Latest news with #addiction
Associated Press
12 hours ago
- Health
- Associated Press
Purpose Healing Center Celebrates Its Leadership Among Rehabs in Phoenix Valley
Purpose Healing Center, a comprehensive addiction and mental health treatment provider with a location in Scottsdale, as well as a Phoenix campus, is pleased to reaffirm its role as a leading recovery resource in the Phoenix Valley. With a continued focus on evidence-based care, compassionate clinical leadership, and individualized treatment planning, Purpose Healing Center has earned a trusted reputation among both professionals and families seeking life-changing support for substance use and co-occurring disorders. Meeting the Need for AHCCCS Detox and Treatment in the Valley As the need for high-quality behavioral health services continues to grow across Arizona, Purpose Healing Center remains at the forefront of the region's treatment landscape. The center's medical and clinical teams are led by experienced professionals with a shared mission: to help clients reclaim their lives with dignity, structure, and support. Purpose Healing Center offers a full continuum of care, including medical detox, residential treatment, partial hospitalization (PHP), and intensive outpatient programming (IOP), ensuring clients receive the appropriate level of care for every stage of their recovery journey. 'Our team approaches each client with the understanding that recovery is deeply personal,' said a spokesperson for Purpose Healing Center. 'We don't treat diagnoses in isolation - we treat people. That mindset is at the core of what has made Purpose a leader in the Valley and beyond.' Clinical Expertise and Supervision for Client Safety and Success Purpose Healing Center is known not only for its clinical excellence but also for the environment it provides. Each facility has been designed with healing in mind. They offer peaceful, structured settings where individuals can focus entirely on recovery. Both campuses are staffed around the clock to ensure medical safety and emotional support are always available. What sets Purpose apart is its balance of traditional therapeutic frameworks and innovative modalities. The clinical program integrates one-on-one counseling, group therapy, trauma-informed care, psychiatric services, and holistic offerings. Family involvement is also central to the process, with Purpose facilitating structured family therapy to help repair relationships and create lasting recovery systems. Support for the Recovery Communities of Maricopa County and Arizona Beyond clinical treatment, Purpose Healing Center is active in community partnerships, professional outreach, and advocacy. By working closely with hospitals, legal professionals, first responders, and referring clinicians, the center strives to expand access to care and ensure that individuals in crisis are met with compassion and competent support. The center's leadership attributes its recognition within the Phoenix Valley to its strong internal culture and commitment to integrity at every level of care. As the treatment industry continues to evolve, Purpose remains committed to setting the standard for quality, compliance, and ethical excellence in the field. Offering Accessible Behavioral Health Treatment Across Arizona Looking ahead, Purpose Healing Center plans to continue its growth while preserving the personalized, high-touch approach that has defined its success to date. With a focus on long-term outcomes and client empowerment, the center invites individuals and families to explore the recovery resources available and learn how healing is possible with the right support. Purpose Healing Center accepts nearly all forms of AHCCCS, the Arizona Medicaid program, alongside accepting most major insurance plans in-network. Their Admissions team offers confidential, no-obligation assessments for those seeking help round the clock. Why People Choose Purpose Healing Center for Addiction Treatment in Arizona People across Arizona choose Purpose Healing Center because they want real help that works. With caring staff, safe facilities, and trusted programs, Purpose gives people the support they need to start over. Each person is treated with respect and kindness from the moment they call. The center builds custom plans based on what each person needs, whether it's detox, rehab, or outpatient support. Families also feel supported, knowing their loved ones are in good hands. With round-the-clock care, experienced medical teams, and a strong focus on mental health, Purpose helps people heal not just physically—but emotionally too. That's why more people in the Phoenix Valley and beyond turn to Purpose Healing Center when it's time for change. About Purpose Healing Center Purpose Healing Center is a licensed and Joint Commission-accredited addiction and mental health treatment center for the Phoenix Valley. They welcome clients from across Arizona and the United States, and offer facilities in Scottsdale and Phoenix, Arizona. Specializing in evidence-based care for substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health conditions, Purpose offers a full continuum of services including medical detox, inpatient rehab, partial hospitalization (PHP), and intensive outpatient programs (IOP). With a focus on clinical integrity, individualized care, and long-term recovery, Purpose Healing Center is committed to helping individuals and families heal in a safe, supportive environment. Learn more at For more information, media inquiries, or to speak with an admissions coordinator, please contact below. Media Contact Company Name: Purpose Healing Center Contact Person: Robin B Email: Send Email Phone: (480) 579-3319 Address:9332 N 95th Way, Suite B-203 City: Scottsdale State: AZ 85258 Country: United States Website: Press Release Distributed by To view the original version on ABNewswire visit: Purpose Healing Center Celebrates Its Leadership Among Rehabs in Phoenix Valley
The Independent
18 hours ago
- Health
- The Independent
FDA looking to make vapes less addictive as agency head claims 85% of those sold are ‘illegal'
