Caring Together Program

The discussion session is very informative regarding to the resources available to substance-abused moms and pregnant women. It is thought provoking to know the statistics of drug and alcohol used during pregnancy. Growing up, I was taught not to abuse drug or alcohol for a simple reason, addiction. At some point, I heard from multiple people that substance-abused could tremendously affect us in some shape or form. Especially during pregnancy, the consequences of such behavior would put an innocent life at risk. Hence, I think it’s easily to blame on the mother for any unfortunate consequences experiences by the newborn. Yet rarely, many of us would pause for a second and ask “why”. The Caring Together Program is great supportive resource

Dr. Shindler stated that most of these women are incarcerated at some point in their lives. While this is an interesting fact, I think the thought behind it is unsettling because these women are being stereotyped. As usual, nurture affects our lives in many different ways, and yet each of us responds to it differently. The program put an emphasis on educating these patients as well as helping them to understand the trigger of their behavior a long with the biological basis of their family heritability. The approach of the program is so different in such that it doesn’t focus on correcting their addicting behavior. Instead, it allows physicians work collaboratively with the patients to investigate the root of the problem. I think this approach allows the patients to feel comfortable in sharing their stories as well as actively involve in what the program has to offer. They probably have been criticized by many others about their behavior before and obviously don’t need more people to judge them. Therefore, what they need is a listener and an educator that welcome them with an open arm. Understanding the cause of the problem enables these patients to effectively change their