In rude comments left on articles in the Daily News about GCASA's operations, accusations fly that GCASA brings in drunks and druggies from other counties to prey on the good citizens of Genesee County.
How about some facts for the Xenophobes?
Out of the 606 2009 admissions to the GCASA clinic 552 or 91.1% were homegrown, came from right here in Genesee County. Okay, 17 out of the 606 or 2.8% came from Erie County, and 16 out of 606 or 2.6% came from Wyoming County, and 10 or 1.7% came from Orleans County, but the great majority or 9 out of 10 came from right here.
Most social agencies who deal with stigmatized populations have to deal with prejudiced people who play the MIMBY game (Not In My Back Yard). But what happens when the stigmatized people are already in you backyard? Hell, they are probably living in your house, or in your neighborhood, or going to your church, or working at your work place?
The GCASA treatment clinic and satelittes in Batavia, Indian Falls, and LeRoy are serving just who they are intended to serve, our family, friends, and neighbors. Once in a while we also serve the stranger, but isn't that what good people do?
So, I would hope that the Xenophobes would reconsider their attitudes, and certainly recognize that GCASA serves it community with pride, humility, and dedication. You should be happy that there is place to turn when the person suffering from a substance abuse disorder is your child, your parent, your spouse, your niece, your nephew, your cousin, aunt or uncle, or best friend.
My favorite buttons reads, "Reality is when it happens to you."
This is article #4 in a series on 2009 GCASA admissions data.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
2009 GCASA Admissions Data - Growing up with substance abuse
We know from research that people who come from families where substance abuse is a problem have a 40% greater chance of having a substance abuse problem as an adult as someone who doesn't have that family history.
At GCASA the data is even stronger. In 2009, 48%, or 507/1050 admissions reported growing up in families where substance abuse was an issue. In 2008, 47% or 518/1094 reported being children of substance abusers.
Take aways:
1. Is substance abuse a family disease? Most definitely.
2. Are the children of substance abusing parents likely to have substance abusing kids when they grow up? There is a 50/50 chance.
3. Is it worthwhile to provide preventive services to these high risk kids? Absolutely! Supposing heart disease or cancer or other life threatening illnesses ran an almost 50% chance of being transmitted to the subsequent generation, wouldn't you want to do every thing you could to inform the at risk kids of the factors which influence the contracting of their familial disease? Absolutely!
4. When the risk and trends are so apparent, why doesn't our society do more to warn people about the dangers? There is tremendous shame involved, social stigma, and the breweries and distilleries have an opposite agenda of selling their products to make money rather than caring about the people who are harmed. The norms and attitudes towards substance abuse in our society are slowing changing in a more positive direction, but as a society we still have a long way to go.
This is article #3 in a series on 2009 GCASA Admissions Data
At GCASA the data is even stronger. In 2009, 48%, or 507/1050 admissions reported growing up in families where substance abuse was an issue. In 2008, 47% or 518/1094 reported being children of substance abusers.
Take aways:
1. Is substance abuse a family disease? Most definitely.
2. Are the children of substance abusing parents likely to have substance abusing kids when they grow up? There is a 50/50 chance.
3. Is it worthwhile to provide preventive services to these high risk kids? Absolutely! Supposing heart disease or cancer or other life threatening illnesses ran an almost 50% chance of being transmitted to the subsequent generation, wouldn't you want to do every thing you could to inform the at risk kids of the factors which influence the contracting of their familial disease? Absolutely!
4. When the risk and trends are so apparent, why doesn't our society do more to warn people about the dangers? There is tremendous shame involved, social stigma, and the breweries and distilleries have an opposite agenda of selling their products to make money rather than caring about the people who are harmed. The norms and attitudes towards substance abuse in our society are slowing changing in a more positive direction, but as a society we still have a long way to go.
This is article #3 in a series on 2009 GCASA Admissions Data
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Gambling Awareness Luncheon in Batavia on March 9, 2010
There will be a Gambling Awareness Luncheon and program on Tuesday, March 9,2009 from 11:30 A.M. - 3:00 P.M. at Terry Hills Banquet Facility on Clinton Street Rd. (Rt.33), in Batavia, NY. After lunch Michelle Hadden from the New York Council on Problems Gambling will be speaking along with Dr. John Welte from the Buffal Research Addiction Institute, and Joyce Barrett, a New York Council Gambling Treatment Counselor.
