if their own child were on the verge of self-annihilation.

So what made my friend interested in the titles I read out loud? Something must have resonated. Maybe she thought she could gain knowledge to help herself or her loved ones.

Education is key to combating stigma as well as changes in policies and health care systems and this has been the mission of C4 Recovery Foundation, a non-profit public charity that started staging conferences on addiction 19 years ago on Cape Cod and then nine years later on the West Coast.

We sat with chairman Rick Ohrstrom and CEO and board member Jack O’Donnell to get an idea of the secret sauce behind their success. After all, they are the largest syndicator of continuing education (CE) credits in the field and offer what some say are the deepest and most comprehensive learning experiences for professionals working with addiction.

No wonder other big event organizers try to buy them.

“We are unique. We don’t represent the industry business. We are not the creation of insurance brokers, buyers or providers.”

“There is big demand for our conferencing business,” Jack O’Donnell said. “We have a waiting list of 100+ vendors and demand from attendees. It’s the sponsorship dollars that have dried up.” Ohrstrom and O’Donnell suspect this is due to the consolidation of treatment centers. Plus, C4 doesn’t let money dictate content.

“We represent the individuals who are struggling,” Ohrstrom added.

When asked if he were to write a book, what would the title be, Ohrstrom responded: “Blow the Sucker Up and Start Over: Speaking beyond the opioid crisis”

Ohrstrom believes there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye. He believes the traditional treatment industry has lost its way.

“The system is designed for people who can afford it,” he said. “Things need to be more equitable.”

There should be more talk about recovery services and improving the quality of life for people. There should be an unbundling of services.

Prevention has to start early. If we don’t get to kids before the ages of 5 or 6, we are too late. “At this point, you’re talking remediation,” he says.

He also believes that the breakdown of family has been largely caused by the war on drugs. How can a family survive when parents are locked up on simple marijuana possession charges? How does a criminal record for this help someone find a job and feed his or her family?

Ohrstrom has been working tirelessly to lobby congress to change the way law enforcement treats people with substance use disorders and mental illness.

He’s one of the authors of PTACC that stands for Police, Treatment, and Community Collaborative. It’s an “alliance of practitioners in law enforcement, behavioral health, community, advocacy, research, and public policy, whose mission is to strategically widen community behavioral health and social service options available through law enforcement diversion.”

Diversion means getting people treatment instead of a criminal record.

On a more philosophical level, Ohrstrom and his advisors have been meeting regularly to define what they call the “it”. They are convinced that addiction, mental illness, violence, and suicide are merely symptoms of a greater societal issue.

“Our goal is to raise awareness that something is going on beyond the symptoms.”

Until they figure “it” out, C4 will continue to deliver premier content with integrity.