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October 30, 2007
GCI Seminar |
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| Title |
Community Building and Drug and Alcohol Treatment:
What's the Connection?
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| Speaker |
Thomas Lyons
Research Fellow, Great Cities Institute
Research Associate, TASC, Inc.
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| Location |
Great Cities Institute, Suite 400 CUPPA Hall
412 South Peoria, Chicago, IL 60607
RSVP
Appreciated: (312) 996-8700 |
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It is widely recognized that individuals living in poverty or
suffering from social marginalization use drugs and alcohol to escape or transcend
intolerable circumstances, including loneliness and a sense of separation from
their fellows. But these facts have not always been reflected in addiction treatment,
which often focuses solely on the individual and short term "treatment".
The positive psychology movement, focusing on human strengths, flourishing relationships,
and participation in community life, has not yet been
fully incorporated into current thinking about drug treatment. This seminar-workshop
will explore the ways in which recovery from drug and alcohol abuse treatment could benefit
from the strengthening of bonds of friendship, identity and mutual interest, drawing on
research with methamphetamine (meth) abusing
gay and bisexual men in Chicago and meth users in rural areas in Illinois.
Thomas Lyons is a Research Fellow at
Great Cities Institute and has recently completed a two year interview
and ethnographic study of meth users in Chicago. He is currently collaborating
with a national group of clinicians and Chicago community agencies to develop a
substance abuse intervention for gay and bisexual men centered around community
building and friendship. As a Research Associate at TASC, Inc., an agency that
provides case management for substance abusers involved with the criminal justice
system, Thomas Lyons is working on a project to improve case management for rural
meth-involved individuals.
Download a podcast of this event.
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