Substance Abuse

This is an article that is concerned with intervention approaches for the younger population that have problems with alcohol abuse. It describes the gravity of the situation by reporting the huge number of adolescents who have a problem with alcohol and substance abuse. Thus, it reports that “[i]n 2002, an estimated 10. 7 million American youths, 28. 8% of total youths 12–20 years old, were current drinkers. ” The article determined current drinkers by using the criterion that the person “consumed at least one drink in the past 30 days” (Society for the Study of Addiction, 2004).

The gravity of the problem is underscored by the huge part of the statistics to belong to binge and heavy drinkers. The “US National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 2002” estimated that 7. 2 million adolescents are binge drinkers, while 2. 3 million adolescents are heavy drinkers. Heavy drinkers are those who consumed more than four drinks in five different days in the past 30 days. The staggering figures lead to the conclusion that there is serious public health problem among the youth with respect to their alcohol consumption.

This problem extends to serious behavioral disorders resulting from alcohol consumption, such as alcoholism. The problem is even more serious because disorders that are related to alcohol abuse are likely to become “chronic and to persist into adulthood” (Society for the Study of Addiction, 2004). The problem with adolescent alcohol abuse has led to the development of various treatments, both in the private and public healthcare systems. These treatments often range from adolescent to adult care. However, treatment cares often result in relapse in 50-70 percent of affected adolescents.

Therefore, there is a need for systematic approaches that are tailored to meet the specific needs and limitations of the target population, which is the youth (Society for the Study of Addiction, 2004). Treatments require appropriate diagnostic criteria in assessing alcohol use patterns of adolescents. Moreover, there is a need to develop a framework within which “alcohol-related pathology” could be accounted for in the adolescent stage of a person’s life (Society for the Study of Addiction, 2004).

The article likewise cites Liddle (2004), who reviewed therapies involving the family of the adolescent who has problems in alcohol and drug abuse. There are suggestions to develop “adolescent focused, family-based therapies for substance abuse” (Society for the Study of Addiction, 2004). Family-based therapies are believed to be effective for the helpful recovery of alcohol-dependent adolescent. Family-based therapies often analyze “videotaped in-therapy sessions. Such records help in the identification of problems and issues, and serve as bases for change and treatment (Society for the Study of Addiction, 2004). This article is useful because it points out how important it is to first determine the extent of the problem before attempting to solve it. In the case of alcoholic adolescents, there is a need to first know the needs and limitations of each person and proceed from there.

Intervention strategies, such as family-based therapies, should factor in such details in order to be effective. Videotaped therapy sessions are also helpful because they allow all stakeholders, such as the alcohol-dependent person, his family, and the therapist, to have a clear perspective of the situation, through observation from a different angle. Finally, family members could be effective in helping adolescent alcohol dependents by providing moral support.

You hear about more and more people using drugs these days, particularly prescription drugs. Doctors may prescribe these drugs to you and you may think they are helping but, what you don’t know is how they may change a normal functioning person into an addict. These drugs are habit forming and can seriously harm you, even kill you. For Years people go to the doctor for one reason or another. Some doctors prescribe pills that can sometimes be more damaging than helpful. Certain drugs these doctors prescribe like pain killers only mask the problem, not really solving it.

Some names of these painkillers are: Vicodin, Lortab, Anexsia, Zydone, and Norco. After several weeks of taking these drugs, you can become physically and emotionally dependent. Even if you have never been an addict or used street drugs before you can become dependent. After a prolonged period, say a few weeks, of taking these drugs, not only are you dependent but, if you do not continue to ingest these pills you will experience withdrawal symptoms. Some of these withdrawal symptoms include: insomnia, night sweats, tremors and agitation.

Studies have shown prolonged use or misuse of these painkillers can have other dangerous consequences. Dangers of these drugs include: liver disease related to prolonged or excessive use of the acetaminophen (contained in Vicodin). Physical tolerance to the drug after prolonged use, increased doses is needed to achieve the same pain relief. People tend to forget or do not read the interaction warnings or labels on these drugs. Mixing certain types of other drugs with painkillers can be extremely dangerous and end in a bad result. Drugs like MAO inhibitors and antidepressants can result in respiratory complications or death.

My Service Learning in BIS 201 took place at Sojourner Recovery Services. Sojourner Recovery Services is a drug recovery facility for drug dependents men, women and adolescents. Sojourner Recovery Services assisted me with choosing a specific location and demographic to complete my Service Learning. I decided to choose to work with the adolescent. The adolescent population at Sojourner Recovery Service for drug dependent teens and preteens has different sites depending on the issue.

