Demystifying Medically-Assisted Treatment Through Skyler Health

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There are many ways to address substance use disorders. One of the most successful courses of action is known as Medically-Assisted Treatment (MAT), and we at Skyler Health are proud to include MAT in our broad spectrum of support offerings. Despite its documented success, however, MAT is often still stigmatized. This article serves to demystify aspects of MAT in general, and with Skyler Health, in particular, to help you understand if it may be something you or someone you know should try.

What exactly is MAT (Medically-Assisted Treatment)?

MAT is a treatment protocol scientifically proven to help reduce the risk of opioid overdose death by 50–60%. It also significantly improves the chances of staying sober. To understand MAT, one must understand withdrawal. Chemical dependence can occur for many reasons — recreational use, prescribed use, etc. — but often people aren’t aware of their dependence until they experience symptoms of withdrawal. Symptoms may present as mild (tearing up, “goose flesh,” yawning, sweating, pupillary dilation) or severe (hypertension, hyperthermia, tachycardia, nausea/vomiting, photophobia, insomnia, and often very serious pain). While we frequently see representations in movies or television of users quitting “cold turkey” and simply waiting out the symptoms of withdrawal, most will need significantly more intervention and support to break the cycle of addiction. Opioid or benzodiazepine withdrawal, in and of itself, can be fatal if not properly managed.

LEARN MORE: Read You Survived an Opioid Overdose. What Next?

MAT relies on one of two medications — methadone or buprenorphine — that are administered to minimize or eradicate withdrawal symptoms. In traditional settings, clients undergoing this treatment have daily visits to a clinic to receive needed medications, confirm their abstinence from prescription or recreational substances contraindicated by the MAT, and perhaps receive social services to help them on their journey.

These regular clinic visits can be difficult to schedule and maintain, and there’s often a fear of being seen going in or out, making these services less accessible to some populations that desperately need them. Our focus is on removing the barriers and obstacles that keep people from the treatment they deserve, and the payoff is substantial. MAT that includes buprenorphine, in particular, has been documented to double the likelihood of a patient staying in treatment for a minimum of 30 days.

What makes MAT through Skyler Health different?

At Skyler Health, we understand that a one-size-fits-all approach to addiction treatment means that the approach likely won’t work for you. Each person looking to end their relationship with harmful substances has different motivations for doing so, and different challenges that need to be addressed. As mentioned above, most people going through MAT have some exposure to social services and potentially therapy with licensed counselors, but it is often an afterthought in their treatment plan.

Skyler Health began as a telehealth provider of counseling services and has expanded to include MAT in its offerings, making their approach diametrically opposite to the standard. In 2018, the National Institute on Drug Abuse identified that well over one-third of adults in the US with substance use disorders have coexisting mental illnesses. Of that population, however, less than 10% received both mental health care and substance use treatment. Skyler Health seeks to unify these approaches while addressing the issues of privacy and access that often limit patients from receiving the treatment they need. Below are 5 principles of MAT.

1. Geography should not be a limiting factor for MAT Access. Where you live shouldn’t determine whether you can access MAT. Skyler Health counselors are available 24/7 through email, text, phone, and even video conferencing platforms. Now, they are able to prescribe buprenorphine regardless of your location within the US, and will help you identify resources to get it either through pick-up pharmacies or even home delivery. It doesn’t matter how far you are from a clinic; the medication can come to you.
2. Everyone deserves privacy in their medical treatment. It’s not just going in and out of the clinic that may feel stigmatized. For those going through treatment while also holding down jobs or other obligations like family commitments, it can be difficult to articulate needs to even get the time away or the transportation support to reach a clinic for treatment. Treatment through Skyler Health is customizable to the patient’s individual scheduling needs, and remains confidential between staff and client, though we do encourage patients to activate their support network so that trusted friends and family can help as needed.
3. We can monitor abstinence without in-person visits. One common concern about telehealth MAT is the drug testing that is an important part of treatment in an in-person clinic. We agree that monitoring abstinence is important, but we have created a system that introduces few barriers to compliance. Patients receive testing swabs in the mail, perform a simple saliva swab under the supervision of Skyler Health staff on a video appointment, seal the swab into a tamper-proof container, and send it off to the lab for testing. This process can often be completed with a simple, five-minute visit with Skyler Health staff online.
4. Patients do not need to abstain from substances for 12–24 before beginning MAT. Many MAT providers require 12–24 hours or more of abstinence before they will prescribe buprenorphine. This may entail excruciating pain for the patient, which we hope to avoid. At Skyler Health, we use the latest state-of-the-art techniques that demonstrate buprenorphine can be started without requiring a period of abstinence and withdrawal for certain patients. Each patient has a customized tapering plan to safety eliminate harmful medications or drugs from their system.
5. Every patient in MAT will have access to a broad spectrum of mental health support. In conjunction with their treatment and supervision, patients are invited to peer support groups, led by a therapist, where issues about MAT are addressed in a constructive forum. It can be easy to feel isolated through this process, even outside of a pandemic that has forced us all to isolate more. Support groups and individual counseling can go a long way towards addressing co-existing conditions and pave the way for long term success and recovery.

How can I initiate contact and treatment?

There are a number of ways to engage with Skyler Health. If you’re concerned about your use but don’t know if you need treatment for addiction, consider taking one of our psychological evaluations and assessments. But regardless of how you identify your issues or what the results are, you can communicate with a licensed therapist right from the homepage at Skyler Health.

No matter what you’re experiencing, or what one of your loved ones is going through, we want to be there to help. You have to take the first step, but we will light the way from there.