SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER

Whether it involves pills or pot, alcohol or inhalants, meth or heroin or opiates, substance use disorder wrecks lives, tears families apart, costs communities millions and can even lead to death.

However, substance use disorder is treatable. That is why Imperial County Behavioral Health Services is dramatically expanding the spectrum of services it will offer to individuals with substance use issues through what is called the Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System Program.

“We are excited about the array of services we will have and the ability to have services available where and when people need them,” Andrea Kuhlen, Director of Behavioral Health Service, said. “For far too long the continuum of care needed just wasn’t available.”

Kuhlen said Imperial County recently became one of California’s first smaller counties to opt into the comprehensive state Substance Use Disorder (SUD) program that will include family therapy, case management, medication services and other crucial services not previously available.

The goal of the Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System Program is to both improve health outcomes and decrease costs to the healthcare system. The services will be available to qualifying adult and adolescent Medi-Cal beneficiaries in Imperial County.

The expanded program is based on the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) Criteria, which is the gold standard for treatment in the field of addiction and substance use disorder. The approach is grounded in evidence-based practices and the understanding that substance use disorder is a chronic and relapsing brain disease in which the individual compulsively seeks drug use.

“Without treatment or engagement in recovery activities, addiction is progressive and can result in disability or premature death,” the ASAM website states.

With the new program, Kuhlen said, Behavioral Health Services will shift the focus from the substance to the whole person; and the goal grows from detox to ongoing recovery.

Treatment plans will be based on the individual’s needs, not on a limited onesize-fits all approach that was further restricted by lack of available treatment options.

At the heart of the approach is the ASAM Criteria, a set of guidelines developed through best practice approaches to help make decisions about an individual’s treatment needs based on various dimensions of the person’s life, for instance, his or her goals, risks, needs, strengths and resources.

“The individual seeking treatment becomes an active partner in the treatment and treatment planning process,” Kuhlen said. “It isn’t just about getting the person sober, but helping them understand triggers, face relapse and live in recovery.”

Because the new treatment approach is based on the many dimensions of an individual, rather than the drug of choice, it allows the county to add family therapy, case management, group therapy and peer counseling to the spectrum of services it will provide.

The Behavioral Health Services will be able to add or enhance substance use inpatient and outpatient care, crisis intervention and medication services it now offers.

It has taken more than two years of hard work by the Behavioral Health Services staff to meet the state requirements for the program and develop the protocols and guidelines, start training and hiring of additional staff to get the program off the ground.

“For so long we had such a restricted list of services,” Kuhlen said. “It has been difficult and frustrating to get sorely needed treatment for clients.”

“To see this program together, to know this is going to help so many people is exciting.”