Widespread Wellness Consulting

See the big picture of addiction and get CEs with Impact CE. Check out my article just published in The Catalyst. Course launches June 4th!

Addiction: What's Society Got to Do with It? Addiction is not just an individual problem. Dr. Sophie Nathenson examines the overlooked societal forces driving the crisis.

I have loved working with ContinuEd for the past few years creating continuing education content outside the clinical box!

Check out their video/blog to learn more about what myself and others share in our webinars and why we do what we do!

Continued Conversations: Medical sociologist Dr. Sophie Nathenson Continued presenter explores connections between culture, community, and well-being

Medical sociologists study the influence of society on our health. Economic systems have long been identified as a part of the structure of a society that has significant mental and physical health impacts on the people of that society.
Capitalism is an economic system where industries are privately owned for profit. Consequently, it emphasizes profits over wellbeing, and tends to breed competition, inequality, consumerism, materialism, social isolation, and increased social comparison. In a society that holds an individual-centered philosophy, it can obscure the societal problems that contribute to our mental health. This creates undue blame, shame, and pressure on individuals for their suffering.
Research shows that viewing the excessive consumption of material goods as the road to happiness—well beyond what is needed for our economic, social, and psychological needs—is related to higher life dissatisfaction. Lower levels of materialism are associated with increased happiness and decreased depressive symptoms.
Before looking to individual faults in how we cope with life, consider that many mental health struggles are in part the result of adapting to a society that places value on things that create barriers to the basic building blocks of human health and wellbeing.

Learn more and get CEUs if you're in the mental health field!
https://www.continued.com/counseling/ceus/course/american-society-culture-and-mental-1801

Addiction and pain, like any other health condition, are multifactorial. Not only do biological, genetic, psychological, social, and environmental factors impact the manifestation of health and illness--these factors also affect each other. Even our genetics are influenced by our experiences.

From a sociological perspective, we see that social conditions are underlying, fundamental causes of health and illness in our communities.

Poverty, exposure to violence, abuse, social isolation, physical displacement, racism and discrimination, traumas, and other social stresses in our petri dish allow addiction and premature death to thrive. Our genetics and psychology influence our individual risk of the brain disease of addiction. Rather than a moral failure, drug use in society is both biological, and can serve as way to cope with a lack of basic needs such as food, shelter, water, and adequate sleep. It can address emotional and physical pain, even replace or facilitate human connection and a sense of belonging.

Our societal paradigm reflects a desire to numb and eradicate pain—and often the biomedical model obscures the psychosocial factors in pain, the complex nature of addiction, and the root causes of social and health problems. The lack of services for treatment and behavioral health threaten recovery, but drug crises are not caused by a lack of treatment.

One-on-one support is much needed, and expanding programs that can prevent and treat addiction and drug poisoning are vital. Bigger picture…the only way to make a true dent in the problem is to invest upstream, treating the social and economic conditions that continue to promote needless suffering.

Yes, we need to keep mopping up the floor—it’ s a matter of life and death—but once we clearly see the faucet, isn't it time to turn it off?

Our culture, our society, and our social experience all impact our wellbeing. Disparities, or differences in health, exist when comparing different social groups. Your race, gender, sexuality, social or economic status can affect your experiences, access to resources, and social stress. Health disparities have been documented for decades but still are not fully addressed or significantly reduced.
The term cultural competency refers to the skill sets needed for health professionals and others who serve diverse populations. In other words, being competent in how best to communicate to individuals that are different than us in some way, being aware of those differences and how they can affect wellbeing.
Being “culturally competent” is not enough to create better relationships and therapeutic alliances with those we serve.
Cue structural competency. To be structurally competent, you have knowledge and awareness of the societal and historical factors that create serious barriers to health and wellbeing. You have understanding, or at least exposure to, the context and the backstory of the inequity we see in society. Whether it’s a history of trauma creating natural responses that are then pathologized, or policies and systems that create advantages for dominant groups—these facts on the ground can better prepare you to create better relationships with those you interact with.
Therapists, health professionals, educators, neighbors…seeing the context can create positive connections that work towards collective healing.

Almost half (47%) of Americans live in states with a documented shortage of mental health professionals. Meanwhile, one in five of us are experiencing a mental illness (and this is just the number of documented cases-it’s likely more).

So--calling all mental health professionals. Counselors, therapists, psychologists and others looking for CEs. If these issues affect your clients and you’re intrigued, you can check out my course “Social Determinants of Mental Health”, as part of ContinuED’s new psych department. Or, if this resonates with your organization, send me a message to talk shop!

I am not a mental health professional. As a medical sociologist I study how our society, communities, and social experiences breed health issues. Despite effective individual interventions, our growing need for mental health support in all sorts of forms has become overwhelming for individuals and the collective.

It's hard to feel effective in making a dent in all of this. Busy mopping up the floor when we wish we could turn off the faucet. I started Widespread Wellness to spur conversations and insights among front line folks with an eye for root causes. Hopefully leading to inspiration, and getting closer to that faucet.

Need to write a proposal for a grad school project, or a program, grant, or research project?
Overview of the first steps to take...and what it takes...

Research Proposals: A Mini-Guide Not just for grad students--the steps in creating a strong research proposal are broken down, for anyone hoping to launch a research project or program. I am...

Imagine an entire state or country with a stethoscope around it. Imagine it’s heart beating, feel it’s energy level. Is it in a positive state of mind? Is it conflicted or depressed? Lethargic? What’s the quality of environment in general? Can it breathe?
While that may be a little abstract to think about, population health is the health of an entire group of people collectively. Medical sociology is the study of how a society (its “social structure”) contributes to how it’s doing, health-wise. Medical sociologists study health systems, and how they impact people’s lives in various communities. They study differences in health- like the prevalence of certain illnesses, physical and mental- according to social categories. For example, people in a higher income bracket vs a lower are often found to be generally in better health. Communities that are economically deprived or have high unemployment are often found to be at higher risk for drug overdose issues. And life expectancy varies incredibly according to where you physically live.
It's not often you hear about the field of medical sociology, and the concept population health is not widely used in the general public- yet it’s something we may think about on a daily basis. As a public medical sociologist, I dig into the research on our collective wellbeing, and share these insights into the underlying social conditions that are affecting our quality of life as a group. If we dig deep enough, we can expose these roots and get to the healing.

I'm a medical sociologist, but what is that?! How does it relate to population health--aka our collective wellbeing...

Medical Sociology + Population Health Medical sociology is the study of the health of a society and healthcare system of a society, in order to learn more about how the structure of a society imp...