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Day 2 of @csam_smca! Sat in on the plenary by Dr Julian Somers of SFU titled " From Addiction to Emancipation in BC"
Thoughts below ..
Thoughts below ..
wasnt really sure what this talk was going to be about but it seems to be around the role of social intervention in Addictions in BC. Dr Somers is a fairly prolific researcher around Housing and social intervention in treatment of addiction
We started by reviewing the many landmark foundation studies that show addiction has a huge social component e.g the study with the baby monkey and the robot mom (paraphrasing lol) and well known Rat Park (which was based out of SFU???)
Another interesting one was around the rates of youth suicide in First Nations in BC. This study found that the more protective factors a band had (missed what they were, but all social factors), the lower the youth suicide rate
We spoke about the usual crisis inducing figures regarding overdose deaths and homelessness in BC. Cost of homelessness per person in BC was 55k. I hadnt seen this data before- increasing involuntary admissions for substance use disorders
Quickly moved on to- but what can we do about it as clinicians? Dr Somers believes that we have to come back to the social underpinnings of addiction, and has invested a LOT into research on this
First examined some studies that showed recovery from substance use is possible WITHOUT clinician involvement (i didnt get sources srry!). With that known, what are we doing in this space? what is our role? Dr Somers believes it should be advocating for social supports
Spoke about a social intervention trial led by his research group for people with severe + persistent MI incl SCZ and addiction who were given options for housing including relocation, staying in their communities, and congregate settings
Dr Somers received many critiques of this paper including people who believed that anyone who was experiencing homelessness and substance use would automatically want to stay in congregate living vs relocation. Their study found this not to be true- people chose new starts
