May 27, 2015
“In the Doctor's Office: Recovery Friend or Foe?” was presented on Tuesday May 26, 2015; by Dr. Mark A. Weiner, MD; and Jason Schwartz, LMSW, ACSW; Dawn Farm Clinical Director. Addiction is widely recognized as a chronic illness best treated with long-term monitoring and support. Primary health care settings are natural places for this care to be provided, and studies have demonstrated improved outcomes when people in recovery receive regular health care delivered by recovery-proficient providers. However, health care providers are often poorly equipped to meet the needs of this population and iatrogenic relapse is not uncommon. It's been said that the doctor's office is a dangerous place for people in recovery from addiction. It's also been said that recovering people are terrible patients. This program discusses whether these statements are fair, and why healthcare providers are essential allies for long term recovery. The program provides a basic overview of the neurobiological of addiction and its implications for health care consumers and providers, lists specific concerns related to medications, describes ways in which people in recovery from alcohol/other drug addiction can take responsibility for their health and discusses how health care providers can assist recovering individuals with sustaining recovery.This program is part of the Dawn Farm Education Series, a FREE, annual workshop series developed to provide accurate, helpful, hopeful, practical, current information about chemical dependency, recovery, family and related issues. The Education Series is organized by Dawn Farm, a non-profit community of programs providing a continuum of chemical dependency services. For information, please see http://www.dawnfarm.org/programs/education-series.