We Need You Leading The Discussion To End Stigma In 2025
Resolve to be a leader in fighting this crisis.
Stigma stands in the way of real prevention and treatment of substance use disorder. Leaders are needed to break through the serious barrier that is stigma. By exercising leadership to dispel stigma through open-door discussions of substance use disorder you can dismantle this barrier and help effectively combat this crisis.
Stigma, the lack of understanding about the causes behind a personal struggle, and the individual disapproval it communicates, is damaging.1 The fear of stigma can reduce the effectiveness of treatments or block someone seeking treatment at all.2 Simply put, stigma makes it much harder for someone with a substance use disorder to get the help they need.3
Lead by encouraging support instead of stigma.
Community and business leadership are needed to lead the discussion in order to help share the information that substance use disorder is treatable. Your voice is powerful to spread the understanding that folks with a substance use disorder are in need of support and encouragement rather than stigmatization in order to get effective treatment โ just like with any other disease.4ย
As a leader, you are uniquely positioned to be able to help establish and propagate cultural norms and expectations. As with other facets of organizational and workplace culture, leadership can set the tone.
Simply by talking about the issue and sharing basic information you can invite people with an open door to overcome stigma and get help. You donโt have to be a subject matter expert. You just need to use your expertise in leading by example. If you show people as a leader that you are willing to talk about substance use disorder without fear of stigma and discuss the help that is available, then people will feel more comfortable getting that help.
Share with your teams the understanding that this is a common problem and spread the knowledge that help is readily available. Let them know that more than 1 in 6 people across our nationโs communities have suffered from a substance use disorder. Let people also know that help is available with support and effective treatment.5
With your leadership in 2025, we can work to altogether prevent stigma from blocking the effective treatment and prevention of substance use disorder.
Explore our human resources support materials for addressing substance use disorder:
https://livetampabay.org/human-resources/
You can share these resources to help individuals:ย ย
https://livetampabay.org/need-help/
- Stigma, APA Dictionary of Psychology, https://dictionary.apa.org/stigma
- Elizabeth M. Stone, Alene Kennedy-Hendricks, Colleen L. Barry, Marcus A. Bachhuber, Emma E. McGinty, The role of stigma in U.S. primary care physiciansโ treatment of opioid use disorder, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Volume 221, 2021, 108627, ISSN 0376-8716, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.108627.
- Hadland, S. E., Park, T. W., & Bagley, S. M. (2018). Stigma associated with medication treatment for young adults with opioid use disorder: a case series. Addiction science & clinical practice, 13(1), 15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13722-018-0116-2
- https://www.shatterproof.org/sites/default/files/2021-10/Shatterproof%20Addiction%20Stigma%20Index%202021%20Report.pdf
- https://www.samhsa.gov/data/release/2023-national-survey-drug-use-and-health-nsduh-releases