February 18, 2014

Good Morning!

 

Next week, we're going to begin to unveil our amazing plans for our 2014 Angel Ball to be held on Monday, May 12th at the Garden City Hotel. We've lined up an amazing keynote speaker and two great honorees. Please save the date and keep an eye out for all the exciting details!

Warmly,

Jeffrey L. Reynolds, Ph.D, CEAP, SAP

LICADD Executive Director


Macklemore Talks Addiction...
 

Grammy winner Macklemore recently spoke to MTV about his own struggles with addiction and his recovery. "[When] I actually drank for the first time, I was by myself," the artist said, mapping the beginning of an addiction that quickly spiraled. "This is an indicator of who I was, from the jump. After school, by myself [at] 13 years old, maybe 14."  

 

He talks about his journey, which included Oxycontin, describing it as one of the "most intense" drugs he's ever used. "It's synthetic heroin, that's the definition of it," and "[I saw] the grip that it had, just doing it for five or six days, sweating through my sheets and coming off of it shaking."

 

See his candid video interview here.

Hazelden, Betty Ford Center Merger Complete

 

Leading addiction treatment providers Hazelden and Betty Ford Center announced last week that their merger has been approved by government regulators, making the new "Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation" the nation's largest nonprofit treatment organization.

The latest approval came from the California Attorney General. Her approval is the final regulatory hurdle and the merger is now effective.

 

In a joint statement, the Hon. Susan Fox Gillis and Dr. Mary Turner Pattiz, the chair and vice chair respectively of the new Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation Board of Trustees, said, "We are proud of the individual legacies of both Hazelden and the Betty Ford Center and excited to come together as one today. With decades of combined expertise and industry-leading knowledge, we are poised now to bring even more innovation and leadership to our mission of restoring hope, healing and health to more individuals and families."

 

Mark Mishek, President and CEO of the merged organization, says, "We are now well-positioned to respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by health care reform and the rapidly changing marketplace. Together, we will be able to better utilize the addiction treatment field's most extensive expertise, knowledge and data to accelerate innovation in treating the chronic disease of addiction and expand our already robust national system of care. Together, we will be better able to help all those who seek recovery find it."

 

The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation has 15 sites across the U.S., offering both residential and outpatient services based on a Twelve Step, abstinence-based treatment model. The new foundation also includes the nation's largest addiction and recovery publishing house, a fully-accredited graduate school of addiction studies, an addiction research center, a prevention training program, an education arm for medical professionals and a unique children's program.

 

The Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., will retain its name, with the added tagline "a part of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation." Most other location names also will remain unchanged and will assume the same tagline. One exception: on Hazelden's campus in Center City, Minn., the Women's Recovery Center will be renamed to honor former First Lady Betty Ford's commitment to promote treatment and recovery for women.

 

"The Betty Ford Center and Hazelden are iconic names in our industry, and both hold important places in the history of addiction treatment and recovery," Mishek said. "We intend to honor both legacies and capitalize on our shared strengths to assume the responsibility of being the world leader dedicated to helping people reclaim their lives from addiction."

Smoking Cessation May Improve Mental Health


New research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that people who struggle with mood problems or addiction can safely quit smoking and that kicking the habit is associated with improved mental health.
 
"Clinicians tend to treat the depression, alcohol dependence or drug problem first and allow patients to 'self-medicate' with cigarettes if necessary," said lead investigator Patricia A. Cavazos-Rehg, PhD. "The assumption is that psychiatric problems are more challenging to treat and that quitting smoking may interfere with treatment."

But in the study, Cavazos-Rehg, an assistant professor of psychiatry, found that quitting or significantly cutting back on cigarette smoking was linked to improved mental health outcomes. Quitting altogether or reducing by half the number of cigarettes smoked daily was associated with lower risk for mood disorders like depression, as well as a lower likelihood of alcohol and drug problems.

"We don't know if their mental health improves first and then they are more motivated to quit smoking or if quitting smoking leads to an improvement in mental health," Cavazos-Rehg said. "But either way, our findings show a strong link between quitting and a better psychiatric outlook." 
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