Drug Treatment Colorado

Ambassadors for Wellness & Recovery

Posted on by Christy Weeks
Business Dev

A Retrospective Look at the Importance of Business Development
by Gina de Peralta Thorne, MS

If you had asked me 20 years ago if I would be working in the field of addiction treatment I would have looked at you funny.  The idea of working with recovering addicts and alcoholics was never intended to be a part of my world.  I had family who suffered from addiction, but I didn’t know them and I never had any personal issues with alcohol or drugs.  My only exposure to AA was hearing about Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOA’s)  Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOA’s) from a mother who self- identified as an ACOA. 

So how did I end up being such a strong ambassador for recovery and wellness? I tell people, that I didn’t choose this career path, rather, it chose me.   My first time exposure to working with people in recovery was 10 years ago as Director of Business Development for a treatment program in Virginia.  I was so nervous, unsure how I could contribute to helping people live a life in sobriety?  I remember the first time an alumnus asked me if I was in recovery, I was uncomfortable to share that I wasn’t.  He stood for moment, looked at me and said, “That’s okay, and you’ll do.”   At the time, his response didn’t give me any tangible reassurance, but today, I understand.

With over a decade of ushering individuals and families into treatment, I know that it wasn’t pivotal for me to be in recovery to do this work.   I have been awed and inspired by what I have learned from working side by side with those in recovery. I have learned how to recognize my own character defects, practice the discipline of restitution, (making amends for my mistakes), find gratitude daily for all things in my life and recognize, “this too shall pass”.  I believe my role in this field has helped people find the connections and resources necessary to make their lives that much better and what an honor it is to be given this responsibility.

Today, the landscape of business development and marketing is challenging.  There are some big shifts in perception regarding our work.  Referrals are skeptical of our intentions, trust is questioned and our efforts to work collaboratively can be tested.  But I believe “doing the right thing” will win out every time.  We are “Ambassadors for Recovery”  charged with the responsibility  to help mentor and coach those new  to the field, teaching the ethical, transparent and collaborative approach to helping people get well. 

We are not about “heads in beds”,   or labeling our clients as insurance contracts. Our purpose is much greater.  We are the frontline of recovery for many of the families and individuals suffering.  Our role is vital and compelling. Never sell yourself short as being “just a marketer”. We are the connectors, the bridge to hope and opportunity and “we’ll do”!

Gina de Peralta Thorne, MS – Chief Marketing Officer with Harmony Foundation is a graduate from Florida State University with a degree in Health Education and Masters from University of West Florida in Health Education and Management. She has over two decades of experience working in the field of prevention, intervention, addiction treatment and recovery. Her background in health communications and health promotions has evolved in both the public and private sectors working in local, regional and national organizations, hospitals, and institutions of higher learning in Florida, New York, Ohio and Virginia. She has worked in marketing and business development for residential treatment programs in Virginia and Florida. A recent transplant to Colorado, Gina was Vice President of Marketing for Lakeview Health providing leadership and oversight to brand management, digital marketing communications, outreach support and alumni services. She is an industry leader speaking about Ethics, Recovery Oriented Systems of Care and Marketing and Business Development best practices. She is a member of the Treatment Professionals Alumni Services (TPAS) Board and an active member of the Addiction Treatment Marketing Organization (ATMO). Gina philosophically believes that change happens when others stretch across the divide and work together.

Nature and Mental Health at Harmony

Posted on by Christy Weeks
Mental Health and Nature

On any given day at Harmony you can witness life’s challenges and know that a compassionate soul is there to help along the path of healing. The mental health professionals are part of a team at Harmony and work with clients in a way that combines the natural beauty of our campus with the intrinsic values of each client.

To further explain how we know being in nature can help heal, I’d like to share a study out of Stanford University which suggests that time spent in natural settings may improve brain health.

“As more and more of us live in cities, we spend less time in natural settings, including parks. Studies also show that people in urban settings without access to green spaces have higher levels of psychological problems than those with access to green spaces. Is there a definitive connection between time spent in green spaces and mental health? The answer is yes. In a series of two studies, Stanford researchers believe there is a connection between time spent in green spaces and a decrease in “morbid rumination,” what is more commonly thought of as brooding over the negative aspects of our lives.”

