Sovereign Health's Groundbreaking NIMBY Series Launches to High Acclaim

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif., Sept. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Sovereign Health, a leading national provider of behavioral health treatment services, has launched its groundbreaking editorial series, "Not in My Backyard," or "NIMBY," to high acclaim. NIMBY is the acronym of the phrase that is currently applied to the protest movement driven by residents of towns and cities across the United States. The five-part series sparked an outpouring of discussion by residents in Southern California and throughout the country as it shined a light on the most critical issues of the NIMBY movement. At the heart of the NIMBY protest is the opposition by residents to having mental health and substance abuse treatment facilities and patient housing in their neighborhoods and the unjustified fears that these facilities will reduce their property values and bring more drugs and crime into their communities.

"The 'NIMBY' mentality has attracted more followers in recent years across Southern California, and its hostile legion has been targeting behavioral health treatment providers and sober living homes in the Orange County area," said Rachael Mattice, managing editor for Sovereign Health. "While most Orange County residents agree that those who are battling physical and mental disabilities need treatment, they publicize a strong opposition to the locations of such providers in their communities, citing misguided facts and unjustified fears. This opposition is still prevalent despite the growing national opioid epidemic."

The fifth and final installment of the NIMBY editorial series, "Breaking the cycle of substance abuse and crime in San Clemente," discusses the burden of untreated mental illness and substance abuse on individuals, families and communities, as well as the benefits of providing behavioral health treatment to people with mental illness and substance use disorders (SUDs). In addition, the article explores how treatment centers can break the cycle of addiction and crime to improve the lives of individuals and their families, save communities money and substantially reduce crime. This final piece in the NIMBY series also explores these key topics:

• Economic burden of mental health and substance abuse problems
• Providing treatment can save Californians money
• Addiction treatment for people with alcohol and drug problems in San Clemente

Researchers have documented the importance of providing evidence-based treatments to people with mental illnesses, including substance use disorders (SUDs), not only to improve their quality of life, but also to lessen the social and economic burden of these conditions on society as a whole.

"It baffles me why communities think that it would be better to have people running around with untreated substance abuse rather than people who are actually in treatment programs. The community would seem like it would have a lot more to fear from untreated substance abuse rather than programs that are getting people into treatment," said Thomas Renfree, Deputy Director, Substance Use Disorder Services at County Behavioral Health Directors Association California (CBHDA), in an interview with Sovereign Health.

See the previous articles in Sovereign Health's NIMBY series:

• Communities resist mental health, and alcohol and drug treatment facilities
• The endemic problems of mental illness and substance abuse in San Clemente
• How do violent crimes affect communities?
• Just because there's sunshine, doesn't mean there's not property crime in San Clemente
• Appendix: Tables and graphs of crimes in San Clemente from 2009 to 2015

To follow Sovereign's breakthrough NIMBY series, follow the story on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube with #NotinMyBackyard, #NIMBY, #SanClemente, #Crime and #Sovtalk.

About Sovereign Health

Sovereign Health's mission is to provide a broad spectrum of high-quality behavioral health treatment services for adults and adolescents, including support services for family members. Sovereign's treatment facilities are licensed to provide both addiction/dual diagnosis treatment and mental health treatment, such as trauma, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Sovereign also offers treatment for patients who have chronic pain, eating disorders and cognitive deficits. One factor that differentiates Sovereign from other treatment providers has been the company's ability to offer separate mental health and addiction or dual diagnosis treatment programs at its facilities. For more information, visit www.sovhealth.com.  

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SOURCE Sovereign Health