Sojourner Recovery Services has an Inpatient facility as well as Outpatient. The honor was all mines to complete service at the Outpatient facility known as IOP. IOP is an abbreviation for Individualized Outpatient Treatment. The Outpatient treatment center consisted of the Clinical Therapist, facilitators, and at time courts and judges. These people come together to create an individualized treatment plan for each adolescent in the program, Sojourner Recovery Services IOP program offers a treatment plan that meets each persons specific needs.

The majority of my Service Learning hours were spent directly under the Clinical Therapist. The role of the Clinical Therapist is to make the individualized plan with the adolescent and their family and ensure the youth follows the projected plan. With any form of therapy, family members are essential to the sobriety of the youth. Family sessions were scheduled accordingly and listed on the treatment plan. I met families and youth at Sojourner Recovery Service and attempted to learn them as people, this made my experience “real”. While at Sojourner Recovery Services the Clinical Therapist taught me how to effectively facilitate with youth and families.

I facilitated drug meetings and assisted the youth in pointing out triggers and alternative methods of coping with life and set backs. The youth were eager to talk to me and open up about their issues of drug usage, family, school and home life. I chose to complete my Service Learning hours at Sojourner Recovery Services because the youth are my passion. Furthermore, working in my community with African American youth I felt compelled to get out of my comfort zone. Sojourner Recovery Services is a predominantly a Caucasian facility because Butler County demographics are majority Caucasian.

I normally work and volunteer in the African American community but I wanted a different experience. Sojourner Recovery Service was an experience that I obtained by widening my horizons. I love working and assisting the youth to become self sufficient productive members of society regardless of race. I felt it was time to talk the talk and walk the walk. The knowledge and understanding I experienced will be used daily. While at Sojourner Recovery Service I witnessed drug dependent white youth addicted to heroin, meth, marijuana, mucinex, ecstasy, crack, and pills. This was shocking and disheartening because the media and society leads us to believe that drugs are only problems in low income black communities.

The problem is drugs and the depiction that blacks use or sell drugs at a higher rate than whites. The other problem is the unfair treatment of blacks in the Criminal Justice System. While at Sojourner Recovery Services I observed that to be untrue. In this paper I will show the statistics of whites addicted to drugs compared to that of blacks. I will also provide research that proves blacks receive unfair treatment as an opposed to whites that receive preferential treatment as it relates to substance abuse. Completing three concentrations I chose to list Family, Gender and Society and Organizational Leadership as my concentrations.

I also completed Sociology as a concentration. I plan to change my concentrations to as follows, Family, Gender and Society and Sociology. I chose Organizational Leadership because I thought it would give me more incite into the Non Profit sector. I was taught facilitation through this Organization which was helpful at Sojourner Recovery Services. Organizational Leadership sharpened my leadership skills, as well my decision making skills. I believe my calling is Social Work. My concentrations are perfect for the field of a Youth Advocate which is my job at the present time. I know that if I want to take my Outreach to another level in my community I must obtain a Masters in Social Work.

I attempted to go in a different direction with my degree. After Sojourner Recovery Services experience I know that I am a Social Worker daily. I plan to enter Graduate School and receive my Master’s in Social Work. I attempted to stay away from being classified as a Social Worker, but my stint at Sojourner Recovery Service helped me make a clear and concise decision about my future. Negative connotations of Social Workers led me to think that Social Work was a career I strayed away from. I believe that understanding all races of youth will only heighten my skills as a Social Worker in the Non-profit sector. My hands on approach at Sojourner Recovery Services made me rethink my career goals.

Furthermore, my Service Learning experience helped me to see that society’s negative and untrue depiction of drugs as a race and class problem. In this paper I will provide research and statistics that will debunk society’s distortion about race and drugs. When assisting the youth at Sojourner Recovery Service I decided to not see race and stereotype any youth at the facility. In the black community, African Americans are given harsher penalties for drugs than whites.

As a black woman that grew up in a low income neighborhood with drugs and drug dependent family members I embraced and believed the lies society told about blacks and drugs. Substance abuse has no preference of race, class, or sex. Drug uses among whites are higher than that of blacks. Statistics reveal that blacks are less likely than whites to use drugs and become dependent upon them. Society leads us to believe that black men, women and youth use drugs at higher numbers than whites. In all actuality whites use drugs at a higher rate than blacks as well as stronger drugs such as heroin.