For more information, call Jamie Beedham at 585-815-1879 or email Jamie at jbeedham@gcasa.org.
Click on image to enlarge for easier reading.
For more information, call Jamie Beedham at 585-815-1879 or email Jamie at jbeedham@gcasa.org.
Click on image to enlarge for easier reading.
2009 GCASA Admission Data - What about the kids?
We know from research that families that have a substance abuse problem have a high prevalence of child maltreatment.
At GCASA 17 of the 341 admissions in 2009 had active child maltreatment cases open at the time of admission, while 23 of 606 admissions in 2009 in Genesee County had active child maltreatment cases open. There were also 5 open child maltreatment cases out of 103 in residential services clients.
Over all there were 45 people with active child maltreatment cases open admitted to GCASA in 2009 out of the 1050 admissions or 4% of cases. Last year, 2008, 6%, or 66 of 1094 admissions were involved in Child Protective Services.
3% or 31 out of 1050 of GCASA's 2009 admissions were parents whose children were in foster care. These parents had 58 kids in foster care. This is a huge expense for the counties responsible. Getting their parents sober and into recovery so that they can parent their own children would be a big relief to the foster care system and save enormous amounts of tax dollars. Unfortunately, re-unification is always possible or even desirable, and there are no resources for family oriented services to facilitate this re-unification. GCASA sees the need for and would very much like to do this kind of work, but there are no funding sorces to pay for these services.
What do these statistics mean?
1. It is clear that substance abuse is a family disease and affects far more people than the addict.
2. The societal costs of substance abuse are significant with an overlap of services from the child welfare, family court, and substance abuse system.
3. Substance abuse counselors at GCASA must be skilled in dealing with much more than just addiction when you consider the negative consequences of addictions on parents, their children, and other family members.
4. Is the reduction in percentage of admissions with involvement in child protective services significant, and if so of what?
5. Innovative programs run by the State Department of Social Services and the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse services to team up substance abuse counselors and child protective workers were run on a demonstration project basis in 2008 and 2009 in Genesee and Livingston Counties. GCASA was chosen by the Genesee Department of Social Services and the Livingston County Department of Social Services to create was was dubbed the "co-location program" meaning that child protective workers and substance abuse counselors would be co-located. The program was very successful but when State government hit on financially hard times it cut the funding for these programs. Rather than provide services to prevent foster care placement our State government has decided it is better to just pay for foster care. I do not have the data to show which approach is cheaper and more effective but I strongly suspect that the co-location strategy is not only more effective and humane in the long run but cheaper for the taxpayers as well.
When you see the beer commercials on Super Sunday which promote good family times with super bowl parties of which tailgating and drinking have become such a part of our American sports experience, remember the kids.
The kids damaged from parental drinking and drugging are pretty much hidden away quietly in our society where shame leads to all kinds of avoidance, denial, and secret keeping, but we here at GCASA know because we see it in approximately 1 out of 20 people who walk through our door for help.
A parent who becomes sober and gets into recovery not only benefits him/herself, but their children too, and grandparents, and teachers, etc.
This is article #2 in a series on 2009 GCASA Admissions Data.
At GCASA 17 of the 341 admissions in 2009 had active child maltreatment cases open at the time of admission, while 23 of 606 admissions in 2009 in Genesee County had active child maltreatment cases open. There were also 5 open child maltreatment cases out of 103 in residential services clients.
Over all there were 45 people with active child maltreatment cases open admitted to GCASA in 2009 out of the 1050 admissions or 4% of cases. Last year, 2008, 6%, or 66 of 1094 admissions were involved in Child Protective Services.
3% or 31 out of 1050 of GCASA's 2009 admissions were parents whose children were in foster care. These parents had 58 kids in foster care. This is a huge expense for the counties responsible. Getting their parents sober and into recovery so that they can parent their own children would be a big relief to the foster care system and save enormous amounts of tax dollars. Unfortunately, re-unification is always possible or even desirable, and there are no resources for family oriented services to facilitate this re-unification. GCASA sees the need for and would very much like to do this kind of work, but there are no funding sorces to pay for these services.
