Methadone Clinic

Hazel Hooven, New Season Regional Vice President (South), addresses how the organization is educating patients, their families and the public about the importance and effectiveness of Medication Assisted Treatment in treating opioid use disorder.

Welcome to the ninth installment of our multi-part blog series that is providing our readers an inside look into the New Season organization, specifically how we provide top-notch treatment to our patients by administering medication-assisted treatment and professional counseling services across the 72 methadone clinics throughout the nation.

This blog post follows suit with the previous posts — “three questions in three minutes” with key and essential personnel in the New Season organization.

In this post, we’ll talk with one of our four regional vice presidents at New Season, Hazel Hooven, who oversees the company’s operations in the southern region. She’ll address how the organization is educating patients, their families and the public about the importance and effectiveness of Medication Assisted Treatment in treating opioid use disorder.

Q & A with Hazel Hooven, a New Season Regional Vice President (South)

Question: What is a common misconception about opioid addiction?

Answer: One of the most common misconceptions is that opioid addiction is a choice. Thanks to numerous studies, we now know that addiction is a chronic disease of the brain. A number of factors, including genetic predisposition and environmental stressors, contribute to the development of an addiction. While a person may choose to use an opioid following a medical procedure or even use the drug illicitly at first, no one chooses to become addicted. This lack of understanding of addiction has contributed to increased stigma related to the disease.

Question: What is New Season doing to reduce the stigma associated with opioid addiction and Medication Assisted Treatment?

Answer: Community outreach is critical to educating the public about opioid addiction and the benefits of Medication Assisted Treatment. At New Season, we are starting dialogues and forming partnerships in communities across the nation to bring awareness to this healthcare crisis. Whether it is by holding an inservice for child welfare workers, hosting an open house at a clinic, or starting a community task force, we are constantly developing strategies to inform the public about the disease of opioid addiction. Our local and national partnerships are critical to helping us make stigma a thing of the past.

Question: What can the public do to reduce the stigma associated with opioid addiction

Answer: Any of us could be one unfortunate decision away from a lifetime of negative consequences. A simple thing that each of us can do to reduce the stigma is to have empathy for those individuals living with the disease and their loved ones. Harsh judgments from others contributes to shame for those living with the disease. Shame is counterproductive to recovery.

Another way to support our efforts is by becoming better educated about the prevalence of the disease along with available treatment options. That shared knowledge will foster an environment that promotes recovery.

There are individuals in recovery in every community. Our goal is to help those individuals get healthy and live their best lives.

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Thank you for taking an inside look into the nation’s leading methadone clinic, New Season.

If you are a member of the news media or general public requesting further information, please contact our marketing team at media-relations@cmglp.com. If you are interested in learning more about our treatment options for opioid use disorder, speak with one of our trained professionals 24/7 at 1-877-284-7074.