Published: Sep. 10, 2024 at 1:51 PM PDT
Watch the video on KKTV 11 News website.
KKTV News spoke with Steve Carleton from Porch Light Health about the road to recovery from substance abuse, harm reduction, and how to have difficult conversations with loved ones in active addiction.
Lauren Watson
I want to thank you for joining us here in the 11 Breaking News Center this afternoon. I’m Lauren Watson, your digital anchor here at KKTV 11 News. I’m here with Steve Carleton. He’s the Chief Clinical Officer of Porch Light Health. Steve, today we’re here to talk about Recovery Month. Now, September is Recovery Month, and why is it important with this official month underway to shine a light on substance use and mental health?
Steve Carleton
Yeah, I so appreciate you all covering this story in Recovery Month. It’s a really important month for a lot of people, right? When we think about mental health and we think about substance use, oftentimes, Recovery Month is a month to celebrate people’s progress and all the hard work they’ve put into recovering from things as difficult as mental health issues and substance use disorders. And so marking Recovery Month should be a way to celebrate and just reduce stigma and to shine a light back on the fact that there are so many people out there. There’s so many Americans out there that struggle with substance use and mental health. And we need to start also acknowledging when positive things happen in this space and when people do create change in their life and really highlight that.
Lauren Watson
Now, recovery doesn’t just come in one package. Can you explain that concept for our viewers at home?
Steve Carleton
Yeah. So recovery is defined so many different ways in so many different spaces. When people People use the word recovery. That truly is one of these situations where it is a unique definition for the person using it. Recovery for some people might be complete abstinence from all substances. Recovery for somebody else with mental health means maybe they haven’t made a suicide attempt, or they haven’t had a cutting behavior in a while. So recovery, and how people define it, is very unique to each individual. It’s not just meaning recovery from a substance use disorder. It’s those own people’s journey. And really, in my mind, how I think about recovery is it’s not just getting rid of problems. Recovery involves recovering something that you’ve lost. Recovery involves moving in a direction towards things that are important to that individual. You get a lot farther running towards things than you do running away from something. And so what are people bringing more of into their life?
Lauren Watson
Could you maybe talk a little bit about harm reduction, and what that means, and what that concept is?
Steve Carleton
Absolutely. At Porch Light Health, in particular, our emphasis is on harm reduction, right? And When people think of harm reduction, medications for addiction treatment, which is what we do at Porch Light Health, is top of mind, especially given the opioid crisis. Medication that helps the brain recover and get back to homeostasis is a vital tool in the toolbox in our fight in this opiate problem. Harm reduction is also reducing use. I think for many decades, the substance use disorder treatment field has only catered towards people that want to practice abstinence. And so when we think about harm reduction, we truly mean, how can we just reduce the harm from people’s substance use? Maybe that That just involves reducing their drinking from 10 drinks a day to three or four drinks a day. Still potentially over that limit of what would be recommended by a doctor, but it’s bringing down that level of risk and danger from people’s substance use. And I think harm reduction is a lot for people to wrap their heads around. It’s words like enabling come up and things like this. And what people and families and providers need to remember is that acceptance is not endorsement.
Steve Carleton
Accepting where somebody is at and what they’re willing to do and what changes they are willing to make, even if those don’t align with what we think that person should do, we can still support that person. We don’t need to abandon them. We don’t need to tell them, We’re not going to treat you here if your goal is not 100 % abstinent. So harm reduction, NARCAN, is another huge tool, and just getting that into people’s in people’s hands so we can save people’s lives that are overdosing. But harm reduction is also an approach. It’s also approaching people with compassion and accepting where they’re at and what changes they are willing to make, instead of fixating on what they won’t do.
Lauren Watson
Now, this leads really well into my next question. You mentioned acceptance of someone’s road to recovery, no matter what that might look like. Why is it important if you have a loved one who may be suffering from substance use disorder or has something going on with their mental health? Why is it important to accept their road to recovery?
Steve Carleton
Yeah, it’s a great question. And I want to be clear, this is much easier said than done. If you have a loved one that is abusing substances and using in a way that’s dangerous, using in a way that’s having consequences for you and your family, accepting that they’re continuing to use despite evidence that they should stop completely. It’s a tough pill to swallow. So here’s why it’s important to do that. The typical way we express care and concern for people is to try and nag it out of them. We try and just see if we say this 15,000 times that we want them to quit substances, maybe that 15,000 time, they’re going to stop using. And that’s really not how it works. What tends to happen, and what I think resonates with a lot of families, And anyone that loves someone, what the substance use problem is, the more you push on them to quit, the more entrenched they become in that behavior. It sometimes has this paradoxical effect of making that behavior worse, especially when tempers get high, and conflict, and tension happens. So if you can approach people with an accepting tone, it also opens up conversations.
