Amanda Waldren, who sought care for alcohol use disorder, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder through a UMass Chan Medical School program for adults with substance use disorders and co-occurring mental illness, said “Everything in my life has changed for the better.”
“It really opened my mind to, ‘Wow! I have so much more to learn about myself. I have so much growing to do,” said Waldren.
The program model, Maintaining Independence and Sobriety through Systems Integration, Outreach and Networking, or MISSION, combines three evidence-based practices: dual recovery therapy, an integrated group therapy approach for co-occurring disorders; peer support, a recovery approach delivered by people with lived experience; and critical time intervention, a form of assertive community treatment that connects clients with housing, employment and other support resources to help them promote their own recovery.
The program, which builds on 25 years of work by David Smelson, PsyD, professor of medicine and director of the Center of Excellence in Addiction, and his colleagues, is part of a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health through the Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative.
Opioid use disorder afflicts more than 2 million people in the United States. Approximately 50 percent of these people have a co-occurring mental health disorder, and yet only half of those received treatment for their co-occurring disorders, Dr. Smelson explained. Individuals with co-occurring disorders are vulnerable to repeated substance use relapses, mental illness exacerbations, overdoses, homelessness and criminal justice involvement.
Karen DiSaronno, who is involved in the MISSION program, is one of those afflicted. She said she became addicted to opioid painkillers following a car accident, and then turned to heroin and fentanyl and ended up in jail, the last place she ever thought she’d be. “I went from having a physical problem to having a mental and physical problem,” she said.
With the help of MISSION case managers such as Malika Parham-Hill, who described how the program’s inclusive, personalized scope of services and guidance from people with lived experience works, DiSaronno said she’s gotten the support she’s needed to rebuild her life.
“I don’t think I’d be where I am today if it wasn’t for them,” she said.
“It is a real honor for us to be working in the city of Worcester and surrounding areas and offering addiction and mental health treatment through our NIMH-funded study,” said Smelson.
Related media coverage:
Worcester Telegram & Gazette: Addiction and recovery: A human face on the substance use crisis in Worcester
