Erasing stigma Dr. Gardere will be a featured speaker at this year’s UMADAOP State Conference, and he says he plans to focus on substance abuse, an issue that has hit Ohio hard during the current opioid epidemic. He says he wants to help break down the stigma surrounding substance abuse and help people understand the root causes of addiction. “What I’d really like to address is how we have to get past the idea that drug addiction is some sort of a personal weakness and see it more as it truly is, which is an illness,” Dr. Gardere says. Substance use is often a means of self medication to cope with pain or to stabilize a person’s mood, Dr. Gardere says, and can often lead to abuse because of a lack of quality treatment resources. He says decades of stigmatization have caused people to lose empathy and demonize substance abuse without fully understanding its often complex and nuanced causes.
No one above it Drug addiction among celebrities has long been a staple of gossip magazines and talk shows, and as someone intimately familiar with the concept, Dr. Gardere doesn’t feel it’s necessarily a bad thing. He says while the conversations can get off track, he appreciates the fact that discussing drug abuse in celebrities reinforces the idea that addiction can happen to anyone. But while celebrities can afford expensive treatment services, most other people aren’t so fortunate. So when it comes to positively impacting the lives of everyday people, Dr. Gardere says the issue comes down to a simple question: “Are there enough resources out there and are they truly making a difference?”
“We are a society that’s into pointing fingers, blaming, and what I call ‘the defense mechanism of splitting,’ which is good versus bad,” Dr. Gardere says. “It becomes an easier way of processing what’s in front of us.” Staying healthy Dr. Gardere will also address wellness for employees in the social services industry. Wellness is a major theme of this year’s conference, with multiple sessions dedicated to the topic and daily yoga and tai chi lessons every morning. Dr. Gardere says wellness is particularly important for those working in social services because of the unique stresses the job can put on someone. He says finding ways to relieve that stress and maintain good mental and physical health is extremely important to avoid negative consequences. “It’s not an easy road and not an easy profession to be part of,” Dr. Gardere says. “They need to take care of themselves because they can easily burn out.”
“Are there enough resources out there and are they truly making a difference?” - Dr. Jeff Gardere UMADAOP conference speaker
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