Bridging the Gap from AbstinenceBased Addiction Treatment to Harm
Reduction Treatment:
My Personal Journey
Barry Lessin, M.Ed., CAADC
Licensed Psychologist
Certified Advanced Alcohol and Drug
Counselor
Porch to Portland
War on Drugs =
War on People
•
War on people
Facing the Gap
Objectives
IIlustrate what contributed to the gap,
for me, between Abstinence-Based (AB)
and Harm Reduction (HR) treatment.
Offer a systems approach to facilitate
the transition to HR.
Share a perspective to allow others to
integrate HR into their work.
My path to HR:
Career Summary
•
•
•
•
Training/Workplace
dichotomy
Career burnout
Profound personal
experience
Public health
advocacy
Client-Centered &
Developmental:
What I Learned
Carl Rogers
Lifespan Development
Conflicting Views:
What I Learned vs, What I Was
Doing
vs.
Conflicting Views:
What I Learned vs. What I Was
Doing
vs
Managed Care:
A Two Headed Monster
Training & Professional
Experience
A Systems View
Family Therapy
School Psychology
Training & Professional
Experience:
Path to Independent Practice
Career Burnout
Personal Experience:
My Nephew
Personal Experience:
My Nephew
•
Perfect storm of:
•
•
•
treatment gap
addiction
stigma
system-wide
failure
Personal Experience:
My Nephew
•
•
•
Tough Love
prevented crucial
connection to
loved ones
My “expert” role
was bogus
Returned to my
roots of addiction
treatment
Transition Begins:
Back to the Future (2011)
Learning About Public Health
Policy
Witnessing the Gap in the
Professional Community
Drug Policy Alliance
2011 Conference
Engaging in Public Health
Advocacy
Broken No More
www.broken-no-more.org
Grief Recovery
After a Substance
Passing
www.grasphelp.org
When Grief Support
Vanishes
My path to HR:
Career Summary
•
•
•
•
What I learned vs.
What I did
Career burnout
Profound personal
experience
Public health
advocacy
A-HA Moment!
From Transition...
...To Transformation
Moving forward...
Systems Interaction:
Micro vs. Macro
Connecting the Dots
How Systems Inform Us:Micro vs Macro
My Burnout
Blame
Addict
Stigmatizin
g,
criminalizin
g system
Micro View
Macro View
How Systems Inform Us:
Micro vs. Macro
More Effective
Clinician
Empower to
educate/change
Micro
Macro
Integrating and Evolving...
Barry Lessin, M.Ed., CAADC
Licensed Psychologist
Certified Advanced Alcohol and Drug
Counselor
1244 Ft. Washington
Ave.
bless1244@yahoo.com
Suite E2
215-694-9146
Ft. Washington, PA
19034
Resources
•
“In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts”, Gabor
Mate’
•
Practicing Harm Reduction
Psychotherapy, Patt Denning & Jeannie
Little
•
Harm Reduction Psychotherapy,
Andrew Tatarsky
Resources
•
www.gradualismandaddiction.org , Scott
Kellogg
•
Coming to Harm Reduction Kicking and
Screaming, Dee Dee Stout
•
How to Manage Your Drinking, Kenneth
Anderson