$50,000 foundation grant underwrites conference co-sponsored by Chapter and National Section on Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs

(June/July 1999)

"I’m grateful my husband wasn’t elected President. If he had been, I wouldn’t have been able to get the help I did," noted Kitty Dukakis, CSW, social worker, author, wife of former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, and the keynote speaker at NASW’s 1999 Annual Addictions Institute at the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service on May 7.

The Institute, which is in its 31st year of offering the highest quality workshops on alcoholism and other addictions, was underwritten this year by a $50,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Ms. Dukakis, who earned her MSW four years ago, put a very personal stamp on the Institute’s theme, "Addictions Through the Life Cycle," by citing her experiences both as a person in recovery from amphetamine addiction and alcoholism and as a social worker.

"If you’re running for public office and expect to be elected, forget about letting it be known that you’ve been in therapy. It’s a tragedy that it’s come to this. Thank God for Tipper Gore who has been so vocal about the need for mental health services," she added.

She spoke about the difficulties and advantages of being a public person in recovery: "Someone had their dime out [to call the press] ten minutes after I entered the treatment program...It’s difficult to share my story with everyone in the world, but if I wallow in the unfairness of it, I’m not going to stay sober. I need to look at the reality: Eleven years after my husband ran for President, I’m still recognized as a person in recovery. My relapse with rubbing alcohol was public news... The advantage, though, is that I instantly have people to help me when I feel vulnerable."

Ms. Dukakis’ substance abuse problems began with an addiction to diet pills at age 19, which continued until she was 45. The problem was compounded by using alcohol to self-medicate for clinical depression.

"I had no desire to drink when I wasn’t depressed…no desire to blot out the rest of you," she said of her dual diagnosis. Her depression was seasonal and has been successfully treated with a combination of a change in medication and "a fabulous therapist…I feel like I’ve been born again which such a feeling of self-worth."

She credits an addictions/alcoholism program in Minnesota for getting her to her state as a recovering person, noting that "[the program] has given hope and vision to people all over the world." She also stressed the need for fellowships and after care for people in recovery—"It’s only half a loaf if you’re going into treatment without conscientious aftercare"—and the necessity of bringing the families of addicts into the treatment process.

A supportive husband, "...who cares deeply about my mental health" has been a key factor in her treatment. "Most spouses leave alcoholic women," she noted, "While most women stay with alcoholic husbands…The shame of this disease has a particular onus on women.

Older people and addictions

She reported that more and more women are attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and that, increasingly, older women are attending. She has recently begun a fellowship program for women over 50, and made a special plea that the needs of older people not be ignored by the treatment community.

"Elderly people have been entering rehabs with suitcases full of drugs…There are so many opportunities for having an impact with them…We say ‘Let’s leave them alone, let them do what they’re going to do,’ but those who go into recovery lead wonderful, productive lives."

Enthusiastic applause greeted her statement that she had come to "…the important realization that you don’t have to be a recovering person to treat an alcoholic or drug addict—after all, there are wonderful male ob-gyns who haven’t had babies. I have met many people in the field who weren’t alcoholics who are superb clinicians."

Over 700 social workers and other mental health professionals attended the Institute, which, for the first time, was held over a two-day period and was co-sponsored with national NASW’s Section on Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs. Attendees had their pick of 70 workshops, ranging from Impact on and Intervention with Newborns and Young Children Affected by AOD; Creative Techniques for Working with Adolescent Substance Abusers; and Gender Issues Through the Life Cycle; to Women at Midlife: Understanding the Impact of This Developmental Stage on Addiction; and Efficacy of Age-Specific Alcoholism Treatment for the Elderly Client.

Welcoming remarks at the plenary were made by Ruth Mayden, NASW’s national President-elect; New York City Chapter President Elaine Congress; Dr. Lala Straussner, Chair of the Section on Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs; Christine Fewell, Chair of the Chapter’s Addictions Committee, and Claire Fleming, Addictions Institute Coordinator.