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Today's speaker was Jill Seward, head of nursing for the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation - the addiction treatment and advocacy organization created in 2014 with the merger of the Minnesota-based Hazelden Foundation and the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, CA. The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation bases its residential and outpatient services on a twelve step, abstinence-based treatment model for individuals with addiction to alcohol and other drugs. The Foundation also includes the nation's largest addiction and recovery publishing house, a graduate school of addiction studies, an addiction research center, prevention training and an education arm for medical professionals, family members and other loved ones, as well as a children's program. There are 7 locations. Ms. Seward oversees a staff of 200 nurses across these locations. With changes in health care coverage, at least some of the treatment costs are covered by insurance for many people. Yet there are still many barriers, resulting in the fact that only 1 in 10 people struggling with addiction seeks treatment. Women in particular struggle this because of child and elder care responsibilities, yet women are as prone or perhaps more prone to addiction than men. Due to physiological differences, women move to addiction more rapidly and experience resulting organ and cognitive damage more quickly. We were urged to remember that the holidays can be a particularly dangerous time for people who may be struggling in this area.