The Treat Addiction Save Lives Podcast

Seasons greetings from us here at ASAM! In this episode we've got over an hour of great holiday music plus messages of gratitude and warmth from our ASAM community members who called into our holiday phone line this year. Sit back and enjoy!

In this episode of the Treat Addiction Save Lives Podcast, Midwestern University medical students Mike Krupp & Matt Moon discuss what led them to study addiction medicine and how they became involved with the organization, Care for Friends, which is based in Chicago and provides support and services to the unhoused population there. Together, Mike & Matt started an addiction medicine club at Midwestern which, with support from the school, provides students with the opportunity to volunteer their services with Care for Friends. They are currently participating by screening patients for substance use disorders and referring to treatment; along with conducting a clothing drive and harm reduction clinics.
Mike & Matt share their experience at ASAM’s Annual Conference 2023, where they were excited to meet with others interested in the field of addiction medicine and learn about the latest research and best practices in the field. They also share how their experiences working with CFF has influenced their perspectives on addiction and individuals who are dealing with addiction. Matt & Mike stress the importance of establishing relationships with patients and fighting stigma associated with addiction by practicing compassionate care in a judgement-free environment. They also discuss the need for more education and training about addiction, stigma related to certain types of addiction but not others, and separating addiction from the individual.
Michael Krupp is a 4th year medical student at Midwestern University currently pursuing a degree in Osteopathic Medicine. Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, Michael attended Clemson University for undergraduate studies and to play rugby. While there, he received a degree in biology before returning back to the Midwest to complete medical school. While Michael has always been involved in a variety of volunteering activities, his work with Care For Friends has really helped him to gain exposure and experience to a population base that he plans on working closely with during his career in Addiction Psychiatry. He loves working with people and is always doing his best to improve upon pre-existing programs as well as to help found new programs to address issues faced by the undomiciled population of Chicago. Outside of work and volunteering, Michael loves to hang out with his family and friends, travel, go to concerts, and do movie marathons with his girlfriend Katrina. He is excited for this opportunity to give back to the community and is looking forward to what the future holds.
 
Matthew Moon grew up in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota and is currently a fourth-year medical student at Midwestern University, Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. He is currently pursuing a residency in Psychiatry and has several interests within Psychiatry which includes treating substance use disorders. Along with his colleague, he started a new Addiction Medicine club at Midwestern University and hopes that this will serve as a way for other medical students to learn more about the field of Addiction Medicine/Psychiatry.
 
Links:
Care for Friends
Midwestern University
Midwestern University Addiction Medicine Club
 
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, you are not alone. Treatment is available and recovery is possible. Visit ASAM’s Patient Resources page for more information.

In our final podcast during National Addiction Treatment Week 2023, Dr. Christina Delos Reyes shares how she came to be an addiction medicine specialist, starting as a peer support for other students in medical school. She has now come full circle, as she currently serves as a coach helping healers heal themselves. Dr. Delos Reyes talks about the importance of storytelling and what inspired her to start Club Hope, a compassionate community for anyone and everyone affected by addiction. She discusses the importance of bringing the disease of addiction out into the light, to eradicate the stigma, shame, and secrecy of addiction, so it becomes a “casserole illness.” She also touches on the process by which stigma and discrimination perpetuate one another. Dr. Delos Reyes shares about her transition from clinician to coach, the complexities of her work, and the need for medical students to be exposed to individuals in long-term recovery in order to change the story from hopeless to hopeful. Dr. Delos Reyes’ message to others is to focus on relationships and shared humanity, and she discusses the role of spirituality in addiction treatment and recovery.
Dr. Christina Delos Reyes is an addiction psychiatrist with over 25 years of experience. She shifted from clinical practice in 2022 and spends her time teaching, consulting, and coaching. She will be joining the Ohio Professionals Health Program as associate medical director later this year. She currently splits her time between her hometown of Cleveland and her new town of Las Vegas.
Thank you for listening.  In honor of National Addiction Treatment Week, ASAM is providing the choice of two engaging on-demand 2023 ASAM Annual Conference sessions for free until Dec. 31, 2023. Use code NATW2023 at checkout when you register for either Stimulant Treatment for ADHD: Not Exactly Opioids 2.0, But Close? or Delta What? An Update on Novel Cannabinoids including Delta-8 and 10 THC
For more podcast episodes and resources, follow #TreatmentWeek and visit www.treataddictionsavelives.org.
Subscribe to The ASAM Weekly, a source of timely, useful news briefings of top stories and current research in the field of addiction medicine. Delivered to your inbox every Tuesday.
 
