October Happenings at Harbor Hall

Why EMDR Works

Pat McGinn; Director of Clinical Operations for Harbor Hall is a skilled EMDR Therapist. We utilize EMDR to deal with trauma that keeps clients stuck. EMDR is a good orientation model that helps to get the client beyond the stuck phase and moving forward in to recovery. Pat utilizes this orientation in residential and outpatient treatment at Harbor Hall.

The months of anticipation are over, the lawn signs advertising support for candidates are coming down; when televisions are turned on, we no longer see an ad stating that one candidate is going to destroy America and the following commercial claiming otherwise. People can now breathe a sigh of relief as; the elections are over. Whether you are satisfied with the results or otherwise, we are Americans and we just exercised our right to engage in Democracy. No one was killed in the process, tanks did not roll out in the streets, the world did not stop revolving on its axis and the sun rose and set.  Our job now is to go back to being Americans and hopefully coming to an understanding that we are all in this together. We are responsible for solving our own issues and problems. Many people long for the days when our political system was not completely polarized and our leaders engaged in; “compromise”, where it is about the people that the elected officials are supposed to represent in our country. Not special interests, not a one sided political agenda but, true compromise, with a give and take agenda. That is the scenario where; neither party gets everything they want but, things get accomplished and issues get resolved that are supposed to make our country a better place to live in.

Mental health and addiction professionals awaited in anticipation, because the outcome of the election meant a different scenario under each candidate. With the president being reelected, the Affordable Care Act is in the works to be implemented. For mental health and addictions this proves promising for our constituents, especially with the inclusion of the Federal Parity Act; which could grant benefits, not previously experienced by persons with mental health and substance abuse disorders for many years. Depending on the states setting up an insurance exchanges or facilitating ones with the federal government, Medicaid expansion could be expanded at 133% – 138% of Poverty which would make many eligible for services through mental health or substance abuse treatment. The unfortunate deal is that some states have not been inclusive of this benefit in their plan. This could cause severe financial stress to programs that have been marginalized by years worth of cuts due to the states financial hardships. Now is the time to advocate for the benefit with your representatives so they are protected for people who need them. Once a system has been destroyed, there is typically no rebuilding it. Programs that were grandfathered in with zoning laws could not afford to rebuild, people who have sat back and watched a system implode typically have no desire to recreate it and, once destroyed, it can not be rebuilt at the same cost as when it first was built. So again, this is the time to advocate for persons with mental health and substance abuse disorders  so that we can have a healthcare system that will be proud of for years to come. We owe it to the people that we serve, we owe it to their families and we owe it to the communities that the people live in. A healthy society benefits us all.

Some have adopted the notion that these people brought their problems on themselves. The problem with that line of thinking is that people will get their needs met one way or another. If we do not treat mental illness we have untreated people that engage in criminal activity and we pay for them in jails or other forms of incarceration. We also pay for them when they show up in the emergency rooms and receive uncompensated care. People that live with mental illness have a life expectancy that is 25 years less than the average population. Pay me now, or pay me later; a healthy society does benefit us all.

There is a phenomenon that is occurring where baby boomers in their 50’s and 60’s are abusing drugs and alcohol in record numbers. In some ways we really have been a generation of excess. We came from a hard-working previous generation, where jobs were plentiful, the country was rebuilding after war time, and our parents wanted us to have what they were deprived of. We were raised with good values and a strong work ethic. We have also seen the fastest growth of technology than what the world probably ever imagined. When you think of how short of a period of time since electricity was produced,  the first automobile, airplanes, telecommunications; from Morse code to hand held computers, it’s no wonder that we have come to expect results on an instant notice. Now; if we are not served food in less than five minutes, someone is apologizing to us. We have become a society that expects quick resolution to all of our country’s problems. We have been conditioned to this kind of society by how we approach simple tasks. If we want a light we flip on a switch and light is produced, if we want water we turn on a faucet which instantly produces it, if we want money we pull out a plastic card and run up credit or, debit it from our account. We also expect the same instantaneous results when we are not feeling well either physically or emotionally. We have become the first generation where we go to the doctor and tell him which drug we want to be placed on because we saw it on the television. Pharmaceutical companies have learned that they can market to us and we will storm the doctor’s office, expecting the latest drug that will take care of what ails us. Young people are abusing pharmaceuticals in record numbers and are quickly following in line to become the next addicted generation. We need to develop programs specifically to treat an aged population that is presenting itself for substance use disorders. Some of the same issues that youth blame use of drugs on, needs to be addressed. These include using out of boredom and a loss of self esteem to feelings of not being worthwhile. Problems unique to older populations are dealing with an aging body and coping without pharmaceuticals, finding new things to do and engage in, getting exercise and proper nutrition and developing support networks where they can process these issues without being shamed or discounted. There is an article in the Miami Herald that further discusses the prevalence of drug use in the Boomer Generation. Click Here for the Article.