...Deciding to become an alcohol or substance abuse counselor can be a very rewarding but stressful occupation. It takes a special person who has compassion, patience and a genuine desire to help people. After completion of the required educational curriculum, there are many organizations that one could look to find opportunities to work with people in need. Also, there are being familiar with the different organization out there that make up the addiction-counseling field will be vital to a the success of the counselor-client relationship. This essay will discuss the different organizations out there that offer support for the counselor and the client. The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism is on the organizations that make up the National Institute of Health. It is the largest contributor to research on the effects of alcohol in the world. The NIAAA teams up with science professional to conduct research that shows the correlations between alcohol and genetics, neuroscience, epidemiology and prevention and treatment. The NIAAA conducts studies with other treatment facilities and federal programs on issues related to alcohol abuse. T also helps with the implementation and interpretations of the results of research on the federal, state and local levels. Researchers can apply for the National Research Service Award program for grants to continue their works for better treatment possibilities. A trade association is a group of business that works...
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...Welcome to WritePoint, the automated review system that recognizes errors most commonly made by university students in academic essays. The system embeds comments into your paper and suggests possible changes in grammar and style. Please evaluate each comment carefully to ensure that the suggested change is appropriate for your paper, but remember that your instructor's preferences for style and format prevail. You will also need to review your own citations and references since WritePoint capability in this area is limited. Thank you for using WritePoint. Welcome to WritePoint, the automated review system that recognizes errors most commonly made by university students in academic essays. The system embeds comments into your paper and suggests possible changes in grammar and style. Please evaluate each comment carefully to ensure that the suggested change is appropriate for your paper, but remember that your instructor's preferences for style and format prevail. You will also need to review your own citations and references since WritePoint capability in this area is limited. Thank you for using WritePoint. Alcohol and Drug Addiction COM/156 ...
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...Causal Essay Western Governors University Task 3 Causal Essay Substance abuse has been thought to be a big city problem. However alcohol abuse and illegal drugs such as marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine, have made their way into our small rural communities. Rural America has become a refuge for drug makers, dealers and abusers. Substance abuse such as drugs, alcohol, and prescription drugs are a growing problem in rural communities due to stress, peer pressure and chronic pain. Studies have reported that individuals exposed to stress are more likely to abuse alcohol and other drugs or undergo relapse (National Institute on Drug Abuse, n.d.). It is well established that the effects of stress can damage people’s mental and physical health. Not everyone deals with stress in the same way, where as some people have an inability to deal with it effectively. One of the ways that the individual may attempt to manage their stress is by using alcohol or drugs. This type of self-medication can provide temporary relief, but is ultimately self-defeating. It can mean that the individual will have more stress in their life than ever, but they will have even less of an ability to handle it. Using drugs, as a short-term solution to the stress going on in their life is dangerous and can lead to addiction. Stress can be caused by the loss of job, divorce, death of a loved...
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...James Brow Professor DuBro English 111 June 15, 2015 Response Essay I read the article The Irrationality of Alcoholics Anonymous by Gabrielle Glaser and her opinion on the effectiveness of the AA program. The author states that the AA program is not as effective as people believe and is not the only option when it comes beating alcohol addiction. As the author states " Hospitals, outpatient clinics, and rehab centers use the 12 steps as the basis for treatment. But although few people seem to realize it, there are alternatives, including prescription drugs and therapies that aim to help patients learn to drink in moderation. Unlike Alcoholics Anonymous, these methods are based on modern science and have been proved, in randomized, controlled studies, to work." The author researches through the article to find other options to combat alcoholism and compare AA to other therapy companies. The AA program says it has a 75 percent success rate but interviews with actual members, puts the percent range around 8 percent. The Irrationality of Alcoholics Anonymous has stories of former members that had Alcoholic problems that tried AA but could not fix the problem and AA blame them for it and not themselves showing their true colors. The AA program is not flexible and uses the same treatment for all members instead of adjusting to the level of drinking of the person. With interviews and travels, it shows that AA is not the only options alcoholics have to help them. ...