Links:
Club Hope: www.clubhopeunlimited.com

Even as a child, Dr. Nicole Labor knew she wanted to be a doctor. During this Treat Addiction Save Lives podcast, Dr. Labor talks about her path to becoming an addiction medicine physician, including her own experience with substance use as a medical student. She shares about working at the birthplace of AA and how she was influenced by that history. Dr. Labor discusses what inspired her to write the book, The Addictoholic Deconstructed: An irreverently quick and dirty education by a doctor who says f*ck a lot, and how she feels addiction requires individualized care and should be treated as any other chronic medical disease. Dr. Labor encourages other medical providers and professionals to become educated about the addiction disease process, to build relationships with addiction medicine specialists, and to recognize that patients with substance use disorder (SUD) deserve the high expectations we hold for all other patients. Dr. Labor also shares how she knows her work is impactful.
Dr. Nicole Labor graduated from Penn State University with a bachelor's in biobehavioral health and attended the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine where she earned her DO. Residency in family medicine took place in Buffalo, NY (SUNY), followed by a fellowship in addiction medicine at Marworth, through Geisinger.
Dr. Labor started her addiction career by working with Summa in Akron, OH, at the Ignatia Hall detox unit, essentially following in the footsteps of Dr. Bob Smith, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. While in Akron, the birthplace of AA, Dr. Labor cultivated relationships with community treatment centers all over northeast Ohio. Dr. Labor is known for her work within the community to reduce the stigma of addiction and provide evidence-based care to patients with SUD. She also serves on the ASAM Board of Directors as a Director-at-Large.
Dr. Labor is married and lives with her husband and daughter on a small hobby farm in Seville, OH. She works as medical director of several SUD/behavioral health facilities and has written a best-selling book about addiction as well as co-written a companion workbook. She is in abstinence-based recovery since 2005.
Thank you for listening.  In honor of National Addiction Treatment Week, ASAM is providing the choice of two engaging on-demand 2023 ASAM Annual Conference sessions for free until Dec. 31, 2023. Use code NATW2023 at checkout when you register for either Stimulant Treatment for ADHD: Not Exactly Opioids 2.0, But Close? or Delta What? An Update on Novel Cannabinoids including Delta-8 and 10 THC
For more podcast episodes and resources, follow #TreatmentWeek and visit www.treataddictionsavelives.org.
Subscribe to The ASAM Weekly, a source of timely, useful news briefings of top stories and current research in the field of addiction medicine. Delivered to your inbox every Tuesday.
 
Links:
The Addictoholic Deconstructed: An irreverently quick and dirty education by a doctor who says f*ck a lot: Labor, Dr. Nicole T, Kolankowski, Kevin, Jarvis MD, Margaret: 9780578580524: Amazon.com: Books

In episode 3 of the Treat Addiction Save Lives podcast, Dr. Patrick C. Beeman shares about his journey to practicing addiction medicine as an OB/GYN physician and the challenges and uniqueness of treating addiction in the field of women’s health. Dr. Beeman discusses the importance of education, communication, and networking as he challenges the stigma associated with addiction and believes that each individual can make a difference in the fight against addiction. Dr. Beeman shares why he started the Ars Longa Media company, which includes the Inside the Boards podcast, and the importance of the media in influencing culture and conversation. His latest initiative is the Addiction Recovery project; a new podcast will feature musicians sharing their own recovery and treatment journeys, along with an album of cover songs related to addiction and recovery. Dr. Beeman also talks about creativity and addiction; the importance of treating patients with dignity and respect; and how seemingly little, day-to-day efforts can add up to measurable improvements.
Dr. Beeman is a Catholic, husband, father, physician, proud Ohioan, quondam philosopher, and media producer. Board certified in Ob/Gyn and addiction medicine, he is the medical director of the innovative natural women’s health practice Veranova Health, as well as Medmark Treatment Centers–Amherst, an opioid treatment program. He’s the founder of the USMLE prep platform, InsideTheBoards, and the health media and creativity company, Ars Longa Media. If you’re interested in working together on creative health media and medical education projects, check out ALM’s “Addiction // Recovery” page. And you can find links to Dr. Beeman’s various activities, including a guide to preparing for the addiction medicine board exam, on his Linktree page. He resides in and serves his hometown community of Lorain, Ohio, just outside of Cleveland.
Thank you for listening.  In honor of National Addiction Treatment Week, ASAM is providing the choice of two engaging on-demand 2023 ASAM Annual Conference sessions for free until Dec. 31, 2023. Use code NATW2023 at checkout when you register for either Stimulant Treatment for ADHD: Not Exactly Opioids 2.0, But Close? or Delta What? An Update on Novel Cannabinoids including Delta-8 and 10 THC
For more podcast episodes and resources, follow #TreatmentWeek and visit www.treataddictionsavelives.org.
Subscribe to The ASAM Weekly, a source of timely, useful news briefings of top stories and current research in the field of addiction medicine. Delivered to your inbox every Tuesday.
 
