By Oyen Hoffman, Behavioral Health Provider, MA, LMFT, LAC, MAC Clinical Specialist & Supervisor
At Mountain Family Health Centers, we believe that health care is a human right. We also believe that a Substance Use Disorder is an illness effectively treated with a proven combination of individual psychotherapy, group therapy, medication and medical care. Mountain Family believes it is our duty and responsibility to provide treatment services for patients with Substance Use Disorders.
In response to the looming opioid crisis, that often overshadows other common substance use disorders like alcoholism and addiction to prescription medication or to non-prescribed “street” drugs, Mountain Family is taking action. In addition to successfully reducing the number of controlled substances we’ve been prescribing, we are now offering Substance Use Disorder treatment services in the form of a Modified Intensive Outpatient Program (MIOP). Groups will be starting in Basalt, with MIOP group therapy on Tuesdays and Thursday from 4pm to 6pm for 12 weeks.
Any patient referred or seeking healthcare for their Substance Use Disorder will begin their new journey with a complete assessment by one of our addiction treatment specialists. Once assessed they will be welcomed into our MIOP program. Goals of the program are:
- Get and stay clean and sober
- Learn to cope with and manage cravings successfully, without using or drinking
- Improving supportive relationships
- Preventing relapse and
- Ensuring our patients see that they can have a fulfilling life without drugs or alcohol.
Offering MIOP has been a radical change for Mountain Family. Every single department has or will be affected by this implementation. The Behavioral Healthcare Department thanks all who have endured this change for your continued support in treating our patients experiencing the illness of Substance Use Disorder.
People are dying needlessly from Substance Use Disorder, which is a preventable and treatable illness. We know that 38 million adults drink too much alcohol, there are more than 88,000 alcohol-related deaths per year, another 64,000 drug-related deaths per year. This amounts to 152,000 deaths per year, or more than one million years of potential years of life lost every single year! (That’s according to the Centers for Disease Control, 2014.)
Mountain Family Health Centers believes that recovery from substance use disorders is not a consequence of your past, but a promise of a fulfilling future. We are looking toward the future, beyond the horizon, at Medically Assisted Treatment for opioid addiction, or MAT. MAT works and Mountain Family can be a continued source of improving healthcare by offering MAT …let’s hope!