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.

Problem or Opportunity?

March 28, 2016

Disruption is a word often used to describe what's happening in health care today.  And providers are encouraged to "think outside the box" to adapt to this disruption.

But have you ever wondered just how to "think outside the box?"

In this five-minute video, Andrew Isham, research scientist at the Center for Health Enhancement Systems Studies (which also houses NIATx), offers a strategy: opportunity based thinking. It might be one way to think different and identify solutions that are sometimes so obvious they're easily overlooked.

For example, how did Steve Jobs found the solution to the problem of the stylus that was once ubiquitous with mobile devices?  Literally, at his fingertips.

This video was part of Isham's presentation for the BHBusiness Plus Innovator's Network at the National Council Conference, NatCon16.

How do you use opportunity based thinking in your organization? Has letting go of assumptions given you insight into opportunities?  Share your story in the comment section below.

Andrew Isham, M.S.,  is a researcher at the Center for Health Enhancement Systems Studies, based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His focus is on the innovative adaptation of information technologies to support behavior change in people with chronic health conditions. Isham has a BS in mechanical engineering, a minor in psychology, and an MS in industrial and systems engineering, with a specialization in health systems engineering. In both the academic research and commercial realms, Andrew has experience and knowledge of many of the links in the health IT chain, including testing, implementation, patient/clinician engagement, and sustainability.

Other posts by Andrew Isham: Mobile Health: A Brave New World

Gambling Disorder and Women: Does Gender Make a Difference?

March 15, 2016

Christine Reilly

Senior Research Director

National Center for Responsible Gaming

Today, it is widely accepted that examining the role of sex and gender in health is vital to conducting rigorous research, developing effective public health policies and enhancing clinical treatment. In the past, however, health research has not always adequately addressed sex and gender. This oversight was characteristic of early research on gambling addiction because so many investigations were focused on veterans and because many more men gambled than women. Although men still outnumber women as gamblers in the US, women are catching up, thanks in part to the expansion of legalized gambling during the past 30 years. During the past 20 years, gambling researchers have not only included women as research participants but also have increasingly addressed the role of gender in studies of gambling disorder. As is common in young fields of research, we still don’t have a strong consensus on the gender issue in the gambling field. Here are a few of the questions that are driving research on the relationship between gambling disorder and women.