“This study investigated the impact of nature experience on affect and cognition. We randomly assigned sixty participants to a 50-min walk in either a natural or an urban environment in and around Stanford, California. Before and after their walk, participants completed a series of psychological assessments of affective and cognitive functioning. Compared to the urban walk, the nature walk resulted in affective benefits (decreased anxiety, rumination, and negative affect, and preservation of positive affect) as well as cognitive benefits (increased working memory performance). This study extends previous research by demonstrating additional benefits of nature experience on affect and cognition through assessments of anxiety, rumination, and a complex measure of working memory (operation span task). These findings further our understanding of the influence of relatively brief nature experiences on affect and cognition, and help to lay the foundation for future research on the mechanisms underlying these effects.”

The study further asks, what does this mean for everyone?

1. “Spend Time in Natural Settings – What can it hurt to take a daily walk in the park or spend time sitting on your back porch looking at the creek (if you’re lucky enough to have that situation)? Take your lunch to a natural setting and spend vacation time at least partially in the outdoors. Doing so will immediately improve your mental health.
2. Move – Movement is good for us. No doctor in the world says that it’s healthy to sit at home and do nothing. But instead of going to the gym, find a nature trail to hike or bike, golf, or take a stroll in the green belt. Even if you don’t get your heart rate up to aerobic activity levels, you’ll still mentally benefit from the movement.”

The healing journey for a client at Harmony can include a client expressing their emotions in a calmly lit room, moving forward on a walk to the river at Rocky Mountain National Park or learning a really cool coping skill. One of many examples of coping skills taught to clients is called 5,4,3,2,1 where one is taught to evoke all five senses. This is a great coping skill where a client is taught to tap into all 5 senses within as a viable resource. Another experience often happening at Harmony is witnessing clients as well as staff simply spending time with Cooper, our therapy dog.

As a mental health provider at Harmony, I have noticed clients seemingly more calm during sessions when we are taking a walk together in nature. I believe they appreciate the fact we are walking and talking side by side as opposed to sitting across from one another. Clients have stated, “Wow, this is better than sitting in an office, this is a nice place to get treatment.”

Since Harmony offers outings each week at an indoor climbing gym or hike in the park, depending on the weather, clients are able to take advantage of the natural beauty and the healing attributes of moving Harmony has to offer.

Harmony is a special place that helps client’s feel safe, accepted and cared about. For some on their path of healing it is a beginning, for others it is a renewal; for all whose path includes a stay at Harmony, it is a step toward healing in the arms of nature’s embrace.

Kelly Baker, MA, LAC, LPC, NCC
Mental Health Professional, Harmony Foundation, Inc.

References:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/how-nature-changes-the-brain/?mwrsm=Facebook&fb_ref=Default&_r=0
http://www.pnas.org/content/112/28/8567.abstract
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204615000286
http://www.girlscouts.org/

Does Treatment Work? Why Outcomes Matter…

Posted on by Christy Weeks
Does Treatment Work

by Dr. Annie Peters: Harmony Foundation’s Chief Clinical Officer

Harmony has been helping people who are struggling with addiction to find recovery since 1969. While Harmony is well-known in Colorado for providing clients and families with support and quality services for many decades, reputation means little without demonstrating that people do, in fact, get better.

Defining what recovery is, and demonstrating that people who use Harmony’s services begin finding recovery, are essential components to the provision of ethical and effective care. Harmony’s mission is to provide the foundation for recovery from the diseases of drug and alcohol addiction. If clients leave treatment and begin re-developing lives of purpose, satisfaction, and rewarding relationships, we know we have helped to provide the foundation for a journey toward wellness.

Harmony contracts with an external research organization, OMNI Institute, to examine treatment outcomes regarding substance use, psychological well-being, and improvement in life satisfaction.
Data collection for the most recent outcomes study performed by OMNI began in March 2015, and the study was finalized in 2017. One hundred and forty eight (148) Harmony clients were assessed upon admission, at discharge, and at 1, 6, and 12 months post-discharge. The percentage of clients who responded at these time points were, respectively, 100%, 94%, 63%, 61%, and 64%. While results cannot be generalized to clients who were unable to be reached for follow up, a number of statistically significant findings can be reported and provide valuable information about the effectiveness of care provided at Harmony.

