On The Edge of a Cliff: A Candid Conversation with ONDCP and SAMHSA at The Carter Center
On Tuesday, April 2, members of The Helios Alliance attended a closed event hosted by the Carter Center focused on the co-occurring mental health and substance use epidemics impacting millions of Americans. Speakers included:
Dr. Rahul Gupta, Director – White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)
Dr. Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, Administrator – Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Paige Alexander, Chief Executive Officer – The Carter Center
The conversation centered on how to reduce stigma in both treating substance use disorder and mental health challenges, and programming ranging from updated training for health providers, harm reduction, and recovery was highlighted by all three speakers. A common theme was “meeting patients where they are” in their recovery journey – a core tenet of The Helios Alliance approach to abatement.
Dr. Gupta shared that America is “about to fall off a cliff” when it comes to successfully treating substance use and mental health issues. This is two-pronged: the U.S. is facing a workforce shortage in the health care space of those that can treat these disorders, and the number one cause of death in working aged people is drug overdose. In fact, a recent survey shows that fifty million Americans aged 12 or older has a substance use disorder, and only 6% are getting the treatment they need.
In her remarks, Dr. Delphin-Rittmon previewed a soon-to-come SAMHSA report that will complete update the core medical training curriculum around substance use disorder; the new guidelines will cover all health care disciplines to expand education and increase entry into treatment.
Dr. Delphin-Rittmon stressed that, in order to make meaningful difference in addressing the overdose crisis, we must be ready to constantly adapt and adjust in order to make a difference; similarly, Dr. Gupta reminded attendees that we have to be creative to change the outcomes. This includes innovative and evidence-based harm reduction techniques, meeting people where they are, and aggressively treating those suffering from a substance use disorder to improve outcomes.