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This article addresses the use of group work in a community-based outpatient children's mental health agency to respond to financial threats by county and state government during the economic downturn of 2008-2009. Three specific threats that came within months of one another are discussed: (1) the threat to close down a chemical dependency treatment service for youth, (2) severe funding cuts to an outreach program for immigrant youth and their families, and (3) a state government plan to restructure/reform reimbursement for outpatient mental health services that promises to reduce access to care for underinsured families. Group work was used to organize, educate, and activate staff, board, community, and consumer groups, in large and small groups, to counter the threats and build a culture of advocacy. Lending a vision, empowering advocates, managing polarity, and shaping the advocacy message were essential elements of the advocacy process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents findings from an investigation of two group therapy modalities involving 93 women who were generally single, with dependent children and limited education and income levels. The article presents an overview of intervention activities that participants found beneficial. Although the group interventions warrant additional rigorous evaluations, these programs helped participants develop a sense of community, reduce stress, identify and minimize gaps between current circumstances and potential positive outcomes, and improve self-efficacy and the ability to think positively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the development and utilization of a performance measurement system installed in the case management program for chronic substance abusers who are committed for chemical dependency treatment in Hennepin County, Minnesota. The system (operational for over four years) produces quarterly management reports which display client characteristics at program entry as well as client outcomes achieved during and following the six-month commitment period. Institutionalization of the system within the program and the associated measurement of client characteristics and outcomes have helped to standardize case planning and to sensitize program staff to both client needs and the outcomes toward which staff and client efforts should be directed. Finally, the paper describes the special studies that have been generated from the performance measurement system's database. These include the development of caseload difficulty indices, and multivariate investigations of the relationship between client characteristics and outcomes. The paper seeks to add to the knowledge of the ways in which performance measurement systems might be designed, implemented, and used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nurses constitute approximately 36% of all healthcare providers, and 2% of the labor force in the United States (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2016). However, about 8% of nurses suffer from substance use disorders ([SUD]; Kunyk, 2015) and must participate in peer assistance programs to maintain their licenses (Darbro & Malliarakis, 2012). The purpose of this study was to describe the lived experiences of nurses with SUD participating in peer assistance programs and the subsequent employment implications. A Phenomenological approach was used to answer the research questions. Ten nurses were recruited from local support meetings and a thematic inductive approach was utilized to develop four overarching themes, which included stress from restriction, guilt and shame, gratitude for being caught, and keeping up with recovery. Understanding the challenges recovering nurses face when being incorporated into the workforce is important in implementing policies that facilitate a smooth transition., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Chemical dependency, commonly known as substance abuse and use disorders, continues to plague residents of the United States. Because treatment has expanded beyond the walls of the acute care hospital, advanced practice nurses play a pivotal role in caring for clients addicted to various substances. This article describes how an advanced practice nurse in collaboration with the medical director and a director of nursing at a residential treatment center in southern New Jersey oversaw the development of an evidence-based detoxification treatment protocol for alcohol dependency, emphasizing the critical role of nurses in assuring that clinical practice is rooted in current evidence., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)