DEMOGRAPHICS

Understanding the people we serve helps us provide the highest quality of care by tailoring treatment interventions to the specific needs of our clients. In this study, the average age of clients was 38, with a range from 18-65. Sixty-four percent (64%) of clients identified as male, and 36% identified as female. All clients were asked to identify their “primary drug.” The majority of clients (74%) identified this as alcohol, followed by heroin (10%), methamphetamine (6%), other opiates/painkillers (5%), and marijuana (3%).

Clients under the age of 25 typically used more substances – the average number was four. The primary drug differed by age as well; clients under 25 identified heroin or alcohol (38% for each), followed by marijuana (13%).

REASONS FOR DRUG/ALCOHOL USE

Clients were asked about the reasons they used alcohol and drugs, and their responses help us understand how to help people better. Many clients (30%) said they used substances for “self-medication” or emotional pain/mental illness (28%). Other common answers were using for pleasure (22%), to escape reality (15%), habit (13%), or pain (5%).

PREVIOUS TREATMENT AND REASONS FOR SEEKING TREATMENT
About a third of clients had been to a detox treatment before, and about a third reported a prior treatment for substance use. Another third reported never having any treatment for drug or alcohol use.

About half of clients surveyed reported a prior diagnosis of a mental health disorder, with the most common diagnoses being depression (37%), anxiety (25%), ADHD (11%), PTSD (7%), and bipolar disorder (6%).

Most clients said that coming to treatment was a personal decision (71%). Other common reasons given for seeking treatment were a family situation, health reasons, a legal situation, or a job-related reason.

POST TREATMENT OUTCOMES

After leaving Harmony, clients were asked at 1, 6, and 12 months about their drug and alcohol use. They were asked whether they had been continuously abstinent from drugs/alcohol since discharge, and they were also asked if they had been clean/sober for the previous 30 days. As can be seen in the table below, over half of clients at one year post-discharge had been continuously abstinent since coming to Harmony, and 71% of them had been abstinent for the past 30 days.
Follow-up     %Abstinent for      %Continuously Abstinent
     Time            Past 30 Days                   since Discharge
1-month           77% (n=88)                            68% (n=91)
6-month           64% (n=90)                           57% (n=91)
12-month          71% (n=90)                            54% (n=95)

Abstinence since treatment is not the only outcome that demonstrates that clients are recovering and have improved their lives. In this study, we also wanted to determine how quality of life had improved for people who had come to Harmony. So all those surveyed were asked questions about relationships with family and friends, physical/emotional health, and other factors. Clients reported significant improvements over time in their family relationships, friendships, spiritual connection, physical health, emotional health. They also reported significant positive changes in their ability to handle finances and handling problems or conflicts, as well as improvements in self-respect. There were also significant reductions in arrests and other legal problems post-discharge, as well as improvements in employment status.

Because so many of our clients have co-occurring mental health issues, we also asked questions about symptoms of anxiety and depression. There were statistically significant reductions in symptoms such as hopelessness, fatigue, nervousness, restlessness, sadness, and feelings of worthlessness.

WHAT PREDICTS ABSTINENCE

In order to continuously improve Harmony’s services, we wanted to determine if there were factors that were associated with post-treatment abstinence. For example, do older clients have better abstinence rates than younger clients? Is primary drug related to abstinence rates, such that clients who primarily used alcohol do better than clients who primarily used heroin?

Interestingly, the only variable that predicted abstinence was the reduction in mental health symptoms during treatment. In other words, the more clients’ symptoms of depression and anxiety decreased during their time at Harmony, the more likely they were to remain abstinent after leaving treatment.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE

One of the most compelling and recurrent themes in this study was the importance of mental health care and support. As mentioned above, self-medication of emotional pain and mental health issues were primary reasons clients reported for using drugs and alcohol. Half of our clients had co-occurring mental health diagnoses. And the single best predictor of post-treatment abstinence was the reduction in symptoms of depression and anxiety that clients reported during their treatment at Harmony. For the past few years, Harmony has worked to improve the quantity and quality of support provided for mental health issues. We have added mindfulness groups, a trauma coping skills group, and education groups on a variety of mental health topics. Clients can receive both addiction-specific counseling at Harmony and counseling specific to psychological issues. Given the results of this study, Harmony plans to continue enhancing the services provided to help people recover not just from chemical use, but from underlying emotional issues that can increase risk for relapse.

