The best consultants to help treat addiction are people with addictions

Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS) serves approximately 37,000 people a year. Every one of those constituents is best suited to help shape the department’s practices.

That also goes for drug and alcohol addiction.

“We are of, for and by the people,” said Deputy Commissioner Roland Lamb on NBC10. “We know this is a disease of people. It is a behaviorally manifested disease. Therefore, the best consultants to help us treat these diseases are the people themselves.”

Lamb was on NBC10 last week to promote his department’s “Making a Difference” Recognition Dinner.

All year long, Lamb said, Philadelphians hear bad news about overdoses and “realities of addiction.” This dinner is to celebrate the good work being done on the behavioral health front.

“We have a number of people in Philadelphia who are in recovery, a number of people who are making great strides toward supporting recovery and a number of people who are making a difference in the lives of folks in all of our communities across the city of Philadelphia,” Lamb said.