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...Abstract Addiction and the issues which accompany it are at epidemic proportions. Peer group therapy has proven to be an effective therapeutic treatment for those who are addicted. The group offers a sliding scale fee structure for those who are not insured. Those clients unable to contract for abstinence for the duration of the group were disqualified. This essay explores a cognitive behavioral therapy group for women who are currently have a substance addiction. The participants range in age from 19-43. The group meets once per week over the course of 8 weeks. The prospective group members were each given a screening questionnaire to determine suitability for the group. The group was designed to identify and unlearn patterns which led to addictive behaviors. The clients learned ways to replace these behaviors with healthier alternatives. The group illuminated and discussed beliefs about their person which led to the addictive behaviors. 6 of the 8 participants successfully completed group therapy. The group has been recreated at several different locations due to the success of the original group. Final Project Group therapy is an important part of addiction treatment. Lee states, “Clinical studies have shown that peer group therapy in drug treatment is about as effective for inducing long term sobriety as individual counseling but most drug treatment programs combine the two therapeutic treatments in a more comprehensive programming” (2015). In addiction treatment...
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...Nursing Essay Name: Course: Tutor: Date: Substance abuse refers to the pattern of continued use, despite adverse consequence. Socio-cultural determinants of substance abuse of substance use imply to social factors that affect the outcome of drug abuse. The group characteristic determines social cultural determinants, and the general beliefs in history of the set community. For instance, smoking was considered fashionable in the early times. Currently, it is prohibited in some communities. The alienations of individuals in new environment trigger people to abuse drugs. Emerging adulthood has been a significant contributor to drug abuse widespread. The youths gain freedom during the transition stage of adolescence to adulthood hence they abuse the drugs without fear of the parents. The exposure to colleges where there is so much freedom and culture of excessive drinking is continuously contributing to widespread use. Students abuse drugs while trying to cope with up with the new environments of studies and trying to fit the new social settings. The significant direct cost is arising from substance abuse results from health care. According to (J Rehm et. al, 2006) “The cost of acute care and psychiatric hospitalization, specialized inpatient treatment, ambulatory care and doctor’s fees, visits to a family doctor and drugs prescribed to treat a substance abuse problem.”9(p.5).Absolute proportional cost is spend according to the attributable ratio. Law enforcement cause...
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...Keywords: Health related behaviour, brief intervention, alcohol, stages of change, intervention mapping. ABSTRACT The health of people depends widely on their behaviour. Targeting unhealthy behaviours depends upon a number of factors since the health practitioner needs to take into account the beliefs, the intensity of the unhealthy behaviour, an individual’s readiness to change in order to design an appropriate intervention to help the individuals understand the risks of that particular behaviour thereby inducing change. Using alcohol consumption as a health related behavior, brief interventions for this behaviour have been explained, this is mainly due to the large success of brief interventions. Thus this essay critically discusses examples of brief interventions in order determine what contributes to a successful intervention. INTRODUCTION Every human’s health and well being is affected by health related behaviour often regarded as the foremost important element or factor. With the rapid advancement in science, diseases that were incurable, today can be treated and prevented easily. It is a well understood phenomenon that individuals are unique and are characterized by multidimensional behaviours. So in order to achieve positive outcomes in improving one’s health, appropriate behaviour needs to be promoted. There are variations in health-related behaviours in terms of duration, frequency and manner of impact on one’s health. Health-related behaviours can be single...
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...Problems Facing Human Service Clients and How They Are Helped Amanda Blue BSHS/305 February 23, 2015 Joanne Schrock Problems Facing Human Service Clients and How They Are Helped There are many problems in the world today that human service clients are faced with, and are not limited to just a few. There is no one person with one single problem which is shy it is so important that the “whole person” is helped. Some of the problems that plague clients today are innumerable, but I will attempt to elaborate on a few. Human Service workers ensure that children live in safe homes and have their basic needs met. Helping parents to take care of their children may include in assisting with applications for food stamps or low-income housing and helping them to locate appropriate childcare. Housing or the lack of housing is one of the issues facing Human Service clients today. Many people are without homes for various reasons, such as not having money to pay, which means they are jobless, or not making enough to cover their living expenses. A client that is homeless can be faced with many other issues simply because they have no place to live. Another challenge for Human Service clients is depression. Depression can come about when a client is not able to adequately live with the necessities of life and seem to have no means in which to acquire them. When a client cannot provide for him or herself, it is detrimental to their well-being and may bring on a bout of depression...