While the results of this study show that Harmony clients do, overall, have improved lives and decreased drug and alcohol use, we want to help more individuals and more families to recover, with more significant reductions in substance problems and more improvement in life functioning. Harmony is committed to continuous improvement in our services to provide even better care and help more people find their way to recovery. Studies such as this one remind us why this work is so important and why we need to always examine ourselves and find areas for improvement.

CLIENT FEEDBACK

At the end of each survey, clients were asked if they had any feedback about the Harmony experience. Common answers were that they appreciated the support provided by staff as well as the community they built with the other clients. While data can provide us with important feedback on who we serve and how we can continually do better at helping people find recovery, it is these comments that remind us why we do what we do at Harmony:

“I have come to better understand myself, my need to use, and what I am struggling with so that I won’t need to turn to drugs and alcohol to deal with my problems.”

“I’m really grateful to Harmony…it helped me a lot… I was in really bad shape. If I would have went somewhere else, I probably wouldn’t still be clean.”

“The staff here was absolutely amazing and seemed to truly care about me and my recovery. They were instrumental to my time here and truly helped me recognize qualities and worth in myself that make my sobriety worth fighting for.”

 

Should You Put Recovery on Your List of New Year’s Resolutions?

Posted on by Christy Weeks
Future

By Michael Rass

About forty percent of Americans make New Year’s resolutions around this time. They typically resolve to live healthier in the new year or improve their lifestyle in other ways. Popular resolutions include staying fit and healthy, losing weight, enjoying life to the fullest, getting organized, and traveling more.

The good intentions listed above all share the same problem: they are rather vague. That is probably why most people give up on their resolutions by February. Most resolutions are not kept. As Nielsen.com notes, “43 percent of Americans say they plan to lose weight by making healthier food choices, but 76 percent said they did not follow a weight loss or diet program in 2014.”

So, if you have a substance use disorder, should you put recovery on the list? Should fighting a serious disease like addiction be a New Year’s resolution?

Don’t Set Yourself Up for Failure

Yes and no. It’s not a bad idea to have goals for the new year, but they should be SMART—specific, measurable, agreed, realistic and time based. In other words, your resolution should not be “drink less” or “cut back on smoking marijuana,” because those intentions have no time frame and cannot be measured effectively.

Goals are important to achieving recovery but ideally they are objectives agreed with a therapist or sponsor as part of a treatment program. They should not be the vague declarations of intent that New Year’s resolutions tend to be.

Goal-Setting Can Make You Heal Faster

When done right, setting specific goals can be surprisingly effective. In his 2012 book, The Power of Habit, author Charles Duhigg describes a Scottish study that examined the power of goal setting for patients recovering from knee or hip surgery. Mobilization and exercise are very important for these patients but the pain can be so extreme that many skip rehab sessions and refuse to get on their feet. Participants in the study had to set weekly goals, writing down exactly what they were going to do. Patients in a control group did not have to set any goals.

“It seems absurd to think that giving people a few pieces of blank paper might make a difference in how they recover from surgery,” writes Duhigg. “But when the researcher visited the patients three months later, she found a striking difference between the two groups.The patients who had written plans in their booklets had started walking almost twice as fast as the ones who had not. They had started getting in and out of their chairs, unassisted, almost three times as fast.”

Goal-setting is an important tool in addiction treatment as well. The right goals formulated in small achievable steps combined with appropriate therapy can improve clients’ chances of a successful recovery, but they should not just settle for a generic “I want to be sober.” They should formulate specific steps on how to achieve sobriety on a day-to-day basis.

For many people with addiction, pledges like “I will never use drugs again” often seem frighteningly daunting in early recovery. It is mentally easier for them to commit to the much more modest “I will not use today” and have that same goal every day. One patient in the Scottish study had the goal always to take a second step and not sit back down after the excruciatingly painful first step when getting up. Presumably, that was more effective for him than “keep walking.”

New Year’s resolutions like “enjoying life to the fullest” fail because they are too global. You wouldn’t even know at what point you have achieved it.

