The COVID-19 pandemic has had profound impacts on the mental health of people of all ages. In fact, many people who had never experienced mental health challenges have found themselves struggling for the first time. Never has it been more important to take care of ourselves, seek help when needed, and support our friends and …
September is National Recovery Month, a time for us at the Department of Human Services (DHS) to celebrate people’s journey to recovery from substance use disorder and mental illness. There’s a lot for us to celebrate. Most people who enter chemical dependency treatment complete it and show considerable improvement, according to the National Institute on …
Keith was gambling every night. He pulled away from his family, making excuses for being gone, telling lies about where the money was going. “I didn’t get along with anyone, even my wife, Karen. I just figured my world was falling apart and she’d be better off without me,” Keith said. Gambling problems are real. …
Let’s talk tobacco. If you’re reading this article, it means recovery is important to you or someone you know. Maybe you’ve put in the work and made recovery a priority in your life. If so, honor yourself for that hard work. Maybe someone in your family is struggling and you just want to find some …
Former Commissioner Emily Piper told Phoenix Spirit readers in August 2018 about Fast-Tracker, a new online service to help connect people to substance use disorder and mental health treatment services. Now, a little over a year later, how has Fast-Tracker been working, and what’s next? First a bit about Fast-Tracker: It is an online, searchable …
To mark Recovery Month in Minnesota, I want to tell you about substance use disorder treatment reform, a website, and a mother from southern Minnesota. Let’s start with a hypothetical mother from southern Minnesota. Two years ago after much discussion, she finally gets her son, a heroin user, to agree to treatment. The mother, who …
