Effective Substance Abuse Treatment Should Be ScienceBased, Voluntary And Person-Centered For Everyone
We talked to Giovanna Campello, Chief of the Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Section of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) about treatment services, good practice examples, and the links between prevention and family.
Can you explain the aims of Listen First of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in a few words?
Listen First was developed to raise awareness of the skills that form the basis for effective and efficient substance abuse prevention. It was intended to be fun and engaging rather than scary. The original target audience and messages were focused on parents as they are one of the most critical settings where skills can be established and protective factors can be developed. The messages were also developed to help parents struggling with how during the pandemic and dealing with COVID-19-related challenges. However, these materials are inclusive and apply to strategies that parents can use at any time to create a fun, accepting and consistent space. The Listen First materials have been expanded to build social and emotional skills for children aged 6-10 years. Thus, their coverage was expanded to include not only parents but educators, health workers, prevention experts, policy makers and community members as well.
What is the link between substance abuse prevention and the family?
Science is very clear that a loving, secure and strong bond between children and their parents is the foundation of healthy child development. This secure bonding and loving connection helps children to learn and grow. In addition, parents who are clear and consistent behavior enables children to set limits. The family is the first environment where children start to learn social and emotional skills such as communication, listening, decision-making and self-awareness. These skills are then reinforced in a healthy family and the child will have healthy decision-making skills when faced with risky situations such as substance abuse.
We see that mothers who abuse substances suffer more than anyone else because they do not seek treatment for fear that their children will be taken away from them. How do you this problem can be overcome?
There are many ways we can overcome the challenges women face in accessing effective substance abuse treatment. First, it is imperative that quality, sciencebased treatment services are available. Then, it is crucial that services are accessible which means more trained female service providers or flexible hours, offers of childcare options, and spaces where women feel safe. Furthermore, every effort should be made to reduce stigma, including eliminating barriers such as policies that can lead to the removal of children into care.
What treatment services should be offered to women with children who abuse substances?
Effective substance use treatment should be sciencebased, voluntary and person-centered for everyone. This requires a comprehensive approach that addresses the overall health of the person - mental, physical, spiritual and the health of all relationships. For women with children, this means that it is crucial that the safety of their child or children is ensured. This can include addressing trauma issues for both women and children. Women should continue to be involved in the healthy development of their children as much as possible. In addition to substance abuse treatment services, women should be taught appropriate parenting skills so that they can have positive parenting experiences.
What is the role of international organizations and civil society organizations in this regard?
The main roles of international and non-governmental organizations include increasing access to services for people in need of addiction support and promoting professional development opportunities for people working against addiction. They can also establish systems that ensure quality through oversight tools that build and sustain capacity and quality in counter-addiction.
As UNODC, can you give examples of good practices in this field?
UNODC supported the World Health Organization (WHO) in the development of guidelines for the identification and management of substance abuse and substance use disorders in pregnant women. Guidelines for health care providers (i.e. gynecologists, obstetricians, neonatologists, neonatal caregivers, specialists, nurses and specialists in the treatment of substance use disorders) form the basis of training for pregnant women or women with children on screening, intervention, detoxification, management, infant feeding and infant. Withdrawal syndrome. Indicators of best practice at the clinical level include routine outcome data, standardization of processes, risk management in drug treatment, a patient-center approach, qualitative research on ethics, innovation of research in low-income countries, Theory of Change and different models of care.
Conducting such studies at the country level provides opportunities for women to access quality treatment, overcome stigmatization, and receive support from the prenatal to the postnatal periods. This will hopefully lead to their safe and healthy biopsychosocial development and their unborn or born babies.
The capacities of treatment services tailored to the needs of women are very limited especially in underdeveloped countries, how do you think this problem can be solved?
Overall, there is a lack of adequate quality services for all those who need substance abuse prevention and treatment services worldwide. One of the most important ways to increase services is to reduce stigma. In addition, recognizing that mental health and substance abuse issues are not covered by primary health care to some extent, it is important to include them in primary health care and the public health system.