No Need to Wait

New Year’s resolutions also involve the risk of delay. Drugs and alcohol can kill you, often sooner than later, and waiting for New Year’s Day to come along to get better can be dangerous.

If you are battling a severe substance use disorder, your recovery should start as soon as possible.

Don’t resolve to quit drinking or using drugs next year and then go on a binge before New Year’s Eve. There is absolutely no need to wait until New Year before enjoying sobriety. The time to quit is right now. Get help before it is too late. Your life depends on it.

Harmony Foundation Responds to the Opioid Epidemic with HOPE

Posted on by Christy Weeks

by Christopher Reveley, MD, and Annie Peters, PhD, LP

The Opioid Epidemic

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), nearly 100 people die from opioid overdose in the United States every day, and 2.6 million Americans struggle with opioid addiction. The prescribing of opioid pain relievers became much more common in the late 1990s, and it soon became evident that these medications were powerfully addictive. Opioid overdose deaths have increased significantly in the years since. Many of those addicted to heroin started with the abuse of prescription opioids.

Overdose along with the spread of HIV, hepatitis C, and withdrawal syndromes in babies born to addicted mothers constitute a nationwide crisis that has overwhelmed the resources of state and local health care delivery services. Recently, the White House identified the opioid epidemic as a national public health emergency.

How is Harmony Responding to Opioid Epidemic?

Harmony Foundation in Estes Park, CO, has been treating addiction for 48 years and has fostered a generation of long-term recovery support for individuals and families. Harmony’s mission is to provide the foundation for sustained recovery from the diseases of drug and alcohol addiction. Harmony staff is committed to continuous improvement and closely monitors a client experience, treatment response, and the research literature on addiction treatment. In the field of opioid addiction research, advances in behavioral treatment, neurobiology, and brain imaging have given treatment programs guidance in developing better services. Harmony now offers HOPE – Harmony’s Opioid Programming Experience. HOPE is offered to all Harmony clients with opioid use disorders. The program involves enhanced medical, counseling, and case management services specifically tailored to meet these clients’ unique needs.

HOPE: Medical and Clinical Approaches

HOPE begins with thorough medical and psychological evaluations. Collaboration with the client, members of the interdisciplinary team and, when appropriate, family and referral sources, determine the most effective treatment plan. All HOPE clients are invited to participate in weekly Opiate Support Groups led by a professional addiction counselor. This group addresses the unique challenges of early opioid recovery, including uncomfortable physical and psychological symptoms, cravings, and strategies to avoid rapid relapse. In this setting, clients support each other and are educated about the process of recovery.

Harmony has provided all clients with medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for many years. This combination of education, counseling, and the use of medication in early recovery is part of the Harmony philosophy. HOPE expands MAT to include medications that alter the physical response to opioids, reduce craving, and give the individual time to heal from the psychological, social, and spiritual wounds of addiction.

HOPE clients may choose to avoid medications altogether or use only sleep and anxiety-reducing medications during the acute withdrawal period. For others, naltrexone, an opioid receptor blocker, can prevent the euphoria of opioid use and help control cravings, thereby changing the client’s drive to use illicit opioids after treatment.

Buprenorphine

This partial opioid agonist, administered in a tapering protocol, may be chosen by the treatment team and client to ease symptoms of severe opioid withdrawal during detoxification. On an individual basis, this medication may be continued during early recovery, most commonly for those with severe and persistent opioid addiction. Care following residential treatment may include ongoing buprenorphine to provide a craving-free foundation for the client as they rebuild damaged interpersonal and work relationships and regain physical and emotional health. The ultimate goal with all treatment approaches is complete abstinence from all opioids.

While some may question how an opioid medication (buprenorphine) can help someone recover from opioid addiction, this treatment approach is supported by organizations such as the World Health Organization, the American Society of Addiction Medicine, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, NIDA, the Veterans’ Administration, NAADAC – the Association for Addiction Professionals, and the National Association of Addiction Treatment Professionals. Due to the number and quality of research studies that have been completed on the use of buprenorphine in treating opioid use disorders, the level of evidence for the effectiveness of buprenorphine treatment is considered to be high (Thomas et al., 2014). Positive outcomes typically include improving retention in treatment and reducing illicit opioid use.