What do these statistics mean?
1. It is clear that substance abuse is a family disease and affects far more people than the addict.
2. The societal costs of substance abuse are significant with an overlap of services from the child welfare, family court, and substance abuse system.
3. Substance abuse counselors at GCASA must be skilled in dealing with much more than just addiction when you consider the negative consequences of addictions on parents, their children, and other family members.
4. Is the reduction in percentage of admissions with involvement in child protective services significant, and if so of what?
5. Innovative programs run by the State Department of Social Services and the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse services to team up substance abuse counselors and child protective workers were run on a demonstration project basis in 2008 and 2009 in Genesee and Livingston Counties. GCASA was chosen by the Genesee Department of Social Services and the Livingston County Department of Social Services to create was was dubbed the "co-location program" meaning that child protective workers and substance abuse counselors would be co-located. The program was very successful but when State government hit on financially hard times it cut the funding for these programs. Rather than provide services to prevent foster care placement our State government has decided it is better to just pay for foster care. I do not have the data to show which approach is cheaper and more effective but I strongly suspect that the co-location strategy is not only more effective and humane in the long run but cheaper for the taxpayers as well.
When you see the beer commercials on Super Sunday which promote good family times with super bowl parties of which tailgating and drinking have become such a part of our American sports experience, remember the kids.
The kids damaged from parental drinking and drugging are pretty much hidden away quietly in our society where shame leads to all kinds of avoidance, denial, and secret keeping, but we here at GCASA know because we see it in approximately 1 out of 20 people who walk through our door for help.
A parent who becomes sober and gets into recovery not only benefits him/herself, but their children too, and grandparents, and teachers, etc.
This is article #2 in a series on 2009 GCASA Admissions Data.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Lessons in management: Mission vs. money
Years ago I consulted with a group of therapists in an agency suffering from severe financial problems. The therapists told me that the administration of the agency told them that there would have to be a lot of changes which would curtain their ability to carry out the agency's mission. When the therapists complained they were told by the administrators "without the money, there is no mission."
I said, "Golly, that turns you all in prostitutes, into whores. You are willing to sell you soul for money. With those values not only will this agency fail, but it probably should fail."
A year later the agency went bankrupt and was closed.
Joseph Campbell, the great mythologist said that people often have to choose between the money and their bliss. His advice was "always follow your bliss."
I ask teenagers, "If you could have a job that paid $50,000.00 a year that you hated or a job that paid $35,000.00 a year that you loved, which job would you choose?" Most, 80%, say the $50,000.00 a year job.
Teens are young. They don't know yet what matters in life, but agency administrators and managers should. They should have the experience, the wisdom, the maturity to know that an agency/organization which sells out its mission for money is doomed. Keeping faith with an agency's mission is protecting its soul, its spirit. Without an authentic, significant mission, and a staff who have faith and commitment to it, an agency/organization not only will fail, but probably should fail.
When you have to choose between the mission and the money, stay true to the mission, otherwise you have sold your organizational soul to the devil for a few bucks.
This is article #4 in a series on Lessons In Management.
I said, "Golly, that turns you all in prostitutes, into whores. You are willing to sell you soul for money. With those values not only will this agency fail, but it probably should fail."
A year later the agency went bankrupt and was closed.
Joseph Campbell, the great mythologist said that people often have to choose between the money and their bliss. His advice was "always follow your bliss."
I ask teenagers, "If you could have a job that paid $50,000.00 a year that you hated or a job that paid $35,000.00 a year that you loved, which job would you choose?" Most, 80%, say the $50,000.00 a year job.
Teens are young. They don't know yet what matters in life, but agency administrators and managers should. They should have the experience, the wisdom, the maturity to know that an agency/organization which sells out its mission for money is doomed. Keeping faith with an agency's mission is protecting its soul, its spirit. Without an authentic, significant mission, and a staff who have faith and commitment to it, an agency/organization not only will fail, but probably should fail.
When you have to choose between the mission and the money, stay true to the mission, otherwise you have sold your organizational soul to the devil for a few bucks.
This is article #4 in a series on Lessons In Management.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Who says that substance abuse professionals don't have a sense of humor?
What do you get when you use LSD along with birth control pills?
A trip without kids.
A trip without kids.
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