Support Group Proposal: Addressing Mental Health and Substance Abuse in Society

Introduction

Mental health and level of substance use is a vital determinant of the overall well-being of society. Addiction is a complex behavioral change caused by brain biochemical changes due to the continued misuse of drugs. Addiction can be to stimulants, alcohol, cannabis, painkillers, etc. Each medication has a different effect on the brain. On the other hand, mental illnesses are health conditions that involve behavior, thinking, and emotional changes. Mental illnesses can be due to anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, etc. People can be addicted to drugs have mental problems or have both a situation called a co-occurring disorder. The co-occurring disorder occurs because certain illegal drugs can cause mental illness and mental disorders share common causes, such as trauma, brain composition, etc. In the U.S., mental health cases and substance abuse have been rising over the past decade, creating a societal burden and a significant health challenge. This paper is a proposal for helping professionals reduce the adverse effects of addiction and mental health in society.

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Support Group Organization

General objective

To initiate a support group led by a team of professionals that will help people with drug abuse and mental health problems in society.

Specific objectives

To help the affected population develop and strengthen their ability to manage their emotions and thinking as they recover from their problems.

To assist the affected population in developing better interpersonal skills as they recover from drug abuse and mental-related problems.

To help the affected people to improve their self-confidence and esteem.

To create a conducive environment for the affected members to help each other with pragmatic concerns such as managing their day-to-day living and maintaining abstinence.

A Support group organization for people with drug addiction and mental health problems

(Vangeli & West, 2018) defined a support group as an organization that aids in assisting people with dependence abstinence without virtually comprehending the causes of their dependence. Research has shown that support groups have roots in realizing that essential changes in the lifestyle are the aftermath of treatment and that support groups can positively assist in life transitions (Vangeli & West, 2018).

The proposed group's focus will range from a firm leader-oriented, problem-focused group in the early recovery, with its emphasis being on realizing assistance and also managing daily living, to group-oriented, interpersonally and emotionally focused groups in both the middle and later stages of recovery.

Many people living with mental problems and substance abuse (drug addiction) tend to avoid treatment as it threatens to increase their anxiety about abusing drugs. Thus, with such an insight, the proposed support group will emphasize emotional sustenance giving out a safe and conducive environment. Research has shown that such a support group is productive while helping people living with mental problems and addiction to drugs (SAMSHA, 2016). The proposed support group will be supporting individuals in all sorts of settings such as inpatient, outpatient, and continuing patients. The support organization will be open-ended, allowing continued admission of new patients. After every recovery stage, the patients will be joining a different support group until fully recovering. The group will be continuing indefinitely where the old members will be leaving, allowing the new members to be taken care of accordingly and returning occasionally.

Some of the support group tasks will be allowing the patients to speak about their current situation and recent problems that they might have encountered. For the patients with drug addiction problems, the group's main task will be to come up with practical matters to support them in staying abstinent such as dealing with legal issues or keeping off places that tempt them to take drugs. In these forums, the leading professionals will be encouraging the patients to share their different experiences (SAMSHA, 2016). For the mental health patients, the support group will be providing inpatient services whereby the patients will be admitted into the organization and provided with medication services (severe stage) and guidance and counseling services for those whose mental health problems result from stress and depression.

Similarly, with the leading professionals, the group will be providing guidance using peer feedback. Additionally, the specialists assisting the patients will be using their professional skills to keep the levels of confrontation low to minimize the patient's anxiety levels.

The Specific Population

The proposed Support group will target teenagers, young adults, and middle-aged adults because these are the most affected age groups by mental health problems and drug addiction cases. According to Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) data, in 2018, about 60.2% of the population aged above 12 years were substance users (Abuse, 2019). The data also shows that 14.4% of teenagers and 19.5% of the population aged above 18 years had mental illness problems (Abuse, 2019). The report by SAMHSA also indicates that 1.5% of the teenagers (358,000) had co-occurring disorders whereas 1.2% of all the adolescents (288,000) had severe Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and Mental Disorder Episode (MDE) (Abuse, 2019). The population aged above 18 years had 1.3% of them (3.2 million adults) affected by a co-occurring disorder, while 3.7% of adults had cases of SUD and Any Mental Illness (AMI) (Abuse, 2019). The data further breaks down, showing that substance use was higher among adults and teenagers who had mental illnesses than those with no mental health problems. The data shows that 6.1% of the adolescents and 35.0% who had MDE cases in 2018 had started substance use in the same period (Abuse, 2019). With the increased rate of mental illness and addiction among the U.S. population, there have been increased cases of people having suicidal thoughts and non-fatal suicide attempts. There were 3.3 million (4.3%) cases of adults seriously thinking of committing suicide, and 1.4 million (0.6%) tried non-fatal suicide attempts (Abuse, 2019). Therefore, the data shows mental health and substance use adversely affecting teenagers, young adults, and middle-aged adults. Support group organization is a proposal that is aimed at reducing addiction and mental health problems to improve societal well-being.