The Harmony care team works closely with clients who choose to include buprenorphine in their treatment strategy. This will typically involve full participation in HOPE and a recommendation for participation in Harmony’s Transitional Care Program (TCP), an intensive, 90 day intensive outpatient program coupled with monitored sober living and medication management by Harmony providers. When clinically indicated or to accommodate client preference, Harmony’s case managers may refer clients to other programs with similar services.

If you or someone you know is struggling with opiate addiction and needs help right away, Harmony is here to help. Call us at 866-686-7867 and one of our admissions specialists can discuss next steps.

References

https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-crisis

Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality (CBHSQ), 2016. 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Detailed Tables. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Thomas, CP, Fullerton, CA, Montejano, L, Lyman, DR, Dougherty, RH, Daniels, HS, Ghose, SS, & Delphin-Rittmon, ME. Medication-assisted treatment with buprenorphine: Assessing the evidence. Psychiatric services, 65(2), 158-170.

New Treatment Component for Legal Professionals

Posted on by Christy Weeks

Harmony is proud to support the addiction recovery process for members of the legal profession. As a leader in the field of addiction treatment for 40 years, Harmony Foundation has seen that drug addiction and alcoholism affect upwards of 10% of the population. The rates of addiction are even higher among legal professionals, as the American Bar Association estimates 15% to 20% of lawyers suffer from substance abuse and chemical dependency.

Larry Dubin, a professor of law at the University Detroit Mercy School of Law, says that addiction often begins when lawyers are in college when they are exposed to the actual lifestyles of attorneys – including substance abuse. Dublin states that students are also conditioned to hide their personal reactions and emotions and often have to represent clients or positions that may not gel with their own belief systems or moral constitution. Such pressures implicit in the profession can lead to substance abuse problems as the substances help further mask the emotional lives of lawyers.

Harmony Foundation recognizes that legal professionals are concerned that disclosing their addiction may cost them the respect of their clients and peers and possibly their licenses. Fortunately, over the past 30 years services have risen to meet the needs of professionals who are facing issues with chemical dependency or co-occurring disorders. Evidence based evaluation and treatment programs that work with professional monitoring agencies have achieved remarkable success. Treatment programs that work with professional programs have reportedly lower incidence of relapse (less than 3% relapse rate per year) and professionals are able to transition back into the workplace and preserve their careers. 

Harmony supports and collaborates with such programs including the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs (CoLAP), the Colorado Lawyer Assistance Program (COLAP) and Colorado Lawyers Helping Lawyers (CLHL) and the Colorado Supreme Court Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel.

The Colorado Lawyer Assistance Program (COLAP) helps members of the legal profession (including law students) who suffer from physical or mental disabilities that impair their ability to practice, including substance abuse. They offer various confidential services such as interventions, aftercare services, monitoring services and peer support group meetings.

Colorado Lawyers Helping Lawyers, Inc. (CLHL) is a peer driven program that offers support, education and referrals for those who are facing substance abuse problems. The overarching goal of the program is relapse prevention and providing a confidential safe space for legal professionals to disclose their challenges with addiction.

Harmony understands the stress, strain, exhaustion, and isolation of the practice of law and the depression, anxiety, and addiction that can follow. This has sparked the creation of a specialized addiction treatment component for lawyers and other legal professionals, that is premised on the need for confidential and professional treatment.

Harmony Foundation’s treatment component for Legal professionals helps them cope with their addiction and learn skills to maintain a lifetime of sobriety. The 30-day (and variable) comprehensive treatment for legal professionals uses the evidence based Bio-Psycho-Social, 12-Step Residential Treatment Model. By overcoming the reservations and fear associated with admitting they have an addiction, legal professionals are able to regain their lives both professionally and personally in the confidential setting of Harmony’s private campus, nestled in the Rocky Mountains near Estes Park, Colorado.

Harmony’s New Young Adult Recovery Track

Posted on by Christy Weeks

Harmony Foundation now has a Young Adult Recovery Track!


Harmony’s YART Program is rooted in the peer-to-peer model of recovery. This evidence-based model shows that when those among similar ages or stages in life are in recovery together, they have greater chances of achieving long-term recovery. By being among those with shared experiences that they can better relate to, young adults in particular are better positioned to grasp on to sobriety and recovery as a way of life.