The purpose of this program is to feed the homeless on Skid Row, many of which are mentally ill or substance abusers. The two evenings are Mondays and Wednesdays at St. Bede Church located at 215 Foothill Bled, in La Canada, 91011. A second location which meets on Tuesday is St. James Church at 4625 Duunsmore Ave. , La Crescenta, 91214 A third location which meets on Thursday evenings is Holy Redeemer Church at 2411 Montrose Ave, Montrose 91020. I arrived at 4 pm to assist the staff with preparing meals, homeless shelter, and distribute the food.

I also stayed with the staff at all times while in Skid Row. Feeding the homeless is an exciting experience. At all locations, the experiences are not inherently different as similar participants were attended and their needs met. The beauty of the program is that it addressed the three basic needs of man: food, clothing and shelter. These needs are universal and when people are involved in meetings, recipients of such gesture are eternally grateful. This is what happened during the program.

While serving the people with food at the church, these people found a comfortable place to rest and to be fed. I found the experience to be an eye-opener to the challenges that people face in life; it opened my eyes to understand what it really means to homeless and steps to help people in such circumstance. The population served was basically homeless who lived on Skid Row without any comfortable shelter. Some of them used the opportunity to narrate how they resorted to the Row for shelter, how they lost their jobs, the meaning of life and later eventually became homeless.

Others talk about the inhuman treatment they had in their hostile homes which drove them to abuse substance, and the series of events which culminated in their ejection from their homes. Because of their experiences have become mentally ill sequel to inability to adjust to the stressful life events they had passed through, they have begun to abuse drugs and substances such as alcohol, cigarette, cannabis, marijuana, amphetamines and other stimulants. They said the latter keeps them off their problems and gives them temporary relief from the horrible conditions where they reside.

They were receptive of the gesture and received it with gladness, as they expressed their appreciation without hesitation. These people need our people; they are wonderful. There are ethical, psychological, spiritual, cultural, legal and economic principles related to the homeless population living in Los Angeles. It is noteworthy to state that giving money to the homeless will not help solve their inherent problem. It is better to adopt a holistic approach where the underlying psychological or psychiatric problem is duly addressed. This is where the spiritual houses like churches have become useful, as in this program.

The feeding took place in churches. These houses still provide a place of comfort for the less disadvantaged and homeless in the society. A combination of spiritual help with government intervention can help alleviate the challenges of homelessness. Such government interventions will include provision of housing facilities at affordable prices. A social welfare provision is also encouraged but it must be meant for citizens who have no or limited means to help them. Substance abuse is a common psychiatric problem amongst the homeless. There is also increased risk of depression and suicides.

Besides, sexual promiscuity is on the high side there as social disinhibition is out of place. Besides, community acquired pneumonia and tuberculosis are also prevalent among people living on the streets because they live in overcrowded places. Diarrheal diseases are also common. The staffs at Brothers Helpers demonstrate professionalism in dealing with the homeless: they exude confidence while they deal nicely with these needy people. They show understanding of the conditions of this set of people, and are really compassionate. I am glad I had such an experience: I realize that to make others happy is the key to fulfillment in life

Abuse on Criminal Offenses was a very interesting article and it also brought up some interesting facts. It talks about people who have a mental illness are overrepresented in jails and prisons. In the article it says that these people with these mental illnesses need treatment and not punishment and I think that is so true (4). I work in a prison and most of the prison population is mentally ill.I feel that if they would have given these guys some treatment when they were out on the streets, they wouldn’t be in prison.

There was a study done to determine the effects of serious mental illness and substance abuse on the criminal offenses of a group of community residents with serious mental illness and co-occurring substance abuse disorders. The researchers used community residents that had already been part of a research done in the Hawaii Jail Diversion Project.That research compared the functional outcomes of persons diverted out of jail and into mental health and substance abuse services with the outcomes of a control group of persons arrested and jailed (7). For their research they got their information “by asking participants three or four probe questions during the project’s intake interview, which occurred within seven days of their arrest: Why did you [offense]?Is there anything else you can tell me about [offense]? Do I know everything I need to know to understand why you [offense]? If not, what else do I need to know” (psychiatryonline)? The conclusions from the research didn’t shoe that mental illness was the cause of their criminal acts but substance abuse was responsible for most of their criminal acts or other risk factors such as unemployment, poverty, homelessness, and substance abuse (10).