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Background It is estimated that over 2 million people have an opioid use disorder, which includes prescription pain medication containing opiates and heroin. For some people, rehab is not an option because it means putting their life on hold for a period of time, they would have to be away from their jobs, loss of financial security, being away from family, or other reasons. What is Medicated Assisted Treatment? Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is the use of medications, in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, to provide a “whole-patient” approach to the treatment of substance use disorders. Using a combination of therapy and medicine is a great way to overcome substance abuse disorder. Drug usage and mental health go hand in hand and combating these two together makes for a very successful outcome and help people sustain recovery. MAT is also used to prevent or reduce opioid overdose. How Does MAT Work? MAT is primarily used for the treatment of addiction to opioids such as heroin and prescription pain relievers that contain opiates. The prescribed medication operates to normalize brain chemistry, block the euphoric effects of alcohol and opioids, relieve physiological cravings, and normalize body functions without the negative and euphoric effects of the substance used. For some, it is hard to all of a sudden become abstinent from drug use. MAT uses progress and success by small improvements, to big improvements. For instance, if a drinker normally has 10 drinks, and with MAT they only have 5, that is a successful implementation of the harm reduction treatment/MAT. Medicated assisted treatment has proved to be clinically effective and to significantly reduce the need for inpatient detoxification services for these individuals. MAT provides a more comprehensive, individually tailored program of medication and behavioral therapy that addresses the needs of most patients. Successes of MAT There is huge success when it comes to medicated assisted treatment. People gain control of their lives, improve employment opportunities, decrease illicit opiate use and other criminal activity among people with substance use disorders, and are more productive in their daily living. MAT also helps with successful birth and pregnancy outcomes among women who have substance use disorders while pregnant. Research shows that these medications and therapies can contribute to lowering a person’s risk of contracting HIV or hepatitis C by reducing the potential for relapse. There are so many benefits of medicated assisted treatment, not only are lives saved, but lives are changed! What are your thoughts about medicated assisted treatment? Do you know someone who did MAT and had a success story? To find treatment facilities confidentially, 24/7, please call 1-800-662-4357 (HELP)
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September is a time for people to come together to share their stories and resources to help spread awareness in the hope of preventing another individual from taking their own life. This is also a time to spread hope and share vital information to people affected by suicide. This is why September is National Suicide prevention Month.
Who Does Suicide Affect? Suicide affects all ages. In 2020, suicide was among the top 9 leading causes of death for people ages 10-64. Suicide was the second leading cause of death for people ages 10-14 and 25-34. According to the CDC, suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States, with 45,979 deaths in 2020. This is about one death every 11 minutes. Firearms account for 50% of suicide and women attempt suicide three times more frequently than men; however, men are three times more likely to die by suicide. Suicide is highly linked to mental health disorders such as anxiety, bipolar disorder, and depression and also affects individuals who are struggling with a substance abuse disorder or an eating disorder. What Are Suicidal Warning Signs? Warning signs that a loved one might be depressed or suicidal include: ● Frequently talking about self-harming behavior and suicide, or portraying themselves in a negative light ● Distancing themselves emotionally from loved ones ● A loss of interest in activities that once brought them joy, such as playing sports, participating in hobbies, and spending time with friends ● Unpredictable changes in eating or sleeping habits, often accompanied by neglecting personal hygiene ● Desperate attempts to regain lost friends, such as succumbing to peer pressure to engage in unhealthy habits such as drug use ● A decline in school or work performance ● Asking questions associated with death and/or suicide ● Giving away prized belongings What Can We Do To Help? When an individual is going through a hard time, sometimes it is hard for them to ask for help. The person struggling may be ashamed to ask for help, may not have a support system to be able to receive help or maybe too scared that finances could get in the way. As a family member, friend, coworker or loved one, it is imperative that we take our time to listen to individuals who are struggling and try to steer them in the right direction to receive professional help. Understanding the underlying reason these suicidal ideations are occurring, is essential to learn how to overcomes this particular struggle and develop healthy coping skills to combat and future setbacks. How Can Social Workers Help? Social Workers play an important role in preventing suicide by delivering universal, targeted, and individual prevention programs. Social workers need to use the best assessment tools for assessing suicide risk and receive continuous training on how to talk to patients about suicidal thoughts. Some say many clinicians are uncomfortable speaking to clients about suicide and warns this can drive away patients who need care most. In speaking to clients about suicidal thoughts Dr. Alonzo, a Professor at Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service suggests clinicians: ● Create an accepting, safe, non-judgmental