- RICHARD CHAPPELLE executive director, Men and Women For Human Excellence
“We need to decrease some of those distractions that could interfere with being able to focus on staying clean and sober. Many of us in the eld are beginning to see that more and more; as a result, we are recommitting ourselves to doing things a di erent way. It can be di cult because we don't have the funds to do all of the things we want to do, so we just have to do the best we can.”
Treating co-occurring disorders
Another change is that the addiction treatment and mental health professions are working together more than in the past, Chappelle points out. “Today, there is more knowledge about the correlation between the two. We used to see them di erently, but statistics indicate that probably 70 to 80 percent of people who have mental health issues also have a co-occurring substance abuse problem.” e number is even higher among people who are diagnosed with a primary drug and alcohol issue. “ e key is to recognize when there are several issues that need to be addressed and realize that those need to be taken care of simultaneously,” Chappelle says. “If you neglect one while treating the other, you are going to have problems.”
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