A Black Lives Matter protest more accessible to those in the disabled community is being organized for next Friday in Portsmouth.
About half of those who experience a substance use disorder during their lives will also experience a mental health disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. And studies show the reverse is also true: About half of those with mental illness will also experience substance use disorder. Some experts put that number even higher.
Yet despite that close relationship, the two conditions are too often treated separately, according to experts in both fields.
In 2020, Catholic Medical Center took over the Manchester Doorway from Granite Pathways, which had overseen both the Manchester and Nashua Doorways. In Nashua, Southern New Hampshire Health stepped in.
Established in 2019, the Doorway program includes nine Doorway sites around the state that serve as entry points for people to access a range of addiction services. The federally funded statewide initiative was established to address the opioid addiction crisis
By the time Nicholas Bickford sought help for addiction in Manchester two years ago, he said he had suffered about 12 overdoses over decades of addiction. He had been through several rehab programs and in and out of probation and parole.
“I finally had had enough,” he said. “I took every suggestion. And it just started clicking,” he said. Like so many, his addiction began with painkillers and led to illicit drugs, including heroin.
New Hampshire lottery sales, particularly from online games, are surging during the pandemic, and with that increase comes a jump in another statistic — the number of problem gamblers who seek assistance for a disorder that can destroy lives.
The National Council on Problem Gambling received 443 calls to its 24-hour helpline (800-522-4700) from New Hampshire last year, compared to 337 in 2019. That’s an increase of 24 percent.