space for clients to disclose suicidal thoughts ● Maintain a transparent, neutral stance throughout the interview ● Consider the number and timing of questions ● Convey to the client that alternatives to suicide exist even though they may be hard to identify at this time ● Personalize treatment. Remember, don’t be afraid to ask someone how they feel, if something is wrong or if you share with them that you have noticed they are not their usual self, listen without judgment. If you or someone you know is going through a suicidal crisis, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Lifeline provides confidential support to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. You can also contact the Crisis Text Line (text HELLO to 741741). Both services provide 24-hour, confidential support to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. On Thursday, September 8, 2022, a Zoom informational session regarding the compact took place. Matt Shafer, the Associate Director of Public Policy at The Council of State Governments, and Keith Buckhout, the Research Associate at The Council of State
Governments, lead the session. Although the compact's language is currently unofficial and in its draft form, the Council hopes this legislation will be ready for introduction during the 2023 state legislative sessions. What is a compact anyway? The compact will allow licensed social workers to acquire an additional license to facilitate multi-state practice among member states and reduce the barriers to license portability. Matt and Keith simplified it nicely by comparing it to a drivers license; you can use it to drive anywhere your license is permitted, but you must obey the laws in that state. The only caveat is that the compact will only allow you to practice in the states that are legally bound to the compact. Regarding LCSW's For clinical social workers to acquire the additional licensure that will facilitate multi-state practice among member states, they must hold an active license in their home state as well as: 1. Have an MSW or higher from an accredited program. 2. Have passed a clinical-category national licensure exam. 3. Have completed 3,000 hours or two years of full-time, post-graduate supervised clinical practice. Steps to take before September 16! The Council of State Governments recognizes that many questions still do not have answers, such as which states will join the compact and the costs for the licensure. That is because the compact is still in its infancy and more work needs to be done. BUT there is something we can all do right now. An initial language draft is open for review on the compact's website. Upon review of the compact, it is strongly encouraged to provide feedback, thoughts, questions, or concerns regarding the draft. The Council has provided a link on its website to follow for any comments regarding the draft. THIS NEEDS TO BE COMPLETED BEFORE FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2022, SO PLEASE DON'T WAIT! CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK TO THE COMPACT WEBSITE President Joe Biden announced his plan to “forgive” $10,000 of student debt for qualifying, low- to middle-income borrowers, while Pell grant recipients may get up to $20,000 in student loan forgiveness. This plan could affect roughly 43 million federal student loan borrows nationwide, although not all of them would qualify. To take advantage of President Biden’s loan forgiveness plan, applicants must make less than $125k a year as a single person, or $250k married or as head of household. They would also have had to take the federal loan out before July 2022. With historically low-income wages and the cost of higher education on the rise, many wonder if this relief is enough. Federal aid and Pell Grants used to cover up to 80 percent of someone’s college tuition, but today it only covers a third. How does this affect minorities and people of color? For those with relatively smaller loans, Biden’s plan is a dream come true, while for others, it barley moves the needle. For example, the average student borrower has a loan debt exceeding $30,000, but for women of color, the number is much higher. On average, Black women are in debt about $41,000, with Native American women owing about $36,000. White women, on the other hand, are on the lower end owing about $33,000 according to the American Association of University Women. While minorities will be receiving the shorter end of the stick with this plan, another affected population will be lower income Americans. The Penn Wharton Budget Model showed that about 70% of overall debt forgiveness would go to the top 60% of Americans by income, meaning individuals making between $82,400 and $141,096 would receive the greatest share of overall forgiveness, at 28.1%. But is it really that bad? Of course not. Anytime the federal government wants to give back to its students, it’s much appreciated. In addition to the student federal loan forgiveness program, President Biden also added the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. This program would allow qualifying public servants, that have federal student debt, and have also made 120 payments towards their loan to have the remaining balance be forgiven. Impact on Social Work This program would encourage people to join the profession and fill the urgent need for more social workers. By eliminating the constant worry of paying for school, people would feel more motivated to receive a social work education and ultimately, more social justice could be done in communities. Student loan debt can weight on a person’s mental health, even social workers. It has been said that most people in their professions feel like they cannot give their best in their career because of the financial burden hanging over their head. Some people may have to get second jobs just to make ends meet. This can be very stressful. So, is this relief a good thing? Is it enough? What do you think about the student loan forgiveness plan? What does it mean to be a social worker now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned? Like many of us, I'm sure you've asked yourself this question. A few tips during this time to help you:
