You have successfully completed treatment for your addiction to drugs or alcohol and are ready to return to your job. Restarting your career can be challenging after addiction treatment. Going back to work after rehab can involve dealing with questions, legalities, and stigma. Stigma of Addiction and Rehab When you were using drugs or alcohol,…
Random drug and alcohol testing is a requirement for many safety-sensitive professions. Pilots and other transportation professionals must be tested regularly to ensure they are fit for duty. When professionals are in treatment for a drug or alcohol addiction, random testing can also help reinforce their progress in recovery. Professional laboratory monitoring helps ensure testing…
Sometimes you just need to be still and reflect. That can be difficult to do in a hectic world, especially as working professional who is also challenged with recovering from an addiction to drugs or alcohol. Taking time to focus inward can help you through your recovery, though. Spirituality and recovery have a connection that…
The coronavirus outbreak has disrupted a lot of normal activities in everyone’s daily life. As a professional in addiction treatment, you may need additional support to manage your recovery. While you are working through your addiction program, you also need to remain safe from the virus itself. The government has provided addiction resources during COVID-19…
During the COVID-19 pandemic, most people have had to make major adjustments in their lives. Whether they are being told to stay at home or to maintain social distances from others, the new isolation can be stressful. For professionals, particularly those in healthcare, who are on the front lines of the outbreak, the anxiety can…
Burnout is a term coined in the 1970s to describe an extreme state of exhaustion. Professionals are particularly susceptible to burnout, which usually results from prolonged periods of severe stress. Executives, pilots, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, lawyers, and members of the clergy have extremely stressful jobs as they are under constant pressure to meet deadlines and…
People have their own reasons for turning to drugs and alcohol. Some are predisposed to addiction from an early age, while others suffer injuries or mental health issues that make addiction more likely. Healthcare professionals, just like everyone else, face their own individual challenges. However, there are also job-related factors that help explain why doctors…
One in 13 working adults struggles with excessive alcohol use. People in every type of job face their own unique challenges, some of which lend themselves to unhealthy behaviors like drug and alcohol use. Professions that have high rates of addiction are unsurprisingly demanding jobs, where the hours are long, and the stakes seem high.…
The idea that addiction treatment could hurt your career is both wrong and toxic. For many people with a substance use disorder, it is the only way to ensure you not only keep doing your job but excel at it. In some cases, an employer or licensing board requires addiction treatment. In others, seeking treatment…
When someone enters rehab, the staff’s inclination is to put its entire focus on the client’s addiction. Before the modern age of addiction treatment, that meant the focus stayed on detox and basic therapy. We live in a time when the addiction treatment community has grown a bit. They now realize that standard treatment methods…