Meeting with my Public Health policy team over the weekend, it became apparent that establishing an Office of Recovery Services at City Hall, in the Boston Health Commission, is imperative. I share this idea today, before we start releasing all of our policy briefs, because the subject is so important to me. As my team laid out their research on the wide range of issues and services we will address in a Walsh Administration, it became all too clear that there aren’t enough detox beds, and accessing services that are available is trying and can be overwhelming for addicts in need and their families.
My Office of Recovery Services will focus on navigating the system for addicts, enabling their use of the services critical to recovery. We’ll work to identify additional detox beds for Bostonians ready to take that critical first step. We continue to work out particulars, but the Office of Recovery Services will provide a 24-hour referral line, and will advocate for more and better delivery of services.
Over the past two months, when I haven’t been out at the 250+ events across the city I’ve attended since my campaign started, or out knocking on doors, I’ve been in kitchens and living rooms talking to the over 100 volunteers – practitioners, experts, academics, and neighborhood folks, who make up my policy teams. They, in turn, have interviewed over 500 people – advocates and service recipients crossing a wide range of neighborhoods and interests, who have given us some great ideas and feedback. Stay tuned. As we work toward September 24, we will begin to announce collaborative and innovative policy initiatives across approximately 20 areas.
I am running for mayor because I love this City, and I believe government is about serving people. This is one very personal way I can do that.
Detox beds is not the main link to recovery. If you read stories of parents of those affected, it is the abandonment by the treating community, mainly by lack of follow up and coordination. Only in certain cases is it necessary to hospitalize those needing detox because the combination of drugs taken make it unsafe to do so outpatient. Further this disease of addiction is chronic and ongoing. The inflow of patients is constant, much like diabetes. The focus should be on restoring those who choose or are mandated to treatment through the court system to productive citizens. Inpatient services have generally been a failure and there are studies through the SAMHSA (http://samhsa.gov/) website that present more evidence based alternatives. Having said that a central role to coordinate Recovery Services is a welcome start.
…and you’ll be needing it when the casino gets built! Gambling addiction is every bit as real as chemical dependence, do you have any thoughts on what a casino would do the Boston?
I welcome your attention to the issue, but I am not clear on exactly what you are proposing to change. It makes me wonder whether your public health policy team actually has anyone with any substance abuse expertise.
It is also not clear why Boston needs its own 24-hour referral line when the MDPH already maintains one. Why is that not sufficient?
given Representative Walsh’s very public almost two decades of sobriety and a long legislative record on alcohol and substance abuse issues at the State House someone on his public policy team “actually has . . substance abuse expertise”.
Personal and/or legislative experience with alcohol abuse is not the kind of expertise I am talking about. I am talking about expertise in treating a wide array of substance abuse issues along with a knowledge of the current situation in Boston.
I appreciate that he cares about the issue, but I still don’t understand why he appears to be proposing something without regard to what is already being provided by BPHC/MDPH.
If he wants to post a general statement saying he deeply cares about the issue and wants to improve service in the area, that’s great. But when he posts a specific proposal that doesn’t seem to make sense, I want to know why.
It also appears that someone from his campaign just dumped this on the site without anyone paying any attention to the reaction, since there is yet to be any clarification as to what was meant. It really feels to me like he cares about the issue in general and wanted to say something and just shot from the hip.
includes drafting and supporting technical legislation that directly impacts treatment. It includes funding treatment. And it includes working with the organizations and experts in the field. I noticed the following:
I’m by no definition someone who understands the details of substance abuse treatment, however I do know Rep. Walsh and believe him to be sincere in his commitment to addressing these issues.
As for “dumping” at BMG, his campaign has made an effort to post regularly – more so than any other Mayoral candidate. If they are not yet aware of your question I bet they will be shortly.
