I recently joined Kyle VanBlaircom on his show, The Peer Perspective Podcast. We discussed a wide range of topics: opioids, stimulants, stigma, recovery in rural areas (links below).
Many thanks to Penny Austad, one of Kyle’s earlier guests, for introducing us! ✸
Here’s the blog post that Kyle mentioned at 4:43. Substance use is often a coping mechanism (“self medication”) for another problem. People frequently relapse because the underlying driver has not been addressed.
Mental illness and addiction are big issues everywhere — but especially in rural areas like Osceola, Wisconsin, that lack local treatment resources. As my partner, Nicole Smith, M.D., said well, “What we lack at Osceola, is we don’t have integrated behavioral health, we don’t have therapists on staff. For better or for worse, Osceola doesn’t have mental health beds.”
All of that is about to change!
Osceola Medical Center (OMC), a rural health clinic and critical access hospital, has committed to rapidly creating local services for mental illness and addiction. The Osceola Community Health Foundation (OCHF) recently raised $61,000 at its annual gala to launch an integrated behavioral health program. And OMC’s board of directors just prioritized creating “psych safe” hospital beds so we can stop boarding patients in the emergency department and transferring them far from home.
“We want to be known as the people who show up in the best and worst of times for our patients and their families,” said Kelly Macken-Marble, OMC’s chief executive officer.
Many thanks to Jill Leahy, Director of the OCHF; Exist Media Company; and countless others for imaging a better future for our community. ✸
Way back in August, we filmed the tenth and final installment of Hazelden Publishing’s What You Need to Know (WYNTK) Series. Our set was at the beautiful Westminster Presbyterian Church in Downtown Minneapolis.
That installment, Addictive Substances, is now out — or, as my kids would say, it “dropped.” Wes Thomsen, the senior producer, generously gave me permission to post a segment here.
I appear at 1:50
Copyright © Hazelden Publishing. Used with permission
Many thanks to Wes Thomsen, Sylvia Jaurez, Brad Hadsall, Chris Dougherty and Jennilee Park for conceiving and producing the series. I’m looking forward to ongoing adventures! ✸
We filmed the tenth and final installment of Hazelden Publishing’s What You Need to Know (WYNTK) Series today. Our set was at the beautiful Westminster Presbyterian Church in Downtown Minneapolis.
Many thanks to Wes Thomsen, Sylvia Jaurez, Brad Hadsall, Chris Dougherty and Jennilee Park for conceiving and producing the series. I’m looking forward to our next adventure! ✸
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Postscript [08/03/2021]. “Where are you in the program overviews?” Please see Alcohol starting at 1:17 and Nicotine & Vaping starting at 2:20. And, there is much more in the full products.
I recently appeared on WCCO Television (Twin Cities) to discuss “Zoom fatigue,” a phenomenon that has emerged as we spend hour upon hour interacting via virtual means. The science is still very early, however, Jeremy Bailenson, Ph.D., at Stanford University has offered compelling theories concerning possible causes and suggested some countermeasures.
Many thanks to Sarah Jackson with Media Minefield for her continuing partnership on translating evidence into action. ✸
There is currently considerable interest in telehealth addiction care. Allina Health began offering it in February 2019 to address geographic voids in greater Minnesota. We were thus well-positioned for virtual care when the Covid-19 pandemic occurred about a year later.
Jeff Wagner interviewed me on WCCO Television on September 12th about our work at Allina. Please see here and here for previous media appearances.
Many thanks to Sarah Jackson with Media Minefield for her partnership on this timely and important subject! ✸
Well, about 48 minutes.
Janet Lewis Muth, Director of Health Promotion at Carleton College, and I were guests today on MPR News with Angela Davis. We discussed happiness. Please see my earlier posts (and here, here and here) for more context.
Many thanks to Tim Burke, External Communications Advisor at Allina Health, for his partnership on this timely and important subject! ✸
Linda Picone, the editor of Minnesota Medicine, tapped me for its “Joy of Medicine” feature. The extended interview appears in the September–October issue.
I’ll let Linda’s work speak for itself—it’s an absolute gem—but offer the following references for those who might want to go deeper:
Leah Beno interviewed me on KMSP Television yesterday morning about telehealth addiction care. Please see here and here for the context.
Many thanks to Sarah Jackson with Media Minefield for her partnership on this timely and important subject! ✸
