A somber and hopeful hello to everyone today,
BLACK LIVES MATTER. Of course all lives matter too, but amidst the 400 year old bigotry, injustice and violence storming through our country against people of color, today the focus is on the BLACK LIVES that have, and always will MATTER. And it's about time. I don’t think I will ever understand the magnitude of hatred and disregard for human life, yet I am hopeful of how people in our country, and around the world, are rallying for social change. Learn more.
Attention is finally being focused on police brutality, and solutions for protecting communities of color. This is all of our problem to solve. In a recent interview article with Alex S. Vitale1, who wrote The End of Policing in 2017, he stated that the police have been spread too thin and given jobs that were not meant to be in their wheelhouse. Police training is supposed to be geared toward keeping communities safe. Even without racism, they are taught to intervene using force, which means criminalizing those who are disrupting the community. Knowing how to address people with behavioral health issues, including substance addictions, have become police matters instead of interventions by trained healthcare professionals who can help them with their illnesses.
And yet there are police programs, such as A Way Out in Lake County, Illinois, that are helping people with addictions get to treatment services without being arrested. Other police departments employ or collaborate with social services.
At Compris, we have always been aware of how addiction affects marginalized communities, and we have been working hard on our tool to enable access to addiction assessment and treatment across cultural, geographic, and economic barriers. That includes finding ways to reach those who have limited access to healthcare, are homeless, or in the criminal justice system, which sadly disproportionately impacts people of color. We are committed to helping those suffering with addictions and co-occurring illnesses, get their lives back and keep it.
We are acutely aware of the suffering in these communities because our work has brought us in contact with many people and organizations who are also dedicated to racial equality. We are listening and learning, continuing to seek guidance from people in communities of color, and trying our best to understand how we can help make this a tool that supports healthcare parity.
We believe Compris has the potential to greatly innovate addiction assessment and treatment, and reduce stigma, an important element in restoring human dignity to those struggling with this disease. Every individualized treatment plan offers keys to long term, sustainable remission from the integration of evidence-based risk and resilience factors.
Compris is breaking down key obstacles to preventing and treating substance addictions in the following ways:
De-stigmatizing addictions by assessing and treating them as chronic illnesses.
Predicting lifetime addiction risk to help prevent it.
Assessing likelihood of sustaining remission (remaining substance free).
Reducing substance relapses and offender re-incarceration through resilience training.
Bringing more primary care providers into the fight by giving them an assessment and targeted treatment plan based on the most current research.
Creating an unprecedented source of data for further addiction research, and development of new treatments.
Increasing staff resources and efficiency with a timely assessment process and immediate results.
We, as individuals, and as a nation, need solutions. Compris stands in unity with all who are fighting for racial justice and human equality, not just in healthcare, but in everyday safety and growth opportunities.
Please join us in our mission. Watch our 5-minute interview to hear more about what drives us.
Stay safe and healthy.
Thank you.
Joyce Ann and Calvin McGinn