A Smartphone App to Help with Recovery

To help support individuals in recovery from substance use disorder, Addiction Policy Forum has partnered with CHESS Health to launch Connections, a free smartphone app that is scientifically proven to support patients in recovery by reducing relapse and promoting pro-social engagement.

With the app, users can track sobriety, access e-therapy to learn new recovery skills, connect with trained counselors and peers through messaging, access clinical support available seven days/week, 9 a.m. -10 p.m. EDT, track a treatment plan and set reminders, journal daily and discover helpful videos, testimonials and more through the unique resource library.

Connections is the only available app that is backed by years of research to support its provider-care management functionality, predictive relapse indicators and analytics to reduce relapse.

Boston Launches Survival Kit Program for Those Released from Incarceration Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

The Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (P.A.A.R.I.) has launched a Survival Kit program in Boston to reduce the risk of overdose for those released from correction facilities in response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. With many correctional facilities releasing people from incarceration who do not pose a significant risk to the public, there is an increased risk for fatal overdose. This coupled with a time when area hospitals and medical care centers are burdened significantly with COVID-19 patients leads to a need for this program.

The Survival Kits include naloxone, localized resources to facilitate referrals to services, COVID-19 safety information and Fentanyl safety information. This program could be adapted to be used in other states and communities with high rates of overdose after release from incarceration.

Nonfatal Drug Overdoses Treated in Emergency Departments – United States, 2016-2017

A recently published Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that from 2016 to 2017, US drug overdose deaths increased 9.6%. Using emergency department (ED) data to estimate nonfatal overdose prevalence and track changes across time we can see that nonfatal overdose ED visits for all drugs increased significantly. Using the ED data is critical to expand overdose surveillance and tailoring prevention resources such as medication-assisted treatment in ED settings and linkage to care for substance use disorder.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Peer Recovery Support Series, Section III: Understanding the Pathway and the Process

Wednesday, April 15, 3 p.m. EDT

This webinar will explore the process and identify how peer specialists and providers can intervene in helping individuals with substance use disorders negotiate that recovery journey. Learning objectives include describing key tasks of each stage of change and how they operate in the recovery journey, understanding the differences between early and later stages and process of change, naming and describing the three critical components of use disorders, describing the difference between different types of mechanisms of change/recovery and understanding how “scaffolding” can be used to support self-control and self-regulation.

Buprenorphine Treatment in Community Settings

Tuesday, April 28, 1 p.m. EDT

Speakers for this webinar are Dr. Marc Galanter, professor of psychiatry at NYU and Dr. John Femino, Femino Consultancy. Dr. Galanter will describe a published outcome study by program type based upon the intensity of counseling and recovery-oriented services. Dr. Femino will discuss the clinical aspects and implications for treatment planning from a neurobiological perspective.

A discussion of past research on the relative benefit of adding counseling to medication will be reviewed with emphasis on the limitations of controlled trials compared to clinical care. Discussion will focus on the real world implications of incorporating counseling when patients do not believe that counseling is necessary and current clinical guidelines only require “the capacity to refer.”