Breaking the Cycle of Trauma and Substance Use Disorder
This blog post is part of NHSA’s new initiative, the Year of Whole Health.
The launch of a new initiative
The National Head Start Association launched Head Start’s Year of Whole Health initiative in September 2018. This initiative will feature a renewed focus on specific areas of health, which were identified as priorities for the field through surveys and other outreach. All year long, NHSA will be sharing resources, webinars, and other tools to help promote and improve the health and wellbeing of Head Start children, families, and staff. During the Year of Whole Health, each month will be dedicated to a specific health topic that the Head Start community has identified as a priority.
This month, NHSA has taken the opportunity to continue the tough conversation around the opioid epidemic and the challenges many children and families face when it comes to substance use disorders. We held a webinar presenting knowledge and resources from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and featuring expert researchers, the National League of Cities, and Head Start program directors. They all spoke to the best strategies for supporting children and families impacted by substance use disorders. The webinar recording and resources will soon be available to NHSA members. (Please contact us if you have any questions about membership.)
The opioid epidemic is a topic that is so often spoken about but even more often misunderstood. Here are the facts:
What are substance use disorders?
According to SAMHSA: “Substance use disorders occur when the recurrent use of alcohol and/or drugs causes clinically and functionally significant impairment, such as health problems, disability, and failure to meet major responsibilities at work, school, or home. According to the DSM-5 [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the handbook used by health care professionals in the United States and much of the world as the authoritative guide to the diagnosis of mental disorders.], a diagnosis of substance use disorder is based on evidence of impaired control, social impairment, risky use, and pharmacological criteria.”
What are opioids? Why is there so much more conversation about opioids?
Legal opioids are those prescribed to treat pain but also have the ability to produce drowsiness, mental confusion, euphoria, and in some cases, depress respiration. Illegal opioids include heroin and pain relievers used by those who are not prescribed. There are serious health effects for those who misuse opioids or become addicted and in recent years, deaths by overdose have increased dramatically to 115 per day in the US.
It’s time to set the record straight.
The conversation around opioids has risen to reflect the growing epidemic. What is commonly misunderstood is what this epidemic actually means for children and families. Families suffer from substance use disorders around the globe, and in many cases, opioids are not the cause. Alcohol, tobacco, stimulants, and hallucinogen can also be the cause of a substance use disorder and can impact the ability of parents or relatives to sustain safe and healthy environments for child development.
Yet, many times it is opioid misuse that catches media and political attention. It is important to acknowledge the impact that all substance use disorders can have on the family environment and not just ones specific to opioids. Developing treatment and prevention strategies to encompass substance use and mental health disorders at large will guide more promising results to reverse this epidemic.
Do Substance Use Disorders affect kids? What are ACEs and what do they have to do with Substance Use Disorder?
It is clear that substance use disorders can negatively impact child growth and development. But researchers have found that the impacts on child health and development are related more so to the child’s environment rather than direct biological causes.
Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) prevalence has risen in recent years and causes many infants to be born with withdrawal symptoms in their earliest weeks of life. However, recent research to investigate NAS impacts on child growth and development are unclear.
What is clear is that children who experience substances in their home and living environments are more likely to have higher Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) scores which directly impact healthy growth and development.
So why is Head Start uniquely positioned to play such an important role?
Here are three reasons:
- Expanding the proven prevention strategies for children in their early years has the potential to reverse this growing epidemic and reduce the costs related to treatment services later in life. Intervention at these early stages, prenatal and birth-to-five, can provide real opportunities for monumental societal cost savings in the judicial, child welfare, and education systems.
- Supporting the needs of parents and family members is critical to providing a healthy home and living environment for children to succeed in life. The Head Start model integrates a multigenerational approach to supporting child development that addresses the needs of children and their families to support the family as a whole. This comprehensive model of support positions Head Start programs to have a positive impact for children and families affected by substance use disorder. Head Start programs have the critical existing, trusted relationships with families and form a starting place for change.
- Head Start’s federal-to-local funding stream means that federal investments can go directly to targeted communities without added bureaucracy or administrative costs, directly impacting those most in need. This means that proven, successful multigenerational models that address substance use disorders exist within Head Start already and could be expanded and for immediate impact.
What is the most important thing to learn from this article?
The bottom line is that when the early childhood community engages in a national conversation about opioids — it’s not just about opioids.
It’s about what our country can be doing to support every child affected by substance used disorders, whether that substance is methamphetamine, alcohol, or opioids. Promoting a healthy family structure and home environment can provide opportunities for children to succeed despite exposure to substances.
The key to this is tapping into the potential of proven models to break the cycle of addiction and ensure healthy child development.
