FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT

Though the Aftercare Doctors was officially founded in 2021, the ideas behind it came to motion long before. The addiction epidemic has been at the forefront of the media and the medical community for years, we are all familiar with the phrase "war on drugs" because we have seen it headlining countless articles describing our country's battle with addiction. It is a perfect description; the addict is at war with the disease of addiction, and too many of us are losing. Watching this play out again and again can be disheartening, and we are faced with two options. Do we continue to do what we have always done and get the same results we have always gotten? Or do we try to better understand addiction, and develop more effective ways to treat it? Here at the Aftercare Doctors, we chose option two.

OUR FOUNDER'S STORY

Dr. Kamal Shah, the founder and owner of Aftercare Doctors, is both personally and professionally experienced with recovery from addiction. After years of active alcoholism, Dr. Shah found his way into a treatment center with more questions than his degree in neurology could answer. Understanding the human brain was not enough, and through the process of his own sober journey he realized that there was far more to addiction than he had been taught in medical school. He refocused his practice and research to treating behavioral neurology with a focus on addiction medicine. In working with his patients, he began to notice a trend in behavior surrounding relapse, especially in the clients who had frequent or repetitive relapses. By examining this information, Dr. Shah identified a specific pattern of feelings and behaviors among his patients by which their relapses were characterized. As a member of the recovery community, he brought this information to his recovering peers and found the same pattern among them as was taking place among the patients.

BREAKING THE PATTERN

Though every addict is different, the disease is the same. During the isolation phase of the pandemic, this pattern became especially pronounced. We all saw as alcohol sales and consumption increased exponentially, and safety-sensitive positions reported massive spikes in the numbers of positive drug tests. The trigger of fear and isolation caused a huge substance abuse response, and the Covid pandemic created an addiction epidemic. Armed with this motivation, and the patterns of feeling and behavior he had already observed, Dr. Shah changed his professional approach to treating addiction. Using this knowledge, experience, and passion, Aftercare Doctors strives to provide unparalleled care for each of our clients. Patient after patient, we are taking relapse out of recovery.