Post on 12-Feb-2016
description
Bridging the Gap from Abstinence-Based Addiction
Treatment to Harm Reduction Treatment:
My Personal Journey
Barry Lessin, M.Ed., CAADCLicensed Psychologist
Certified Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor
Porch to Portland
War on Drugs =War on People
• War on people
Facing the Gap
Objectives IIlustrate what contributed to the
gap, for me, between Abstinence-Based (AB) and Harm Reduction (HR) treatment.
Offer a systems approach to facilitate the transition to HR.
Share a perspective to allow others to integrate HR into their work.
My path to HR:Career Summary
• Training/Workplace dichotomy
• Career burnout
• Profound personal experience
• Public health advocacy
Client-Centered & Developmental:What I Learned
Carl Rogers Lifespan Development
Conflicting Views:What I Learned vs, What I Was
Doing
vs.
Conflicting Views:What I Learned vs. What I Was
Doing
vs
Managed Care: A Two Headed Monster
Training & Professional Experience
A Systems View
Family Therapy School Psychology
Training & Professional Experience:
Path to Independent Practice
Career Burnout
Personal Experience: My Nephew
Personal Experience: My Nephew
• Perfect storm of:
• treatment gap
• addiction stigma
• system-wide failure
Personal Experience: My Nephew
• Tough Love prevented crucial connection to loved ones
• My “expert” role was bogus
• Returned to my roots of addiction treatment
Transition Begins:Back to the Future
(2011)
Learning About Public Health Policy
Witnessing the Gap in the Professional Community
Drug Policy Alliance2011 Conference
Engaging in Public Health Advocacy
Grief Recovery After a Substance
Passing
www.grasphelp.org
Broken No More
www.broken-no-more.org
When Grief Support Vanishes
My path to HR:Career Summary
• What I learned vs. What I did
• Career burnout
• Profound personal experience
• Public health advocacy
A-HA Moment!
From Transition...
...To Transformation
Moving forward...
Systems Interaction:Micro vs. Macro
Connecting the Dots
My BurnoutMy Burnout
Blame Blame AddictAddict
How Systems Inform Us:Micro vs Macro
StigmatiziStigmatizing, ng,
criminalizicriminalizing system ng system
Micro View Macro View
How Systems Inform Us: Micro vs. Macro
Micro Macro
More Effective More Effective ClinicianClinician
Empower to Empower to educate/changeeducate/change
Integrating and Evolving...
Barry Lessin, M.Ed., CAADCLicensed Psychologist
Certified Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor1244 Ft. Washington
Ave.Suite E2Ft. Washington, PA 19034
bless1244@yahoo.com215-694-9146
Resources• “In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts”,
Gabor Mate’• Practicing Harm Reduction
Psychotherapy, Patt Denning & Jeannie Little
• Harm Reduction Psychotherapy, Andrew Tatarsky
Resources• www.gradualismandaddiction.org ,
Scott Kellogg• Coming to Harm Reduction Kicking
and Screaming, Dee Dee Stout• How to Manage Your Drinking,
Kenneth Anderson