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...Heroin Samantha Garza COM/172 02/29/2012 William Pinney Heroin “She was in a coma. She suffered brain damage and was paralyzed from the neck down; her one-time heroin use left her needing around-the-clock care.” (Bubala 2011, pgs. 1-2). This is an example of what Heroin can do to a young adult who tried the drug for the first time. Although Heroin may be a satisfying new experimental drug to young adults, Heroin is an addictive drug that destroys the human body, and can kill chronic users. The topics to be discussed in this essay are: What is Heroin, the bad effects Heroin has on the body, and what Heroin can lead to. What is Heroin? According to The Partnership (2011), “Heroin is a depressant that affects the brains pleasure systems and interferes with the brains ability to perceive pain” (Pg. 1). Research has shown that Heroin is an addictive drug imitated from the drug called Morphine. The Partnership (2011) indicates that Heroin is created from the Opium Poppy plant. The way Heroin is created is by the seeds from the Opium Poppy, which are crushed until it forms the powder substance. This powder substance is known to be called Morphine. According to Stop Heroin (2008-2012) the Opium Poppy plant are grown in numerous places. Here are just a few examples of where the Opium is grown, Southern America, Afghanistan, China, and Eastern Europe. Heroin is a powdery substance that will look white, brown, or black depending on what it is mixed with...
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...Final Essay Assignment - Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: Who has the rights? Sheila Bird COR3100 Critical Thinking and Writing (Section 2) John F. Kennedy University Summer 2014 Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: Who Has The Rights? Who has the rights when an unborn child is involved, mother or child? Can an unborn child be protected from his/her mother? Fetal Alcohol Syndrome [FAS] raises these questions that so far, have not been addressed. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is considered to be the most serious consequence of a mother drinking alcohol during pregnancy and is considered the #1 cause of mental retardation in the United States, and it is one that is entirely preventable. FAS was first reported in France in 1968 and noticed/discussed in the United States by Jones and Smith in 1973. Jones and Smith would identify distinctive facial features in children who were exposed to alcohol during pregnancy. Some of these facial features are: short eyelid openings, flat midface, thin upper lip and a flat or smooth grove between nose and upper lip. The children can also show growth retardation and significant cognitive and/or behavioral problems/issues. In the United States, FAS/Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder [FASD] occurs in about 10 per 1,000 live births or 40,000 babies per year. FAS is a lifelong condition that is not curable and has serious lifelong consequences. Unfortunately, there is no known limit on the amount of alcohol a mother can safely consume, that will not cause...
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...Problem November 1, 2012 Abstract The following essay is an argument to try to persuade readers that the dispensing and prescribing of opiate medication for all problems relating to pain is detrimental to the health of patients. I have included a personal story and data relating to the overprescribing of pain medication. The sources I have cited include the New York Times, Kaiser Health News, Stop Drugged Driving.org and Daily Mail, UK. When I looked into the glassy tear-filled eyes of my dear friend Charlotte, I saw pain. She had just spent the night in the Clark County Detention Center. As she explained to me what had happened to bring her there, driving under the influence of narcotics, I saw the pain turn to anguish. She was embarrassed from what she had done to herself. She was fighting withdrawal from the Lortab that her doctor had prescribed for her. I was happy that I could help her get out of jail that morning, but that was not the end of her pain and suffering. It was just the beginning. The medication that was supposed to help her neck pain feel better had wound up causing her more suffering and problems than she bargained for. This is an all too common problem seen in the United States. The prescribing of opiate medications for complaints of simple pain is causing addiction and health problems and is detrimental to the health of patients. My friend Charlotte had fallen victim to an addiction to pain killers propagated by easy access through a...
