September is National Recovery Month: Families impacted by substance use deserve loving support
In September of 2023, the Duluth News Tribune published my opinion piece: Those with substance-use disorders need support without judgment . I'm including a visual of the piece here. Substance misuse in our communities is here and real. Avoiding the topic or couching these challenges in shame and stigma hurts rather than helps. Supporting families with love leads to healing. Substance misuse, along with associated medical conditions called substance use disorders (SUDs), have social, medical/biological, behavioral, and spiritual components. SUD is often closely tied to mental health conditions and trauma. When substance misuse or SUD impact mothers and birthing people, the stigma and shame is complicated even further with the intense societal expectations about how women and birthing parents "should" behave to be "good" caregivers. But here's the thing: families are interconnected. Punishing or judging keeps these real health imbalances in the darkness an...