Steve and Pam are excited to be presenting about The Star Matrix Assessment System they developed through their research with The Addiction Research Foundation in Denver at The National Association of Addiction Professionals in Denver next week. They have worked on this research for the last 20 years and are excited to present their results to their collogues in the field of substance use disorders….
The Star Matrix Assessment System© considers all of these five domains
and their relation and weight to one another for a more detailed and nuanced
picture of the whole person’s substance use disorder. The system utilizes both
objective and subjective weights as the measure of each area. This is similar to
a pain measurement scale, with the person deciding how important and how
much this affects them and their life. We use a zero-to-ten-point scale with zero
meaning no issues with that point on the matrix and ten being very affected by
that issue. When looking at the above graph, zero is at the very center and ten is
the outermost edge.
Our questions are too narrow. Is the person an addict or alcoholic? Do they
have a Substance Use Disorder? These questions miss the ways each person is
unique. Just saying a person is alcoholic or an addict does little to help us to understand
what kind of Substance Disorder. For too long, a diagnosis of alcoholism,
addiction and now Substance Use Disorder (SUD) has led to a standardized
approach to treatment of planning without problem solving.
Unfortunately, sometimes this approach is not only unhelpful but can cause
harm. A person will only comply long term with a treatment plan that they really
believe in. What we believe makes a person be the way they are determines how
we treat them and how they treat themselves. All factors must be considered.
With the Star Matrix Assessment System © there is a way to consider factors and
to help determine a plan with support and accountability that will work for that
individual person. Using this system, we can look at the whole person and work
with that individual to assess and come up with their individual and more natural
plan of recovery.