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it is taking significant steps to make vaping less addictive, with its commissioner likening a synthetic byproduct found in some products to an opioid. Vapes or e-cigarettes are the most commonly used tobacco product among American youths, and there is growing concern about addiction. The agency has formally recommended that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) classify certain 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) products under the Controlled Substances Act. Speaking to Newsmax, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said there is a widespread problem with illicit vaping products. 'First of all, 85 percent of vaping products sold at your local vape shop are illegal,' he told Rob Schmitt Tonight. 'These are products that are even banned in China, where they come from. They've got these cutesy, fruity flavours or even a video game [that is] part of the vape device designed to addict kids.' Makary went on to condemn these products as 'predatory' and warned of a growing 'epidemic,' noting that 'at some high schools, a quarter of the kids are using these vaping products regularly. So, we've got an epidemic we've got to address,' he said. The substance 7-OH, described by Makary as an opioid, is a derivative of kratom, a South Asian tree. While kratom leaves can produce stimulant effects at low doses and sedative effects at higher doses, the DEA warns they can also lead to psychotic symptoms and both psychological and physiological dependence. Makary issued a stark warning to parents: 'You can walk down to many of these vape stores or convenience stores or gas stations and buy an opioid today.' He added: 'Parents need to know about this. And we recommended the DEA starts to schedule this as a controlled substance. And that's something that's inside of these vapes.' Makary clarified the FDA's focus, explaining: ' Kratom has a trace amount of 7-OH. We're not focused on that. We're focused on the synthetic concentrated byproduct.' According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the use of e-cigarettes was the most commonly used tobacco product among middle and high school students in the United States in 2024. A total of 1.63 million (5.9 percent) students currently use them, including 410,000 (3.5 percent) middle school pupils and 1.21 million (7.8 percent) high school students. Of these, 87.6 percent reported using flavoured e-cigarettes, with disposable e-cigarettes the most popular choice at 55.6 percent, followed by prefilled or refillable pods (15.6 percent) and tank or mod systems (7 percent). According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, evidence shows that vaping is less harmful than smoking, as it exposes users to fewer toxins and at lower levels than smoking cigarettes. However, vapes are just as addictive as traditional cigarettes, as many users get even more nicotine than they would from a combustible tobacco product because users can buy extra-strength cartridges or increase the e-cigarette's voltage to get a greater hit of the substance.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘How can I find meaning from the ruins of my life?': the little magazine with a life-changing impact
One morning in February last year, I received an urgent call from the journalist Paul Burston, alerting me to alarming recent social media posts by a mutual friend, the poet and former model Max Wallis. It seemed he had left his London flat in deep distress and was headed to a bridge. Our best guess was the Millennium footbridge by St Paul's Cathedral. Then we heard that Max might have taken refuge inside the cathedral. While I scanned gaggles of tourists in the nave, he was intercepted and removed by ambulance. I was relieved to get a message later that evening that he was safe. We'd met more than a decade before at an event on the South Bank for the Polari prize, set up by Burston to showcase new LGBTQ+ writers. I and the other judges had shortlisted Wallis's collection Modern Love. Though the eventual winner was John McCullough, we stayed in touch, going on regular excursions: to Wilderness festival, to readings, to a rooftop art installation in Shoreditch. And always talking about poetry – writing it, reading it, thinking about it, critiquing it. Now, he tells me about the poetry magazine that emerged from the dark period of addiction that followed his early success. 'I lost 12 years of my life, maybe more,' he says over a video call. 'The magazine came about from me saying: 'I have to do something this year; my brain is on fire and it's running like a hamster wheel.' I wanted to corral the chaos: how can I find meaning from the ruins of my life?' After his breakdown, he retreated home to Lancashire. 'I had moved in with a friend because I messaged my parents before I went into hospital, saying never talk to me ever again. Instead they opened their arms. My parents were just phenomenal.' The first imperative was to become clean and sober. He was diagnosed with ADHD and complex PTSD, and gradually rebuilt his life: the first trip into town, getting on a train, taking a driving lesson. But during this period he also rediscovered his craft, channelling his trauma into a memoir and new poems. 'I was a poet all this time but I'd forgotten, essentially. I'm 35 but I almost feel like I'm 21. I have had to learn everything again. In order to be sober, and to get better from PTSD, you sit with the awful emotions that you feel, and you don't drink or take drugs; you get through the day and move on.' He started submitting to magazines, but since the new work was themed around breakdown and recovery, Wallis thought only a few poems would get published. With energy to spare (at least on the good days), he began to imagine what a space specifically for trauma poetry could look like. If poetry saved his life, perhaps it could help others. The idea of The Aftershock Review was born. A poet friend, Anna Percy, had experience of publishing poetry zines in the lively Manchester scene. 'No disrespect to those,' Wallis says. 'I love zines, but I was thinking bigger, nationwide, book-sized.' Rather than photocopying, he started researching printers. Percy and I joined the magazine as contributing editors and sounding boards, and Wallis put the word out for submissions. Work poured in: from poets who were disabled, disadvantaged, ill, excluded in various ways. The reference anthology was Al Alvarez's electrifying The New Poetry, which launched Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton to an enthralled readership; Bloodaxe's Staying Alive series was also hugely admired. 