Revisited - Addiction and Success (and Wealth) with Alex Dayton

Alex Dayton has an impressive history in the mental health field including serving as the Clinical Director for Freedom Institute and the Chief Clinical Officer of Veritus. In this revisited episode, he joins us today to talk about addiction treatment and recovery for licensed professionals. Because of their license, professionals like doctors, lawyers, and judges are  more reluctant to seek treatment. The program offered by Veritus, which uses technology, helps to make treatment more a accessible.to this population. Listen to today’s episode as Alex talks about the correlation among addiction, wealth, and success, explains dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)T, and shares exciting trends in the mental health field.

 

IN THIS EPISODE

 

• [01:46] Similarities and differences between licensed professionals and the average person getting  support for substance use.

• [06:22] How doctors compare to other patients in treatment

• [09:54] How treatment for lawyers is specialized

• [12:54] The correlation among  addiction, success, and wealth

• [18:21] An explanation of DBT

• [23:42] Alex shares what he is looking forward to in the field in the coming years

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

 

• Technology is being used in the mental health field making treatment more accessible and offering different solutions for clients.

• DBT is an effective therapy technique because it is applicable in real-time.

• Doctors, lawyers, and other licensed professionals often have a hard time seeking help for substance use because they are afraid it will affect their license. Veritus and the Freedom Institute both aim to help treatment be more accessible to this population.

 

RESOURCES:

 

Beyond the Balance Sheet Website

 

Veritus Website

 

BIO:

 

Alex Dayton is a Psychotherapist in private practice and an advisor to several organizations helping to support mental healthcare programming and strategy. Alex served for several years as the Clinical Director for Freedom Institute, an outpatient treatment program located in New York City.. In addition, Alex served as the Vice President of clinical strategy and business development for Freedom Institute. Alex served as Chief Clinical Officer of Veritus, a virtual intensive outpatient program he helped launch and design to treat medical professionals, lawyers, and judges struggling with substance use disorder. Alex remains a consultant for both Freedom Institute and Veritus as a senior advisor. In addition to his Masters degree from New York University, Alex has received intensive training in DBT, and advanced practices in DBT from Marsha Linehan at Behavioral Tech. He  has received training in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) from the Beck Institute, completed the Foundations in Family Therapy Program at The Ackerman Institute for The Family, and completed training in advanced practices for Motivational Interviewing from MINT. Alex  completed training at Bellevue hospital and at FEGS, working with adults who have both chronic mental illness and addiction. He has worked with adults, adolescents, and children at the Brooklyn Center for Psychotherapy and on a research team at New York University conducting HIV and substance use research.