Myth buster: Change Takes Time. A Lot of Time.

May 16, 2016

Thomas F. Hilton, PhD

One process improvement myth that resurfaces regularly like a sighting of the Loch Ness monster is that change takes time. A lot of time. Because trying out new procedures takes so long, staff might be convinced that change is just not worth the effort. And they'll quietly go back to doing things the comfortable old way.

But I'm here today to bust the myth that change takes time.

Hepatitis Awareness Month and Hepatitis Testing Day

Holly Hagle, PhD
Director
National SBIRT ATTC

Leslie Cohen, BS
Director
New England ATTC

May 10, 2016

The month of May is designated as Hepatitis Awareness Month in the United States, and May 19 is Hepatitis Testing Day. During May, many public health partners will work to shed light on this hidden epidemic by raising awareness of viral hepatitis and encouraging priority populations to get tested (CDC, 2016).

See the May 2016 press release from the CDC: Hepatitis C Kills More Americans than Any Other Infectious Disease

Collegiate Recovery Programs: New program at UMKC meets campus need

May 2, 2016

Gabrielle Rodriguez

President, RooCovery
University of Missouri – Kansas City

In April, the Association of Recovery in Higher Education (ARHE) hosted their 7th National Collegiate Recovery Conference  in Atlanta, Georgia.

 

With much gratitude I was able to attend the conference as a student in recovery, President of RooCovery, a newly formed Collegiate Recovery Community at the University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC), and a representative of the ATTC Network Coordinating Office. 

Recovery from a faith-based perspective

April 27, 2016

Rev. David Martins
Interim Director
Rhode Island Communities for Addiction Recovery Efforts (RICARES)

"Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!" 

These words are taken from The Diary of Anne Frank. While they were not intended for the Recovery Community, they certainly apply. As one of the 23 million Americans in recovery, I can tell you firsthand the truth that it is indeed good news--in fact, it's incredible news, to continue to discover the latent potential of how great life is, and how much we can love. The journey to recovery is strengthened by the knowledge that we are part of a community, and not trying to get through this experience of rebirth alone.

Myth buster: Staff don't want to help find solutions. Or do they?

April 4, 2016

Thomas F. Hilton, Ph.D. 

A frequently-mentioned myth NIATx coaches encounter is the perception by managers that their staff do not want to help find solutions to the organization’s problems. That impression may seem valid to managers because they tend to focus on matters external to daily operations while staff, on the other hand, have to live with annoying redundancies, conflicting demands, and other inefficiencies that the boss seems to ignore at their, and the clients’ expense.

Past attempts at change within the organization – or past resistance to change by managers – may have built a culture of suspicion and indifference in the workforce. When this is the case, management initiatives often flounder in the "Wait’n Sea" unless there is clear evidence that the staff are empowered to change how they do things.