Treatment On Demand! Stem the tide of death by overdose!

Everyday, addicts are dying.

Yet there are treatment centers with long waiting lists all over the country with empty beds.

Why?

Money is ruling access to treatment and society views addicts largely as throwaways until they ‘hit bottom’ and decide to get help.

The old thinking of: “They have to hit bottom.” and “If they don’t want help move on to someone who does.” must change.

We must train all families of addicts to be advocates for their loved one’s recovery and all medical and mental health professionals in the new understanding that this is a disease that IMPAIRS choice, so sometimes we just have to show up for them –  rather than “they have to want it.”

As it stands now, the process of getting into treatment is cumbersome, expensive and very difficult for many addicts to access. That means that once a bed is available for a user, 5-10 days after they initially asked for it,  they are back on the streets using. Why? Until they get help, that is what they do. Their brains are hijacked by the drug. that being the case, we as a society must respond!

What is needed is government subsidies of treatment so that any and every addict who needs a bed has one in any center with an open bed.

If you don’t like government subsidies, think about this:

What is it costing us as a nation to lose the productive years of so many addicts overdosing and dying well before their time? And what is it costing us to deal with all of the policing and jail needs of those who end up breaking the law and getting incarcerated?

Instead of treating addicts as criminals, it is time to funnel money into treatment on demand followed by long term life and vocational training.

Instead of subsidizing Big Pharma’s advertising needs (which completely dominate our TV screens everyday), we as a society could put that money into saving the lives of the many young people falling to the disease of addiction every year.

Instead of telling families they should walk away from their out of control addicted loved ones, how about investing the money to truly educate and coach them to become their loved one’s best chance at recovery. Let’s train Family Recovery Life Coaches  in every city, town and area of the country to help all members of the family encourage their loved ones to get help and stay in recovery?

Instead of ignoring addicts until they are death’s door, how about providing addiction specialists at every ER and Urgicare to assess and funnel those who come to the next available treatment bed at one of the many treatment centers with empty beds?

We could have Urgicare offices all around every city and town for loved ones who want help NOW.

These offices could be Urgicare for Addiction and Mental Health without the stigma of an Emergency Room or Psych hospital AND/OR the  regular Urgicares could have specially trained professionals and para-professionals so there is someone there to help.

And these places could house interventionists to help the family and loved one move toward treatment and peer specialists on call to make home visits on demand to help the family with everything from respite care while a family member is at work, to motivating conversations, to simple companionship designed to help the loved one move forward. And of course, BALM® coaches could be on call to get families moving through their own stages of change and into a more loving approach to help their loved one get and sustain recovery.

Instead of treating addicts like the scorge of society, let’s treat them the way we treat heart patients and diabetics: like people in need of immediate medical attention without worry as to cost until afterwards. Better yet, let’s budget the costs powerfully so we don’t have to worry about the cost at all.

People have been talking about treatment on demand for a very long time. These past few years are about as close as we have ever gotten to it… and we are still pretty far away. A lot of creativity will be needed for us as a society to be there powerfully for needing help.

Our loved ones are NOT throw aways.

Instead of giving people a shot of Narcan and showing them the door, have the equivalent of swat teams (any group of specialists brought in to solve a difficult or urgent problem) working strategically and convincingly to motivate them to take the next available bed in a treatment center giving them hope of a brighter tomorrow, regardless of their finances.

Again:

The old thinking of: “They have to hit bottom.” and “If they don’t want help move on to someone who does.” must change.

We must train all families of addicts to be advocates for their loved one’s recovery and all medical and mental health professionals in the new understanding that this is a disease that IMPAIRS choice, so sometimes we just have to show up for them –  rather than “they have to want it.”

The BALM® or a program like it MUST be available to all families and families MUST see their participation as critical!*

Family Recovery Life Coaches must be available in every city and town to help move families forward on their recovery path so they can be their loved one’s best chance!*

NARCAN and NARCAN training must be universally offered and taken advantage of by families, coupled with strong family recovery education to lessen the probability of overdose in the future.

“Before motivation there is readiness to be motivated.” (Frank Morales)

Are you ready to be motivated to change the status quo? Let’s work together to set up the societal supports that will help us prepare that readiness in our loved ones by providing comprehensive help that is there on demand.

*So you may say, what is the BALM® Institute doing to contribute to the massive movement in the direction of recovery? We now have an ICF-Accredited Family Recovery Life Coach Training Program that prepares professional life coaches specializing in the fields of Family Recovery/Recovery along with our full one year BALM Family Recovery Education Program that includes information, transformation and support for families facing their loved one’s struggles.  Find the one that will help YOU be a part of the solution rather than the problem and get started today!

For more information on the BALM® Family Recovery Education Program CLICK HERE

For more information on the Family Recovery Life Coach Training Program CLICK HERE