An Idea: Local Addiction Networks

The field of addictions has become one that is not simply addressing another illness or disorder in the United States. Addiction has exceeded being 'another disorder' and, in many ways, has become 'the disorder' where it involves our communities and society. Still, addiction is, at its core, a medical disorder, which requires qualified counseling and coaching.

All across the country, AOL created small news websites about six years ago (as of this writing), which were a part of the larger AOL Company, collectively known as "Patch.com." As part of Patch.com, these local community websites did and do two things: 1. They adhere to the vision and standards of AOL, and 2. They fuse the standards and vision of AOL with local competence, issues and sensibilities, making their product accessible to readers and the general public.

AOL's vision of Patch is decentralized but not un-unified, and so a predictable product, which meets uniform criteria and specialty is presented and used by local people all over the USA and it is a function of the corporate vision that molded it. And, why is this a good idea for news and not a good idea for reaching out to people seeking to recover and having access to an expert product where it involves the most important thing they possess: their life?

Instead of receiving second-hand, unqualified or perhaps misguided advice or intervention late in their addictions disorder or in the early part of someone's rehabilitation from addiction, the alternative is the opposite.

Through qualified coaching, in every area in this country, it is possible to have a 'local website,' staffed by qualified, round-the-clock personnel, whom would be present online for purposes which span the following:

A. Providing the closest hospital, detox or rehabilitation facility closest to the caller (who has some basic information about insurance required);

B. Distributing the availability of support meetings (including but not limited to AA and NA). Often, addiction is one piece of the puzzle where it involves greater dysfunctional, accordingly groups like Emotions Anonymous, Bipolar Supper Groups (frequently organized by area hospitals) or OCD Support Groups, to name just a few, are other pierces of the puzzle.

C. Providing assistance in the form of being a 'middle person' who helps by offering 'good advice' about rehabilitation that is derived from medically responsible/current and tried-and-true AA facts.

D. Being an initial point-of-contact for families and the loved ones of addicts, offering not only listings of nearby or specialty hospitals, but also information about family support groups and services within the greater community area;

E. Addictions and the area of mental and physical health are inexorably linked. Consequently, providing basic, expert answers about physical and mental health issues complicated by addiction (e.g. drugs and alcohol adding to symptoms associated with Depression or Ulcers and the like) may be of great use in assisting addicted people or their loved ones in making important decisions they might not seek a medical care provider to ask, but may instead turn to a neighbor or the famous "friend of a friend."

What is 'qualified' counseling and coaching? Well, it certainly means people who are trained scholastically or vocationally (especially to the level of state certification). And, it can also mean people who have been locally trained by people who are scholastically or vocationally (state certified perhaps) and following established protocols and whom are supervised by those people.

Why so much attention? Why not simply have AA people staffing a hotline? One reason is that people do not use phones as they once did, not in the same way anymore. Telephonic communication now is very direct. When people ask questions, they go Online to the Google or Bing search engines. They are hostage to the search engine optimization of qualified and responsible purveyors of qualified expertise. And, that is not scientific and leads to very bad outcomes that impact individuals, families, businesses, government, police, fire, ambulance and communities. Sometimes good advice needs to happen 'right now.' And, the local websites I am discussing are far more than static information pages.

Famously, Alcoholics Anonymous and programs like it have offered rare expertise in the field of addictions. And, the precepts of AA, NA, etc., are rightly considered bedrock in a clinical approach to the disorder. However, especially where it involves people who are new to the idea of recovery, or at a point in their disease where bad advice can literally mean them losing their lives, as well as those in new sobriety who may require a sustained, always present and round-the-clock reinforcement of positive advice and information, expert information and advice may not be available immediately.

Now for the organization of a 'local addictions site': There should be a complete listing of emergency contacts for those in addiction, including hospitals, administrative numbers for police or sheriff departments, ambulance, etc.; local rehabs and detoxes should have their information and links to their site on such a site; there should be informative articles about the goings on in the community about addiction events and treatment; there should be advice about drugs and addiction issues that are particularly impacting local areas; local churches with addiction-appropriate ministries could be listed, as well as their specific ministry details for potential users; there would be a staff member monitoring the site at all times for comment review, to answer questions (via a built-in Skype feature if needed); and the person on duty would be responsible for dispensing information, being an ear to listen, calling for police or ambulance interdiction when necessary, contacting medical facilities for immediate-care options, if necessary, inclusive of availability; and to dispel any irresponsible information especially.

What is 'irresponsible information'? Example: "If you think you are becoming an alcoholic then stop drinking liquor and switch to beer." This adds fuel to the fire of alcoholism. Yet, in our society, there is no human contact or interaction with an expert voice until someone makes an appointment with a professional of some appropriate discipline to dispense responsible information regarding this statement. What's more is that before clinicians can even get at this person's addiction problem, they have to dispel the bad advice the person received because they could not get someone with any actual knowledge about addiction.

Society is under siege right now with addictions issues. Why are there 24-hour news websites that deal with celebrity gossip, similar sites for sports and sports betting, round-the-clock websites for suicide prevention and not sites or 24-hour, full-service sites that address the actual 'most pressing' issue in our nation: addiction?

The idea is simple: Treating addictions and things relative to it for people personally with the same vigor as our society does coverage of NFL Football or celebrity gossip, using a "Patch-like" formula as a starting point for devising overlapping national networks to work in concert with each other, while not sacrificing local appeal for users.