Supporting Loved Ones with Addiction Disorders
Family and friends may acknowledge that addiction is an illness and yet try to communicate their concerns in ways that don’t end up helping the person who is drinking, using drugs, or gambling. Addiction changes the way the brain works—in…
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Addiction Recovery- A Process of Change
We don’t change in an instant. Think back to a change you made in your life—big or small. Did you make that change the moment you realized there was a problem? Possibly. But more likely, you went through a process…
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Family Recovery: The CFRS Credential
It’s common for people who have experienced the addiction of a loved one to want to help others. In 2018, the Pennsylvania Certification Board (PCB) the credentialing body for professionals in the behavioral and community health fields, created an opportunity…
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Staff Highlights from 2019
Compass Mark’s dedicated teams work to fulfill the mission to prevent addiction through education, skill-building, and community mobilization. Lauren Krebs, Youth Leadership Advocate I haven’t been here long but I did get to witness Landis Run Intermediate School’s community service…
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An Evening the Freedom Writers: Storytelling From the Heart
Compass Mark’s mission is to prevent addiction through education, skill-building, and community mobilization. On Monday, October 7th, Compass Mark hosted two of the original Freedom Writers, Tony Becerra, and Cynthia Ray, to share their stories with our community. The…
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Joining Forces Takes on Drug Abuse in Lancaster County
Strength comes in numbers. That’s the concept behind Lancaster County Joining Forces, a collection of organizations and individuals working to save lives and help neighbors who are struggling with addiction. This fall, as part of the fight against the opioid…
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A Modern, Scientific View of Addiction
People struggling with substance abuse were once, and sometimes still are, judged harshly. Today, we know addiction is a disease, just as cancer, diabetes and other common ailments are. The National Institute of Drug Abuse, respected institutions like the American…
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To Treat or Not to Treat?
“Fentanyl overdose survivors require little if any hospital treatment.” Study that sentence carefully. It’s the headline of an article describing results of a recently published Canadian study. Further on, the article states, “75 per cent of the fentanyl overdose patients…
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How Your Brain Becomes Addicted
The brain disease of addiction was described way back in the 1700’s by Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence from Philadelphia. It was declared a disease by the American Medical Association (AMA) in 1965. Modern brain…
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There is Hope
Working in the helping professions isn’t easy. Doing so during an addiction epidemic is harder still. If hope doesn’t prevail, we cannot continue. Interventions for addiction fall along a continuum- from health promotion and prevention to treatment and finally, long-term…
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