Evaluation of the Support Group

The following techniques will be used to evaluate the success of the organization group Surveys. The management will use both questionnaires and interviews to collect information about the organization's operation success. Questionnaires and interview questions will be administered to the community members, local and county authorities, the patients, and representatives of the organization's stakeholders to determine whether the project will be working towards meeting its set goals (CDCP, 2015).

Focus groups; with this technique, the support group's management will form a group of individuals who will evaluate the project. The method is more like the survey technique. It will incorporate both interviews and observation techniques to generate data that will be accessed to determine whether the project will be fairing towards realizing the goals outlined (CDCP, 2015).

Professionals involved

A professional social worker will lead the support group because it will mainly comprise specialists and people with enough knowledge and skills. The support group will have the following professionals to help realize its objectives; Psychiatrists and psychologists. Other professionals that will be involved include; social workers, nurses, psychoanalysts, and training specialists.

Potential Ethical Issues and their Solution

Informed Consent

Informed consent is an ethical issue that may arise when a psychologist or Psychiatrist fails to inform the psychological patients of the decisions made for his/her treatment (Herring, 2012). Informed consent ethical issues can be eliminated by ensuring smooth communication between the patient and their relatives. All the relevant information should be communicated before any decision to avoid conflict.

Confidentiality and Self-Disclosure

When the patient's confidential information leaks to the public, it becomes a serious ethical issue and can lead to legal measures being taken against the specialist handling the patient. Therefore, it is a chore duty for the psychologist to vigilantly guard the client's information against unauthorized disclosure (Herring, 2012). Also, the counselor should assure the client all his information will be safe and confidential. The Psychiatrist can disclose some well-tailored information to help gain the confidence of the client.

Maintaining Professional Boundaries

Cases related to professional boundaries occur when psychologists establish unprofessional relationships like dating a client or a client's relative or doing business with them (Herring, 2012). Unprofessional relationship cases are eliminated by restricting psychological specialists from starting any relationship with clients outside the professional boundary.

Potential Legal Issues and Their Solution

Right to Treatment

Legal issues related to treatment rights will occur when a client visits the Support group with mental and addiction problems and fails to receive treatment or when misdiagnosis cases are reported (Bipeta, 2019). The Support group team specialists should be well trained with sufficient experience to ensure quality service delivery to the patients.

Abandonment behavior in Patients with Addiction and Mental Health Problems

People with mental disorders and substance addiction may abscond from psychiatric care centers. Being on their own, they may hurt themselves, others, or properties. The destruction may lead to their families' legal actions or people who have been hurt (Bipeta, 2019). The support group organization's psychiatric hospitals will be well managed with enough security and staff to check them frequently.

Conclusion

Initiating a support group organized to support mental health and substance abuse patients in a community is an ethical and humanitarian act that demonstrates respect for life. This is because the support group, which will be led by a team of professionals in different fields of professionalism, will help the affected people transform into their everyday lives while also finding their purpose for living. For such a project to achieve success, proper leadership should be employed, and professionalism is made the core value.

References

Abuse, S. (2019). 2018 National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) Releases CBHSQ Data. https://www.samhsa.gov/data/release/2018-national-survey-drug-use-and-health-nsduh-releases.

Bipeta, R. (2019). Legal and Ethical Aspects of Mental Health Care. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 41(2), 108–112. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijpsym.ijpsym_59_19

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015, June 25). Chapter 7: Evaluation Phases and Processes. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/communityengagement/pce_program_phases.html.

Herring, B. (2012). A Basic Set of Core Ethical Guidelines For Addiction Treatment Professionals. https://www.billherring.com/basic-set-core-ethical-guidelines-addiction-treatment-professionals.