Perinatal Treatment

   

Perinatal Services Network Guidelines

Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) revised the Perinatal Services Network Guidelines (PSNG) in 2016 to meet the specialized needs of mothers and pregnant women in treatment. The PSNG outline the Substance Abuse Block Grant perinatal service requirements. BHCS requires that our Perinatal providers follow these guidelines which include core competencies for programs serving pregnant and parenting women. These core competencies are included in an effort to promote integrated programming approaches based on theories that fit the psychological, social, and developmental needs of women.

Treatment Priority for Pregnant Women

BHCS regards pregnant women with substance use conditions as a special population needing priority access when seeking substance use treatment. BHCS provides an array of outpatient, intensive outpatient and residential treatment programs designed especially for pregnant women. BHCS is committed to providing priority access to pregnant women in all of its substance use treatment programs that are co-ed or serve women only, whether a perinatal program or not.

Follow the link for perinatal services for women.

Treatment Resource Directory

A complete listing of substance use treatment providers contracted with Alameda County BHCS is included in the Resources page of this SUD Services area. You can access the segment specific to perinatal services and women-specific services by clicking here.

Perinatal Resources

DHCS staff identified the following 6 references useful for treating women with substance use problems.
  1. Gender Differences Should Be Considered in Treatment of Addiction
    Lois Wingerson
  2. Grella Article on Women’s Treatment
    Christine E. Grella, PH.D.
    UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs
    Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior
  3. Teen Girls and Alcohol
    The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University
  4. Increase in funding and focus on Women
    Susan Merle Gordon, PhD
    Director of Research at Seabrook House
  5. Women in Treatment Fact Sheet
    California Outcome Measurement System – Treatment (CalOMS)
  6. Journal of SA – Women’s Retention Outcomes
    Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment (2006)
Additional articles related to Perinatal Substance Use
  1. Child Welfare - Vol. 94 no. 4
    Child Welfare - Vol. 94 vo. 5
    This two volume special issue of the journal Child Welfare is entirely devoted to Families in Child Welfare Affected by Substance Use. The article “Enhancing Family Protective Factors in Residential Treatment for Substance Use Disorders” on page 145 of Issue Number 5 is about East Bay Community Recovery Project’s Project Pride in Alameda County.)
  2. Helpless & Hooked
    U.S. lawmakers call for action to protect drug-exposed newborns
    Articles about families affected by Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. These articles include links to many more good articles on this topic.
  3. Open Letter to the Media and Policy Makers Regarding Alarmist and Inaccurate Reporting on Prescription Opioid Use by Pregnant Women
    A letter to Senator Mitch McConnell regarding SB799 “Protecting Our Infants Act of 2015”.
    Additionally, here are two letters from a group called National Advocates for Pregnant Women. The first letter states the media is conducting alarmist and inaccurate reporting on opioid use by pregnant women and is signed by numerous well respected doctors from around the world, including Ira Chasnoff. Alameda County worked with Dr. Chasnoff many years ago while developing our Perinatal services. The second link is a letter to Senator Mitch McConnell regarding SB799 “Protecting Our Infants Act of 2015”.

For more information, Please contact Carol Burton, LMSW Perinatal Program Specialist at carol.burton2@acgov.org or call (800) 491-9099