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...non-incarcerated system of corrections. Late eighties and early nineties have brought a new revolution in the justice system. Parole and probation have always been a way of community correction, but with technological advancement and considering the psychology of convicted people, correction programs have widened to accommodate work releases, day fine programs, electronic monitoring, home confinement, community service, half way houses, boot camp prisons, restitution, check-in programs, mediation, curfews, restorative justice centers, drug checks, alcohol checks and other methods where there is a certain level of trust between the offenders and the people involved. The objective of this essay is to compare and contrast characteristics and goals of halfway houses, day reporting centers, and drug courts. Their similarities and difference in regards to incarceration will also be discussed. Halfway houses, also called “community correction centers” or “residential reentry centers” are used mostly as an intermediate housing option to help a person return from prison to the community after he has served a prison sentence (Bayens & Smykla, 2013). Sometimes, though, halfway houses can be used instead of prison or jail, usually when a person’s sentence is very short. For example, halfway houses may be a good choice when a person has served time in prison, been released on parole, and then violated a parole condition and been ordered to serve a few months additional time for that violation. While...
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...Drugs and technology While it is almost impossible to get an actual percentage of people affected by drug addiction, the use continues to grow. Most people will admit to trying some form of illegal drug, but addicts have a hard time even coming to grasp that they are addicted. Our society has been struggling with addiction for hundreds of years. Those affected vary in age, and are not limited to adults. According to the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2011), there are approximately 27 million Americans today that either use illicit drugs regularly or are “heavy drinkers”. Sixteen million of these are in need of immediate treatment for their addiction problem. By the age of 18 almost 12 percent of young people in America are addicted to drugs. Statistics also show that about 70 percent of users who are employed contribute significantly to absenteeism in the work place, workplace accidents, workplace injuries, decreased productivity, increased insurance premiums, and large employee turnover and violence in the workplace. The total estimated cost to our society in America for substance abuse exceeds 250 billion dollars per year. Addiction has become prominent as one of the worst health and social problems in the United States today. (coachinginternational.com) Through the last two decades, addiction rates in the United States have increased significantly because of the advancements in Information Technology. Social networking, internet access...
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...Insite: The Battle over Supervised Injection Sites In the 1990’s there was an epidemic of HIV outbreaks in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. Injection drug users were found to be the leading cause of this, and a public health emergency was declared (Fafard, 2012). The “mortality and morbidity” resulting from this increasing injection drug use became a major political issue. This resulted in the adoption of harm reduction by the government as one of their four pillars of their drug strategy (Fafard, 2012). Harm reduction “is a set of practical strategies and ideas aimed at reducing negative consequences associated with drug use” (Boyd, 2013). In September 2003 Insite, North Americas first harm reduction supervised injection site, was opened (Boyd, 2013). It was a three-year pilot project sanctioned by the Federal government under Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substance Act. The goal of Insite is to “improve the health and welfare of injection users, reduce the spread of disease through sharing on needles, reducing public injection use, and reducing overdose deaths due to injections” (Boyd, 2013). Since it’s opening it has been under constant political scrutiny. It had support under the Liberal government from 2003-2006, but lost that support once Stephen Harper and the Conservatives secured control (Boyd, 2013). Despite support for Insite from international organizations such the World Health Organization, the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Public Health Association...
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...surrounding them which might seriously affect their whole life. As definition in the Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act: Child abuse is any action from adult to a child that it could be harmful to the child’s body or mental (Children Welfare Information Gateway 2007). In 2005, among 3.6 million investigations by Child Protective Services agencies in the U.S, an estimated 899,000 children (24.97%) were confirmed to be victims of child abuse (Children’s Bureau 2005). In generally, there are 4 typical kinds of child abuse: neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse and emotional maltreatment. Child neglect is situation that child’s primary needs were lacked from adults, especially parents or caregivers of the child. Physical child abuse is an adult’s action which causes visible or potential harmfulness to the child. Sexual abuse in children is any sexual activity from adult within a child. Emotional maltreatment is known as a behavior of children abuse that affects to psychology life or social skills of a child (Jaffe-Gill et al 2007). We can classify the reasons of child abuse into 3 different ways: parental causes, ecological causes and child problems (Childline Gauteng 2006). Besides, child abuse also has strongly influenced to all sides of the child’s life, such as: physical effects, behavior effects and emotional effects (Jaffe-Gill et al 2007). This essay will discuss the causes and negative effects of child abuse as well as provide suggestions to assist the victims. ...
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