The YART program has been established in response to the growing problem throughout the US of young adults who are addicted to drugs. According to SAMSHA, more than six percent of all Americans aged 18 to 25 have engaged in non-medical use of prescription drugs in the past month. The most commonly used prescription drugs are addictive substances like opiates and benzodiazepines.  

Unfortunately, these drugs and the combination of these drugs known as “drug cocktails” can be life-threatening – as indicated by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism that reported a serious increase in overdoses among 18-24 years old over the past decade. The researchers found that hospitalizations among young adults rose by 25 percent for alcohol overdoses, 56 percent for drug overdoses and 76 percent for overdoses from a combination of drugs and alcohol.

Young adults are more susceptible to peer pressure than other groups, which can be a liability when it comes to drug abuse – yielding to the pressure to try prescription drugs for example. But it can also be an asset – such as in a recovery setting where they see their peers thriving in recovery and embracing 12 step principals.

Harmony Foundation’s recognition of the need for this peer-to-peer model of recovery has been complimented by another innovation – recognizing the impact technology has on young adults in their ability to learn and embrace new concepts. Rather than traditional lectures used in drug treatment programs, Harmony engages clients in a more interactive and technologically engaged track through an array of groups including impulse control, anger and resentment, sexuality, relationships, codependency, trust, grief and loss, relapse prevention and life skills. To compliment these groups, recreational, creative and stress reduction offerings include experiential art, music therapy, yoga, a rock climbing wall, meditation, acupuncture, enhanced exercise and T’ai Chi.

YART will provide a great service to young adults with substance abuse problems in Colorado and throughout the US. Harmony’s Clinical Director, Chris Desizlets – CAC III, speaks to the need of such a program, recognizing that “Clients today enter treatment both younger and sicker than ever before and we cannot treat clients in a one size fits all model. Young adults deserve a young person’s treatment program that respects and speaks to them.”

If you are a loved one has been struggling with substance abuse, Harmony Foundation has affordable addiction treatment programs that can re-ignite your life. Young adults have the rest of their lives ahead of them, make that life filled with peace and joy by calling today.

One in Ten Colorado Teens Abuse Drugs

Posted on by Christy Weeks

A recent study published by the Kids Count Data Book revealed that an alarming number of teens in Colorado abuse substances and are at risk of becoming addicts and needing substance abuse treatment in adulthood. The study showed that 10% of those aged 12-17 in Colorado abuse substances, be it alcohol, prescription drugs or synthetic drugs. This places Colorado third for states with the highest rate of teen substance abuse, after New Mexico and Montana.

Some factors that cause 1 in 10 Colorado teens to abuse drugs include a lack of education and prevention, accessibility to drugs and perceived alternatives to reported “boredom.” According to Jim Schrant, a DEA official, teen drug use is especially prominent in western Colorado. He says, “Teens have been involved in a lot of different drugs here in western Colorado, including meth and heroin.” Since various factors play into the high statics of abuse, there is not one “silver bullet” to address the problem – “It has to be an issue of vigilance and awareness,” says Schrant.

A1998 study from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) revealed that early drug use is associated a with much higher risk of addiction in adulthood. Another study by Dr. Andrew Chambers of Yale University explains why; A teenager’s brain is not fully formed – especially the part of the brain that controls impulse but the “reward” part of their brains are fully, or even overly developed. For example, during the teenage years there is more dopamine released in the brain when they experience something pleasurable. This sparks a greater drive to repeat the action that led to the experience. In short, activities that increase dopamine are repeated because they send a message to the brain that says “that felt good!” The study explains that teens have more ”feel good” chemicals circling around because it encourages teens to do more and experience more in order to develop the brain more.

While this is occurring, the part of the brain that uses logic to weigh risks or control impulses are still developing. This results in greater experimentation with drugs among teens because consequences aren’t heavily weighed. The experimentation is then likely to lead to addiction. Although there is no “silver bullet” the “vigilance and awareness” that Schrant suggests can be applied to programs on drug prevention that start early – before youth become teenagers. This is because the longer that adolescents can delay alcohol and other drug use, the less their chance of becoming addicted as adults and needing drug treatment programs.

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