Links:
Ars Longa Media - Home
InsideTheBoards - Home
Ars Longa Media - Addiction//Recovery
Veranova Health | Family Medicine ObGyn Middleburg Heights, OH
Opioid Treatment in Amherst, Ohio | MedMark
@DrBeeman(drbeeman) - Latest Music, Videos, Twitter Links (linktr.ee)
Home | MI CARES (micaresed.org)
Online Guide to Certification (asam.org)

In this episode, Dr. Nick Christian shares his journey from musician to physician and how he has taken addiction care to the street to meet patients where they are. Dr. Christian talks about the importance of viewing each patient as “a human being above all else” and how he hopes to see a revolution in addiction treatment. Dr. Christian shares some meaningful and transformational moments in his journey treating patients with addiction; he also discusses the importance of ending addiction-related stigma and the power of relationships when treating addiction.
Nicholaus “Nick” Christian is an internal medicine clinician-educator and current postdoctoral research fellow through the Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development program and provider for veterans experiencing homelessness at the Homeless Patient Aligned Care Team (H-PACT) clinic. He completed his addiction medicine fellowship in the Yale Program in Addiction Medicine following completion of internal medicine residency training at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin where he helped start the “B-Team,” a national model for expanding access to buprenorphine for hospitalized patients with opioid use disorder. Throughout residency he lived as a “missional” resident at Community First! Village, a master-planned community that provides affordable, permanent housing and a supportive community for people transitioning out of chronic homelessness where he has helped spearhead a community-based participatory research project to elevate the voice of his neighbors who use substances or are in recovery. His current clinical and research interests include improving care for people who use substances that are on the continuum of experiencing homelessness to being stably housed. He plans on joining the NIDA Intramural Research Program in Baltimore as a staff clinician in the fall of 2023.
Thank you for listening.  In honor of National Addiction Treatment Week, ASAM is providing the choice of two engaging on-demand 2023 ASAM Annual Conference sessions for free until Dec. 31, 2023. Use code NATW2023 at checkout when you register for either Stimulant Treatment for ADHD: Not Exactly Opioids 2.0, But Close? or Delta What? An Update on Novel Cannabinoids including Delta-8 and 10 THC
For more podcast episodes and resources, follow #TreatmentWeek and visit www.treataddictionsavelives.org.
Subscribe to The ASAM Weekly, a source of timely, useful news briefings of top stories and current research in the field of addiction medicine. Delivered to your inbox every Tuesday.
 
Links:
Dr. Nicholaus Christian: Finding the Path (asam.org)
Support Hospital Opioid Use Disorder Treatment (SHOUT) - Be Well Texas
NLC Cares | Allianceforliving
Community First! Village - Mobile Loaves & Fishes (mlf.org)
Homeless Patient Aligned Care Team (HPACT) Fact Sheet (va.gov)
8-BTeamOutcomes_Moriates-et-al.pdf (bewelltexas.org)

Welcome to National Addiction Treatment Week 2023! In Episode 1 of the Treat Addiction Save Lives podcast, Drs. Anika Alvanzo and Margaret Jarvis discuss the shortage of addiction medicine specialists and the complexities of addiction medicine care. Drs. Alvanzo and Jarvis share how they were drawn to the field of addiction medicine and how practicing in this subspecialty has impacted their career in positive and rewarding ways. They discuss how they define success in the treatment of addiction; barriers to treatment, including stigma; and the role of primary care physicians in treating patients who use substances. Dr. Jarvis and Alanzo also discuss factors related to the shortage of addiction medicine specialists and challenges with access to medications for addiction treatment.
Dr. Anika Alvanzo is a graduate of the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, holds a master’s degree in biostatistics from Virginia Commonwealth University, and is board certified in internal medicine and addiction medicine. Dr. Alvanzo is a Principal at Health Management Associates (HMA). She is a Distinguished Fellow of ASAM, a past president of the Maryland-DC Society of Addiction Medicine, and currently serves as chair of the ASAM Annual Conference Program Planning Committee and secretary for the ASAM Board of Directors.
Dr. Margaret A. E. Jarvis finished her medical school, psychiatry residency, and addiction medicine fellowship at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. She is board certified in addiction medicine, addiction psychiatry, and general psychiatry. An ASAM Distinguished Fellow, she has served on the ASAM Board of Directors and currently is the co-chair of the Quality Improvement Council. She has also worked on the Addiction Medicine Examination in its various forms since 2000. Dr. Jarvis is the chief of the Addiction Medicine Division at Geisinger. She was previously the medical director at Geisinger Marworth, in Waverly, PA.
Thanks for listening. In honor of National Addiction Treatment Week, ASAM is providing the choice of two engaging on-demand 2023 ASAM Annual Conference sessions for free until Dec. 31, 2023. Use code NATW2023 at checkout when you register for either Stimulant Treatment for ADHD: Not Exactly Opioids 2.0, But Close? or Delta What? An Update on Novel Cannabinoids including Delta-8 and 10 THC.
For more podcast episodes and resources, follow #TreatmentWeek and visit www.treataddictionsavelives.org.
Subscribe to The ASAM Weekly, a source of timely, useful news briefings of top stories and current research in the field of addiction medicine. Delivered to your inbox every Tuesday.
 
Links:
Substance Use Disorder Treatment Falls Short of the Need | NEJM Catalyst, Co-authored by Drs. Anika Alvanzo & Margaret Jarvis
ASAM’s eLearning Center
ASAM Clinical Guidelines
Tools and resources for addiction medicine physicians
Resources to empower the addiction medicine workforce