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Thursday, June 7, 2012
CALLING All CHRISTIAN ...
Get involved with the Commissioner’s Play Healthy Awards contest today!
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Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Commentary: Peer Recovery Coaches: Expanding the Career Ladder
By Mary Jo Mather | June 5, 2012 | 1 Comment | Filed in Research
In a coffee shop. In a treatment center. At the library. At a sober living home. These are all settings where peer recovery services take place. Whether volunteers or staff, the role of a Peer Recovery Coach (PRC) is a legitimate and important one within the continuum of care, and IC&RC is proud to be developing the first, international credential for PRCs.
In recent years, a rapidly growing segment of the addiction recovery workforce has been made up of PRCs, who use their personal experiences of recovery to facilitate it and build resilience of persons with addiction, mental illness, or co-occurring substance and mental disorders. Many PRCs provide these valuable services as volunteers and in community settings, but seek the objective verification that certification provides.
A 2008 report from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment wrote:
“Recovery support services are non-clinical services. Many recovery community organizations have established recovery community centers where educational, advocacy and sober social activities are organized. Peer recovery support services are also offered in churches and other faith-based institutions, recovery homes/sober housing.”
Wherever they are, PRCs form the connecting tissue between professional systems of care and indigenous communities of recovery. They are specifically trained to assist people in accessing a broad range of support services including education, employment, health care, housing, day care, transportation and counseling for co-occurring problems.
Unlike a sponsor, the PRC usually works – as a volunteer or staff member – within a formal organization that is bound by accreditation, licensing and funding guidelines. Another distinction is that PRCs start coaching clients before they have formally entered recovery, continue the relationship even in the face of relapse and check-in with clients after they have disengaged from active participation in mutual aid groups.
Responding to demand in their jurisdictions, several IC&RC Member Boards – Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Pennsylvania – developed Peer Recovery credentials, and it soon became clear that there is a growing need for a credentialing process at the reciprocal level.
An IC&RC Task Force, headed by Kristie Schmiege of Michigan, explored and recommended standards for two levels of PRC, which were adopted by board vote in October, 2011. The organization is in the process of developing the formal job task analysis and written examination for the credential.
The 2008 report emphasized that “maintaining the peer-ness of peer recovery support services and resisting the pressure to professionalize these services is a key challenge.” As we developed the standards for the first-ever international PRC credential, IC&RC believes we have met this challenge.
Mary Jo Mather is the Executive Director of IC&RC, the largest addiction and prevention credentialing organization in the world. Today, IC&RC represents 78 member boards and 45,000 professionals from 25 countries and 47 U.S. states and territories. IC&RC’s seven credentials include counselors, clinical supervisors, prevention specialists, criminal justice and co-occurring disorders professionals.
Help support PRO-ACT!
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Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Workplace Insurers Spend More Than $1 Billion on Narcotic Painkillers
By Join Together Staff | June 4, 2012 | 1 Comment | Filed in Insurance &Prescription Drugs
Costs related to narcotic painkillers are growing for workplace insurers, which are currently spending an estimated $1.4 billion on the drugs, The New York Times reports. The companies are facing payouts to workers with injuries who are being treated with opioids, including many who do not return to work for months—or who don’t return at all.
Opioids can increase disability payouts and medical expenses by delaying employees’ return to work, if the drugs are used too often, too early in treatment, or for too long. A study by the California Workers Compensation Institute conducted in 2008 found workers taking high doses of opioids to treat injuries, such as back strain, were out of work three times longer, compared to those with similar injuries who took lower doses of medication.
A 2010 study by the insurer Accident Fund Holdings found that when disability payments and medical care are combined, the cost of a workplace injury is nine times higher when a strong painkiller such as OxyContin is used, compared to when an opioid is not used, the article notes.
“What we see is an association between the greater use of opioids and delayed recovery from workplace injuries,” Alex Swedlow, the head of research at the California Workers Compensation Institute, told the newspaper.
Although there is little evidence that opioids provide long-term benefits in treating common workplace injuries such as back pain, these drugs are widely prescribed for these problems.
Insurance industry data shows that between 2001 and 2008, opioid prescriptions as a percentage of all drugs used to treat workplace injuries rose 63 percent. Costs have also increased. To reverse this trend, some states have issued new pain treatment guidelines, or are expected to do so.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Get State Certified in Pennsylvania
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