Steve Carleton
If you can wrap your arms around that person, accept them, especially if you’ve never done that before, it can have that effect of, okay, now I feel loved and cared for, now maybe I am willing to make a change. And I don’t want to oversimplify this too much, because people’s experiences with loved ones and family members that are using can be vastly, vastly different. But I think the norm is to try and beat over people’s heads, that they should to stop and to address it head on, in this conflictual way. And if that has been your strategy, potentially looking at this as acceptance and partnering with somebody of like, How can we make this safer? Might be one other tool for the toolbox.
Lauren Watson
You did just touch on this just a little bit, but having that conversation is difficult. If you’re someone who hasn’t had that conversation with a loved one yet, this is Recovery Month. It’s a good time to think about maybe how to have that conversation and how to start having that conversation. What should that look like?
Steve Carleton
Well, and this is something we’ve talked a lot about on here, but I think oftentimes Sometimes, those conversations happen in moments of tension, right? When something significant has happened, and there’s been some consequence, there’s been some type of fallout. If you can try and find a time when things aren’t chaotic, when things aren’t in conflict, scheduling a time, can we go and just have coffee and talk? I think that is a better foundation for a conversation with somebody that you’re concerned about. I think other things to do in that conversation is understand, how did that person get there? What were the chain of events, the chain of experiences, the things that led up to that problem use, or what you’re seeing in them? Understanding the function behind that behavior can help you have more compassion for it. If it just is coming across as judgmental, and they’re doing this to be self-destructive, and doing this to hurt their family, it’s a bit of a nonstarter in those conversations. So how can you channel some compassion for what that person is going through. And then I think the third thing to do in that conversation is be helpful, be a resource.
Steve Carleton
Hey, I found Porch Light Health. I found some other treatment facilities. Samhsa has this website where we can tap into different resources and different residential programs or outpatient programs that you can get help with. I come helpful. If somebody is having a severe substance use disorder, especially, All of their attention is aimed at using, recovering from use, and finding the next time they’re going to use. It’s very overwhelming and all-consuming when people are in those severe realms. So help be a resource. Do your homework before those conversations. Have options for that person if they are willing and ready to accept help. And then I think the last piece is just having boundaries, right? And understanding that if you’re a loved one of somebody struggling with a substance use disorder, having boundaries is healthy, and having boundaries does not involve setting rules for that other person. It’s setting rules for yourself. If that person shows up to dinner under the influence in a way that’s uncomfortable for you, that they’re no longer welcome to stay there. I think having those types of boundaries and thinking about them in terms of those parameters of how am I going to respond?
Steve Carleton
Rather than, How do I want this other person to respond? Then I think you’re setting yourself up more for success and communicating clearly what your needs are from that person rather than having these expectations that might not be met.
Lauren Watson
Well, Steve, those are all of the prepared questions that I had for you this month. Is there anything, before we wrap up, that we either haven’t touched on or that we have touched on that you really want to emphasize and make sure our viewers at home really absorb as the point of our little conversation today?
Steve Carleton
Yeah, absolutely. I think in Southern Colorado, we have clinics in Colorado and Pueblo, and we do this harm reduction work day in and day out. If your loved one is struggling with opioid use disorder, medication for addiction treatment is the best path. It has the most efficacy behind it. I think another exciting thing that we’re doing is we have rolled out a harm reduction program surrounding alcohol. If people want to come and talk to a professional about their alcohol use and they’re just concerned, maybe it hasn’t escalated to a severe problem, but you’re noticing that there’s problems. We have a really short therapy program. It’s four sessions long. It’s very low barrier. If you want to just come and talk to a professional about your relationship with alcohol, I I think that’s a great avenue. And we also have a three-week intensive outpatient program where people can come and it feels like a classroom, and you learn about addiction, and you learn lots of different coping skills to improve that relationship and, again, reduce that harm from use. Look us up if you need help in and around that area.
Lauren Watson
And yeah, that leads into my little wrap up. You said you have several clinics across Southern Colorado. If people are looking for you, how can they find you?
Steve Carleton
1-866-MAT-STAT is probably the best way, or www.porchlighthealth.com. I think those are both great evidence.
Lauren Watson
Awesome. Well, Steve Carlton, Chief Clinical Officer at Porchlight Health. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your afternoon to talk about Recovery Month with us.
Steve Carleton
Anytime. Thanks, Lauren.