1) Take care of yourself. It's okay if you need time to take in and process what has occurred over the past week. 2) Reach out to your supports. If you don't have a lot of supports, reach out to us and we will connect you 3) Do something that helps you feel recharged 4) Get involved - if you aren't sure where to begin join reach out to us and we can help connect you. Here are some great tools to get you started: https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1WUqUomhhzf1Weub1O-o1-l_R9r_QTxJ9lFkEuPUulqo/mobilebasic?urp=gmail_link KSCSW supports reproductive and abortion rights and we encourage everyone to get involved in advocating for change. If you are looking for support we are here for you. Now is the time to come together and support one another and advocate for the rights. One of the values of a social worker is social justice. Our code of ethics states: Social workers challenge social injustice. Social workers pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people. Social workers’ social change efforts are focused primarily on issues of poverty, unemployment, discrimination, and other forms of social injustice. These activities seek to promote sensitivity to and knowledge about oppression and cultural and ethnic diversity. Social workers strive to ensure access to needed information, services, and resources; equality of opportunity; and meaningful participation in decision making for all people. Let's work together to educate, advocate, and support those we work with. Take care of yourself. We are here for you! This month we want to take time to reflect on the progress we have made as mental health professionals and also the steps we need to continue taking. Steps to take this month to become more aware and take action: Click here to review the fact sheet from the US Department of Health and Human Services: Click here to download the NAMI Partner Guide Review our Community Events tab to see NAMI events going on this month Click here to become a member today to be part of a network of social workers, stay up to day on advocacy events, and receive free CEUs, Share your story. We would love to hear your story. Comment and tell us about your journey! Recently there were revisions to the DSM-5. The American Psychiatric Association posted helpful fact sheets to assist with understanding the updates. Please review the updates from the fact sheet Making a Case for New Disorders:
Many of the diagnostic criteria sets included in the upcoming text revision of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR) are largely unchanged from DSM-5, but DSM-5-TR includes some changes such as the addition of a new disorder (prolonged grief disorder) and revised criteria sets for 70 disorders. The multilevel review process underlying such decisions was rigorous and deliberative. The Big Picture The text revision scope did not include major changes to the criteria sets or to other DSM-5 constructs. However, the need to make changes in certain diagnostic criteria sets for the purpose of clarification became apparent in conjunction with the text updates made across the manual. Because the conceptual constructs of the criteria are unchanged, the criteria sets in DSM-5-TR that had their origins in DSM-5 are still referred to as “DSM-5-criteria.” The new diagnostic entity “prolonged grief disorder” is referred to as a DSM-5-TR disorder, because of its addition in this volume. Proposals for changes in diagnostic criteria or specifier definitions that were a result of the text revision process were reviewed and approved by the DSM Steering Committee, as well as the APA Assembly and Board of Trustees, as part of the DSM-5 Iterative Revision process. Some of the most significant changes include: • Prolonged grief disorder is a new diagnosis in DSM-5-TR, characterized by distressing symptoms of grief that continue for at least 12 months following the loss of a person who was close to the bereaved. The grief response is characterized by intense longing for the deceased person and/or preoccupation with thoughts and memories of the lost person, along with other grief-related symptoms such as emotional numbness, intense emotional pain, and avoidance of reminders thatthe person is deceased. These symptoms are severe enough to cause impairment in daily functioning. The duration and severity of the bereavement reaction clearly exceed expected social, cultural, or religious norms for the individual’s culture and context. • Unspecified mood disorder is a newly added category. It applies to presentations in which symptoms characteristic of a mood disorder that cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning predominate. However, at the time of the evaluation, they do not meet the full criteria for any of the disorders in either the bipolar or the depressive disorders diagnostic classes and it is difficult to choose between unspecified bipolar and related disorder and unspecified depressive disorder. • Stimulant-induced mild neurocognitive disorder has been added to the existing types of substance-induced mild neurocognitive disorders such as alcohol, inhalants, and sedative, hypnotics or anxiolytic substances. • Suicidal behavior and nonsuicidal self-injury: ICD-10-CM codes for suicidal behavior and nonsuicidal self-injury have been added to the chapter Other Conditions that May Be A Focus of Clinical Attention. These codes will allow the clinician to record these clinically important behaviors independent of any psychiatric diagnosis. • Changes to autism spectrum disorder criterion A: Criterion A phrase “as manifested by the following” was revised to “as manifested by all of the following.” To clarify the intended meaning since the intention of the DSM-5 workgroup was always to maintain a high diagnostic threshold by requiring all three of the following criteria. • Changes in severity specifiers for manic episodes: The severity specifiers from DSM-IV have been readopted in DSM-5-TR: “mild” if only minimum symptom criteria are