Abstract
The rates of drug overdose and death are increasing exponentially in the U.S., resulting in a declining life expectancy rate in the U.S. Among American adults age 18-45. Substance use disorder is the leading cause of premmature death in this age group. Rates of substance use among emerging adult men has been decreasing, whereas rates of use among emerging adult women has been increasing. Women present to substance use treatment at a 1 in 5 rate to men, and often present with more severe psychological and physical problemas as a result of their use. Further, while men continue to die in higher numbers than women, the rates of overdose related death among women have been increasing nearly 500% faster than that of young men. Despite these concerning statistics, young women experiencing substance use disorder and trauma have been understudied. The purpose of this study is to explore the experience and insight of clinicians who specialize in this work, with the intention of gathering and dispersing knowledge from these specialist clinicians to lead to improved treatment and diagnostic outcomes for this population. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with four clinicians who specialize in the treatment of emerging adult women with substance use and trauma. Reflexive Thematic Analysis was used to identify five themes and twenty-two sub-themes. Key findings include the importance of relationship in healing, clinicians holding a heightned sense of self-awareness, examining substance use in the context of young womens lives, the commonality of SUD and trauma related disorders in this population, substance use as a means to control affect, various aspects to working with this population that require gender informed care considerations, as well as an exploration of various treatment approaches utilized by these clinicians.