Yes, I understand what legislative experience may entail, and I do not question Walsh’s commitment to the issue of substance abuse treatment. However, he is running for mayor now and has to deal with direct formulation and implementation of policies. I want to know not only that his heart is in the right place, but that he is competent to take on a executive/management role. Proposing programs that already exist is not an encouraging sign.
It is pretty clear that this post was in fact “dumped” on the site without monitoring or else his campaign really doesn’t know how to respond or else they would have done so by now. Yes, his campaign has posted on this site a number of times in the last several months, but has yet to write a single comment. If you post something on this site, you should expect to monitor and respond to comments. Anyone posting on a campaigns behalf had better know in advance that it looks bad if they fail to respond.
Still no reply…
You’re right Kevin and I’m disappointed in the Walsh campaign. While recognizing that all campaigns struggle to handle every task, the Walsh campaign initiated the post. At the least it’s guilty of inattention and at the most it has opened itself up to “dumping” as you wondered. Poor form on their part.
I wish there was time to monitor Blue Mass Group on a daily basis, but there just isn’t. I apologize for the delayed response. We’re working on rolling out many, many policy ideas, and I wish things were moving more quickly, but the grassroots process we’re employing – working with about 100 volunteers who are talking to hundreds of people (as outlined in the original post, which I “dumped” here figuring people here MIGHT be interested) is very time consuming. (And lest you think I’m claiming we invented it – we didn’t. I, like many of you, worked on the Governor’s campaign in this manner.)
Anyway, substance abuse. One of the other candidates made a remark at one point about how he was going to help people in recovery as a whole, rather than one at a time, which was an obvious swipe at Marty. The comment indicates that the commenter knows nothing about how recovery actually works.
First, what he is proposing does NOT already exist. Neither BPHC nor Mass. DPH offers a 24-hour referral line. They are closed late at night. I am a person who has received calls about recovery outside of the hours the DPH hotline is open, and I call my own personal hotline – Marty. You will notice, because you guys are smart, that the post does NOT call for the creation of more detox beds, even though I would argue that is a BIG part of what IS what’s needed. We just have to come up with a way to pay for them. You are also correct that the recidivism rate is high – I don’t have that number, but last time I was aware of it in relation to the halfway house for which I serve as board president, it was in the vicinity of 80%. You are correct that there needs to be more follow-up in many forms, including therapy and job placement.
He’s 100% committed to working on this. He’s a 100% committed to helping people as he was helped. We’ll come up with a realistic and fully implementable plan that includes the kernels of what we’ve announced here. If you want to help us with this in any way, you know where to find me!
Joyce
But really it is not at all demanding to expect that the campaign respond too comments before the post becomes less relevant as it supplanted by more recent posts. It really doesn’t take much time at all to notice that comments have been made. This is supposed to be an interactive medium. It is not a repository for press releases. If you are too busy to respond to comments, then you have to be ready to accept the consequences (e.g. people may never read your response if it comes too late).
The guide to substance abuser services at:
http://www.bphc.org/programs/aptrss/understandingaddictionservices/Forms%20%20Documents/Substance%20Abuse%20Prevention%20and%20Treatment%20Services%20in%20Boston%202011.pdf
Claims that MDPH does indeed have a “24-hour hotline (800-327-5050) to help connect individuals to a variety of substance abuse-related treatment and services.” Is that not true?
And wouldn’t it be better to for the state to provide this service in any case? It’s not like substance abuse problems stop at the City line.
Reading through that document, I am still not clear on what exactly you are proposing other than the city run 24-hotline that would be different from what is already being done.
Still, I really do appreciate Mr. Walsh’s attention to this issue.
The State’s hotline is NOT 24 hours. This information was shared by a number of people on our public health team, and I checked it myself by calling. They close at 11 pm. Not sure what time they open in the morning.
Sure, it would be great if the state provided the service, but they don’t. And while I certainly agree that substance abuse problems don’t stop at the city line, I am currently involved in a Boston mayoral campaign, so that’s where my interest lies.
Again, I apologize that it took me 18 hours to respond to your comment.