Episode 4: Dr. Nicole Labor talks writing a book, and the importance of individualized care in addiction medicine

Even as a child, Dr. Nicole Labor knew she wanted to be a doctor. During this Treat Addiction Save Lives podcast, Dr. Labor talks about her path to becoming an addiction medicine physician, including her own experience with substance use as a medical student. She shares about working at the birthplace of AA and how she was influenced by that history. Dr. Labor discusses what inspired her to write the book, The Addictoholic Deconstructed: An irreverently quick and dirty education by a doctor who says f*ck a lot, and how she feels addiction requires individualized care and should be treated as any other chronic medical disease. Dr. Labor encourages other medical providers and professionals to become educated about the addiction disease process, to build relationships with addiction medicine specialists, and to recognize that patients with substance use disorder (SUD) deserve the high expectations we hold for all other patients. Dr. Labor also shares how she knows her work is impactful.

Dr. Nicole Labor graduated from Penn State University with a bachelor's in biobehavioral health and attended the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine where she earned her DO. Residency in family medicine took place in Buffalo, NY (SUNY), followed by a fellowship in addiction medicine at Marworth, through Geisinger.

Dr. Labor started her addiction career by working with Summa in Akron, OH, at the Ignatia Hall detox unit, essentially following in the footsteps of Dr. Bob Smith, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. While in Akron, the birthplace of AA, Dr. Labor cultivated relationships with community treatment centers all over northeast Ohio. Dr. Labor is known for her work within the community to reduce the stigma of addiction and provide evidence-based care to patients with SUD. She also serves on the ASAM Board of Directors as a Director-at-Large.

Dr. Labor is married and lives with her husband and daughter on a small hobby farm in Seville, OH. She works as medical director of several SUD/behavioral health facilities and has written a best-selling book about addiction as well as co-written a companion workbook. She is in abstinence-based recovery since 2005.

Thank you for listening.  In honor of National Addiction Treatment Week, ASAM is providing the choice of two engaging on-demand 2023 ASAM Annual Conference sessions for free until Dec. 31, 2023. Use code NATW2023 at checkout when you register for either Stimulant Treatment for ADHD: Not Exactly Opioids 2.0, But Close? or Delta What? An Update on Novel Cannabinoids including Delta-8 and 10 THC

For more podcast episodes and resources, follow #TreatmentWeek and visit www.treataddictionsavelives.org.

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Links:

The Addictoholic Deconstructed: An irreverently quick and dirty education by a doctor who says f*ck a lot: Labor, Dr. Nicole T, Kolankowski, Kevin, Jarvis MD, Margaret: 9780578580524: Amazon.com: Books