'It's not a pity project,' Wallis insists, calling it 'literature forged from survival'. Established poets were eager to submit, alongside rising stars and unknown writers. Inua Ellams's 'Fuck' poems meld rage, wit and social commentary; Rhian Elizabeth's Amsterdam states baldly 'girl loses her father, girl loses her mind'; Golnoosh Nour's Burnt Divinities celebrates her heritage: 'the glorious / mixture of glitter and garbage'. The Faber poet and Spectator poetry editor Hugo Williams contributed a sardonic and atypical piece, The Art Scene, which mocks glib responses to trauma in contemporary art. 'Max called me up and we had this instant connection,' Williams says. 'He seemed different from the average literary type. This kind of writing seems to me to be improvised on the spot and kept like that. People of my generation work so hard to make it perfect, and you wish they wouldn't!' Aftershock, he observes, represents a jolt to the mainstream. Contributor Pascale Petit agrees, calling it 'a raft to all of us suffering trauma in troubling times. Poetry this open is necessary, and I don't think any other magazine has dared to address our personal ills so candidly.' Gwyneth Lewis, a former national poet of Wales, points out that for ages raw, confessional poetry was looked down on as 'feminine': 'I'm coming out of a long period of reckoning with lifelong maternal emotional abuse and then chronic illness. I find it deeply encouraging [to realise] that I was in the darkness with so many brilliant poets.' In the few months of its existence, Aftershock has made an impact – with sales over £3,000, and 360,000 views on Instagram. A giant billboard on Manchester's Deansgate is seen by thousands daily, and much more is planned for the Aftershock universe: further issues, poetry pamphlets, outreach, events. Perhaps what's so exciting is that it has tapped into the huge energy and enthusiasm for poetry felt by young writers and readers, who recognise it can be a comfort and release. 'Aftershock has given me everything,' Wallis says. 'It's proof that you can take an awful few years and make them into potentially the most astonishing year. Having not wanted to live at all … what it is to choose life over and over again. It's incredible.' The Aftershock Review issue one (£12.99) is available from In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@ or jo@ In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at
Washington Post
3 days ago
- Washington Post
My son got lucky. Schools need to crack down on ZYN.
Leana S. Wen's July 16 op-ed, 'Big Tobacco's latest hook is snaring teens,' on the teen nicotine crisis, hit close to home. My son was 16 when he became addicted to ZYN nicotine pouches. They were circulating freely at his public high school through his peers, unregulated and unpoliced shops, and even overseas vendors from places such as Sweden.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
The one change that worked: I was a serious coffee addict. Now, on one cup a day, I feel so much better
'A little bit of what you fancy' is a call for moderation that has never worked for me. Not for my coffee habit, at least, which slides from the steely resolve to drink just two cups a day, to a wobbly-willed four, five mugs, or more. I'm better at giving it up altogether. Total detox brings the high of self-control and the illusion that I have overcome the caffeine addiction, at least until I fall off the wagon again. But some vices shouldn't be given up, because they bring pleasure – and coffee is one of those for me. I love its mood-transforming uplift. It revs me up and calms me down. I once gave it up for two months – my longest abstention – hoping to shake off a virulent bout of insomnia, and it seemed as if I had entered the wilderness. Life felt more austere and my sleeplessness wasn't solved, either. It was lose-lose. So, three months ago, I decided, emphatically, not to kick the habit (and fail again) but to enjoy a single daily dose. This was initially born out of necessity: I went to a retreat where we were limited to a single cup of freshly ground coffee a day, at a time of our choosing, and I took great pains over deciding when I'd have mine, and where. Then I savoured it, desperate to make its effects last. Strangely, when I got back home, I stuck to that single cup. It is a change that feels simultaneously small and immense. I haven't slid back into excess, even in times of stress. I don't glug it down while scrolling or sitting at my laptop. I sit down and enjoy it, that's all. It has turned from an unthinking habit into a treat. You could call it mindful coffee drinking, I suppose. Several times a week, I go down to a dinky little cafe called Lilac on my north London high street, where they also sell coffee by the kilo, which they grind freshly. I have found that the nicer the coffee, the less I need of it. If I do feel a desire for more, I ask myself why. Am I anxious or tired? In which case, wouldn't it be better to rest? Or am I thirsty? Is this a physiological craving or a psychological one? Because water perks up the organs and wakes up the mind, too. I have found myself gravitating towards the exotic loose-leaf herbal tea and realised that my apparent craving for a coffee is simply the need for a warm drink and a break from work. A habit is sometimes a displacement activity; once I had become conscious of the underlying reasons for mine, I could address them. Importantly, I feel better for the coffee drinking. It clears my thoughts, and brings a sense of wellbeing. It is a reminder that it is excess that is detrimental, not coffee per se, which has circulatory benefits and is full of antioxidants. It's amazing how my body has adjusted, too. On the rare occasion that I have had two coffees in one day, I feel uncomfortably wired. The rule of a single cup works, as long as it is actively savoured. A pleasure, not a vice at all. Wolf Moon: A Woman's Journey Into the Night by Arifa Akbar, is published by Sceptre (£16.99). To support the Guardian order your copy at Delivery charges may apply Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
