This blog deals with recovering addicted/alcoholic health care professionals who are frequently directed to health professional groups (HPGs) as one of the stipulated conditions necessary for them to be able to continue working in the health care field.
One of the major differences between HPGs and 12-step meetings is that in HPGs feedback and advice are immediately provided to the newcomer by the group, with cross-talk not only allowed but actively encouraged. HPG meetings are accountability sessions, an opportunity to discuss Recovery issues and professional matters with peers, an opportunity to be challenged and criticized as deemed necessary by the group. One’s Recovery can be directly evaluated through confrontation.
On the other hand, medical advice (other than that for good Recovery) is not proffered by the HPG. One’s credentials and degrees are left at the door.
Self-diagnosis and self-medicating are also vigorously discouraged because they have led to serious drug addictions in many instances. It is important for all health care professionals (but especially those in Recovery) to learn to seek medical help from their health care providers in the community. Health professionals in early Recovery must be taught as soon as possible that they themselves are not the Higher Power, nor can they manage their Recovery and their medical issues on their own.
The initial abrasiveness felt by many newcomers in the HPG eventually wears off because HPGs are essentially supportive environments where one can benefit from the Recovery lessons and professional experiences of others. The HPG has credibility. It provides an opportunity for honesty, humility, acceptance and patience. Nothing is sugar-coated, however. The HPG teaches us to tolerate discomfort when receiving difficult advice tailored to attack the disease, not the individual.
It is not unusual for health-care professionals to remain off work for at least a year during which time one is encouraged to focus on one’s abstinence and Recovery. This length of time is essential because of the cognitive and emotional demands of the job.
HPGs are in place to help recovering health care workers unburden themselves of possible professional mistakes, especially those that might have occurred while “under the influence.” These are matters that are not generally discussed easily or comfortably in standard 12-step meetings. College issues can also be discussed in HPGs since there is a wealth of shared experience to be found here. Some members have come to realize that they can actually relate better to others in HPGs than anywhere else.
HPGs favour the disease model of addiction: “we are not bad people; we are sick people.” The lethality of the disease is emphasized but hope and optimism are provided through the examples of long-time members who have achieved lasting and fulfilling Recovery.
HPGs have participants who attend consistently, partly because of the attendance requirement set by the Colleges (the regulatory bodies of the health professions) and the monitoring agencies. This attendance requirement is one of the conditions for retaining one’s professional license. The familiarity of the faces and the continuity of attendance is grounding. Many members choose to continue attending the meetings long after the requirement for attendance has been lifted. These “old-timers” often offer tremendous experience and insight to newcomers.
Alcoholic and/or addicted health care professionals are people with special needs (with respect to their professional issues) who are otherwise not essentially different from other addicts/alcoholics. Although HPGs are confrontational when necessary and often mandated (at least for the first few years of Recovery), these accountability groups provide special assistance and a confidential forum in which to discuss sensitive issues.
It should also be noted that the fear of losing one’s professional license has resulted in significantly better Recovery rates for health care professionals than that of the general population of addicts/alcoholics.
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