According to the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013), an substance use disorder (SUD) involves patterns of symptoms caused by using a substance that an individual continues taking despite its negative effects. Though there are 11 specific DSM-5 criteria for an SUD, they…

Beginning with a brief review of the literature related to the importance of religion/spirituality (R/S) in counseling clients with substance use disorders and addictions, this article provides classroom exercises that educators can use in the addiction curriculum to foster student insight and awareness, leading to increased R/S competency.

This is the executive summary for the report, "Road to Recovery: Improving Substance Use Disorder Services in Milwaukee County." The challenges associated with alcohol and substance use disorders (SUDs) in Wisconsin and Milwaukee County are well-documented and severe. Milwaukee County's Behavioral Health Services (BHS) has led efforts to…

Substance use and other addictive behaviors can last throughout the lifespan and lead to other health issues. Adolescents are not immune to addiction or addictive behaviors and are more likely to experience curiosity and to engage in experimentation. Historically, addiction has been a topic that has been avoided or stigmatized. Further, the use of…

Using a case example from a mid-sized town in East Central Indiana, this article illustrates the development and implementation of a community-academic partnership (CAP), a novel approach to addressing substance misuse in local communities. A CAP can be defined as a formal, strategic partnership between the local community and university faculty,…

School-based mental health professionals are in an ideal position to intervene and prevent problematic substance use among adolescents (Lasser & Schmidt, 2010). Although specialized graduate training in addictions is commonplace for clinical, counseling, and social work, it has not been as readily available in preservice programs for school…

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs in United States costs over 740 billion yearly (https://www.drugabuse.gov/relatedtopics/trends-statistics, accessed March 2018). However, statistics like this rarely include the toll that alcohol tobacco, and illegal drugs takes on family members,…

Although the Collegiate Recovery Community is increasingly seen as the treatment modality of choice for students in recovery, relatively few such programs have been established on small residential campuses. In this article we examine the possible reasons for this reluctance and suggest ways in which the standard model for a Collegiate Recovery…

Social workers play a critical role in assessing and treating individuals and families with mental health and addiction concerns. Although social workers are key professionals in the mental health workforce, there are gaps in the training and education of mental health, addictions, and suicide, and many students are inadequately prepared for field…

New developments in the treatment of mothers and infants affected by opioid addiction point to the promising effects of interventions that adopt a developmental perspective, occur concurrently with addiction treatment, and target the parent-infant relationship as early as possible. In this article, the authors provide general guidelines for…

In this article, the authors present a collegiate recovery model of service that prioritizes a programmatic approach and intentionally designed services, activities, and mentoring that is structured upon a foundation of what we identify as five "Healing Pillars of Collegiate Recovery." The guiding principle of service is to provide…

The RECOVEU project is an effort to conceive of a quality-learning programme with equity for adult learners in recovery. It emerged in the context of European recommendations that member states support recovering users to access education in order to improve their chances of achieving social integration. However, by privileging the voices of those…

This article describes an untapped resource that counselors can use to help serve the multiple needs of college students recovering from addiction: collegiate recovery programs. The authors provide detailed information about the collegiate recovery population and give examples of successful programs. Implications for future research are discussed,…

Anhedonia refers to the inability of experiencing pleasure in positive life events. It has been conceptualized as a stable yet malleable characteristic and is associated with hypoactivity in the mesolimbic and mesocortical dopaminergic systems. Very recently, it has been posited as an etiologic factor associated with drug addiction onset,…

Canada's Aboriginal people connect history to their loss of identity, grounded in Nation based languages and beliefs. Recovering from colonization requires healing wounds that festered during residential school and the 60's scoop. Treating family violence and addictions is more than an individual reality for many of today's Aboriginals. It is a…