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Stigma and How it Affects Society and Self
I was reading a white paper this week from Shatterproof, a national nonprofit dedicated to reversing addiction crisis. The paper was entitled, “A Movement to End Addiction Stigma.” The paper provides information about different types of stigmas (public, structural, self, medical) and how those stigmas affect addiction recovery in our society. The information reminded me so much of my experiences working with parents, and children, who are navigating the child-welfare system; many of those parents, dealing with addiction and recovery. I’ve seen time and time again how public, structural/organizational, self, and medical stigmas are so averse to individual healing. Most often, not until stigmas can be reduced, do folks find that valuable path to change.
Stigmas define how society sees a social issue all the way down to how society sees an individual. Stigmas drive how we see ourselves as well. Imagine if you were homeless and reading the comments about a story or post on social media (What’s Happening Coos County) about homelessness. We’ve all read them; many are horrible, mired in hate, self-deception, ignorance, or just plain stupidity. We recognize the authors as our fellow community members, but often don’t understand why they carry so much hate in their hearts. The self-focused most often see social issues as barriers to their personal needs, while not considering the needs of others.
How do you think those societal-level stigmas affect a person who is homeless, struggling wtih addiction, living in poverty, etc.? How do you think a community's stigma, negative comments, and failure to adopt supportive interventions affect a person’s internalization of self?
When a parent, whose children are in foster care, walks into the ODHS office, a child welfare meeting, or a court hearing, how do you think they are feeling about their self-image? What stigmas are alive in those rooms, what are they driven by? Who is driving them?
Imagine that same parent walking into those same rooms and meetings where no stigma is present. How do you think that situation would affect their ability to improve their life versus walking into a room where the presence of stigma (public, structure, and self) is overwhelming?
I’m going to stop rambling and leave you with a link to the Shatterproof web page if you are interested in diving into their work. Also, if you are interested in reading the white paper send me an email and I’ll send it over - gdalton@orcca.us
Before I go, I’d love all of us to think about how we each perpetrate stigmas on those four levels (public, structural/organizational, self, and medical). These four areas of stigma are explained further in the link below. Also think about your own experiences facing inward stigma (stigmas that are aimed at you by either society or self).
Keith Green wrote, “It’s so hard to see with my eyes are on me.”
CASA is not only about providing advocacy and voice for the children we serve, but also about doing the best we can to make change for our communities. To do this we need to see ourselves and see others as humans with their/our own needs, goals, and objectives.
https://www.shatterproof.org/our-work/ending-addiction-stigma
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