How to Support Recovery and Not Support Addiction - January 2018

Dawn Farm Addiction and Recovery Education Series

How to Support Recovery and Not Support Addiction was presented on January 23, 2018, by Dr. Charles F. Gehrke, MD, FACP, FASAM. The course of an individual’s substance use may be strongly influenced by family members, friends, employers and others. The disease of addiction is often poorly understood, and the behaviors of a person with addiction are often bewildering to family and friends. Well-intentioned but poorly-informed individuals may inadvertently enable addiction to progress by shielding the person with addiction from consequences that could potentially initiate change. This program addresses these common questions: When all else has failed, what does work when confronted with a loved one’s addiction? What does not work? What can others do to help? What does not help? What role does an individual play in supporting another person’s recovery process? This program will outline simple but effective actions for family, friends and others to avoid enabling another person’s addiction, support the person’s recovery, and maintain their own health and well-being. This program is part of the Dawn Farm Education Series, a FREE, annual education series developed to provide accurate, helpful, hopeful, practical, current information about chemical dependency, recovery, family and related issues. The Education Series is organized by Dawn Farm, a non-profit community of programs providing a continuum of chemical dependency services. For information, please see http://www.dawnfarm.org/programs/education-series. About the presenter: Charles F. Gehrke, MD, FACP, FASAM. Dr. Chuck Gehrke is a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He completed a fellowship in hematology/oncology and practiced in this field until 1993 when he changed his focus to the practice of Addiction Medicine. He is board certified in Internal Medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine and in Addiction Medicine by the American Board of Addiction Medicine. Currently, Dr. Gehrke works with Brighton Center for Recovery. He has previously been a Clinical Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and has served as the medical director for an addictions treatment program and for the Michigan monitoring program for impaired healthcare professionals. Dr. Gehrke has done consultant work; presented numerous lectures and classes; and written numerous articles, book chapters, papers and manuals concerning substance use disorders and treatment guidelines