A little good news

Nurses Recovery

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I just found out today that I will be on the tpapn mental health track and not the substance abuse track. So I will not have any narcotic giving restrictions and no testing. This bit of news gives me some relief because it is one year in legnth.

Specializes in Med/Surg, Women's Health, LTC.

That is very good news. I was not even aware they had a distinction. That will benefit a great deal of nurses, I believe. I know I have seen a few posts from nurses who do not belong in the "drug/alcohol" side of the monitoring land.

I am guessing there must be some type of reporting you will have to provide? Therapy?

Congratulations and keep us posted. We are still all here for support.

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

This is a very good thing! Nurses with mental health diagnoses shouldn't be forced to endure the humiliation of these so-called "peeer assistance" programs as if they'd done something wrong. I'm glad there's an alternative. Go you!

Specializes in OR.

I wish x1000 that more states legitimately distinguished between mental health and substance abuse participants. That can go so very far in terms of the nurse support groups actually being supportive (instead of like me, being the lone mental health participant in a room full of folks with substance use issues.) and in terms of this not feeling like punishment. When one is dealing with substance use disorder the goal (however you may get there) is a life in recovery. Correct? For those of us with mental health diagnoses, cramming the notion of ‘recovery' down our throats is demeaning and insulting. Bipolar or depression, etc are illnesses to be managed, not recover from.

Sadly, there is too much about many of these programs (and the associated evaluators and treatment facilities) that is money driven. Substance abuse diagnoses are financially lucrative, mental health, not so much. When you have no ethics or concious about the lives you are ruining, that matters.

Specializes in Emergency.
I wish x1000 that more states legitimately distinguished between mental health and substance abuse participants. That can go so very far in terms of the nurse support groups actually being supportive (instead of like me, being the lone mental health participant in a room full of folks with substance use issues.) and in terms of this not feeling like punishment. When one is dealing with substance use disorder the goal (however you may get there) is a life in recovery. Correct? For those of us with mental health diagnoses, cramming the notion of ‘recovery' down our throats is demeaning and insulting. Bipolar or depression, etc are illnesses to be managed, not recover from.

Sadly, there is too much about many of these programs (and the associated evaluators and treatment facilities) that is money driven. Substance abuse diagnoses are financially lucrative, mental health, not so much. When you have no ethics or concious about the lives you are ruining, that matters.

Well...of course their is the "scientific" factor that there is most often an underlying mental health issue (most often unadressed...especially with the archaic and abhorrent current 'recovery' kool aide model of treatment) that is never adressed...so here we are...since the current methodology is no better than stone age rhetoric I guess a Flintstones chewable couldn't hurt...

Specializes in Emergency.

to continue...in other words any thinking person knows that "substance abuse disorder" is quackery of the highest order...people "cope" in an unlimited amount of ways...all personal and all individual...some "healthy" some not...the fact that a group of scum...bags...has capitalized monetarily on people's discomfort is simply the American healthcare model...

Specializes in OR.
to continue...in other words any thinking person knows that "substance abuse disorder" is quackery of the highest order...people "cope" in an unlimited amount of ways...all personal and all individual...some "healthy" some not...the fact that a group of scum...bags...has capitalized monetarily on people's discomfort is simply the American healthcare model...

I will agree, especially given that the line between specialist in "addiction medicine" and "addictionologist." The first is generally a psychiatrist (with that residency in psychiatry) that concentrates on the population that copes with thier issues with the use of substances and considers evidenced based practice and varieties of therapy to combat that. The second is likely a hack ( with a residency in could-be-podiatry-for-all it-matters) that may have lost thier own license for a time or spent a chunk of thier own career severely pickled and somewhere in there forgot the "do no harm" thing. They then saw the dollars in a mail-order certification from a self recognized ‘specialty.' Made up a word and hung out a shingle and proceed to charge people obscene amounts of money to label them addicts and prescribe them AA meeting TID PRN ad infinitim.

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