met; “moderate” if there is a significant increase in activity or impairment in judgment, and “severe” if almost continual supervision is required. The decision to use them stemmed from the fact that the “mild” severity specifier for manic episodes (few, if any, symptoms in excess of required threshold; distressing but manageable symptoms; and the symptoms result in minor impairment in social or occupational functioning) was inconsistent with manic episode criterion C which requires that the mood disturbance be sufficiently severe to cause marked impairment in social or occupational functioning; necessitate hospitalization; or include psychotic features. • Addition of course specifiers to adjustment disorder: Duration of symptom specifiers were inadvertently left out of DSM-5 and have been reinstated in DSM-5-TR: “acute” if symptoms have persisted for less than 6 months, and “persistent” if symptoms have persisted for 6 months or longer after the termination of the stressors or its consequences. • Changes to delirium criterion A: Delirium criterion A has been reformulated to avoid using “orientation,” the reason for the change is that the previous characterization of the awareness component as “reduced orientation to the environment” was confusing given that “disorientation” already appears as one of the “additional disturbances in cognition” listed in criterion C. More information regarding the updates can be found at https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm/educational-resources/dsm-5-tr-fact-sheets Let us know your thoughts on the udpates by commenting below! Tuesday, March 1, 2022
This statement is being written on behalf of the Kentucky Society for Clinical Social Work. We adamantly endorse HB 12 and SB 137 Youth Mental Health Protection Act. Conversion therapy is a form of torture that inflicts significant harm upon youth. Per the American Psychological Association, scientifically valid research has indicated that sexual orientation change efforts (SOCEs) are NOT able to reduce same-sex attractions or increase other-sex attractions. Homosexuality and gender diverse identities are not pathological and do not require intervention. There is evidence that conversion therapy can actually increase the risk of causing or exacerbating mental health issues in youth. Our primary mission as social workers, as stated in our code of ethics, is to “enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty”. Conversion therapy is therefore in direct conflict with the most basic tenets of the mission of social work. Hello, I hope everyone is having a great day.
It’s been about a year since the passing of Breonna Taylor. Many are still mourning her loss and what her family has had to go through. Even though, justice may not have quite been served for Breonna Taylor. Breonna’s family has been fighting for policy changes and advocating for there to be no more no-knock warrants in the city of Louisville. As a result, they were successful and the Louisville, KY, Metro Council passed “Breonna’s Law” unanimously. This was a big step and will hopefully lead to no more situations like Breonnas in the city of Louisville, KY. However, as a state we could do so much more to support Breonna Taylor’s family. Last year, House Bill 21 (Breonna’s Law) was introduced and sponsored by 16 democrats. Furthermore, if this bill becomes a law in the state of Kentucky, police officers will be required to have a search warrant and physically knock on a door before entering the premises when executing a search warrant. Additionally, police officers will have to announce themselves in a manner that can be heard by the occupants. Also, House Bill 21 requires all police officers that are present in the execution of a search warrant to wear operating body-worn cameras (these body cameras must be on 5 minutes prior to knocking on a resident’s door). Recently, this bill just went from the Judiciary to be posted in the committee. It has yet to be voted on, however, time is running out to pass this bill in this cycle. Some of the representatives in the House Standing Committee Judiciary include Ed Massey (Chair), Kim Banta (Vice Chair), Kevin Bratcher, McKenzie Cantrell, Nima Kulkarni and Chad McCoy. Here is a link to contact legislators in the house that will be voting on this bill https://legislature.ky.gov/Committees/Pages/Committee-Details.aspx?CommitteeRSN=92&CommitteeType=House%20Standing%20Committee. This is a policy I believe we all should support and push our legislators to pass. Moreover, I think this bill helps police officers be held more accountable and will reduce, if not stop, similar tragedies from occurring here in Kentucky. So let’s keep up the fight for justice and equality everyone. Titus Covington, Advocacy Committee Member Social work month has me thinking again about our ethical obligation to be advocates. We read the Color of Law: A Forgotten History of how our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstien last month for the KSCSW Book Club. It brought forth a new kind of knowing for me, about the persistent, insidious ways that racism has harmed generations in every possible way. And now that we know about the injustice in more detail….I can’t stop thinking about what can we do. If we do nothing, are we condoning it in any way?
I was pleased to see that Lexington has invited this author to a Zoom event where a brief film about his work will be viewed and then a community discussion. Maybe that is the next thing we can do, to keep learning and growing and practicing awareness of racism in our lives and work. https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ffb.me%2Fe%2F19Np1SQDM&h=AT3RrCLEnEcsxbszfuNL2O-1kFPViHHY6zUSQFhQyKRyY1JRgUlRvMPxQ3MPZkpmuyjRpfbLi82u2eMFp9L138e4aysAvqQiVD2PT5rtn4nTSdWmizXZ6VDItz-uEZx2Mw&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT0w5xnXEbJlz1SEmF-JRL3X7AJ_w0iv0-0aFUdMqoOk0RrTCyqPFLpnCrp7srcciKyAZ0p-SmNmVO_PJJrhxoyB4uBztpm3IHKoH0CqxT34PJXnX-SPqlYWbLw3UEccdhfi3-AboEaWhIG1spfv43bumghRdsU9SmPbxWm-j6Wt0xzJ09EkD1aI79iD6qUzjWSy6Kl- |
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