Community and Belonging

Our Commitment to Broadening Our Banner

Addiction is an equal opportunity disease. It reaches across age, race, gender and socioeconomic status. Ensuring access to treatment, opportunities to heal and recovery support should be common ground as well. Unfortunately, you don’t need to look very far or wide to find examples throughout history of how America and our healthcare industry have neglected and marginalized people who struggle with substance use disorders.

When the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation pioneered humane, respectful care for this stigmatized population more than 75 years ago, we did so amid a lack of public compassion for, knowledge of, or patience for "alcoholics" and "addicts." Alcoholism and drug addiction were not widely viewed as disease conditions.

In recognizing addiction for what it is—a disease—and treating our patients with holistic, expert and compassionate care, it’s true that Hazelden Betty Ford has been a voice for underserved, people from our very first days.

We recognize that we have many bridges to build if our organization is to live up to our long-term commitment of honoring, serving and advocating for people from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds. We can do better, and we aspire to do better. Hazelden Betty Ford’s commitment to empowering recovery and well-being for all is built on:

• Ensuring equitable access to care for individuals, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, sociaeconomic status, or background. This directly embodies our values of patients first and our commitment to community and belonging.
• Fostering a workplace culture free from discrimination, harassment, and bias, where every employee feels safe, respected, and valued. This is how we build a strong community and belonging internally.
• Upholding our clinical integrity and evidence-based practices, ensuring they are culturally responsive and meet the diverse needs of our patient population, showing our courage to change and innovate our care delivery and to meet people where they are at.
• Creating an environment that supports the full spectrum of human identity and experience within our community, fostering genuine community and belonging.

What kinds of efforts can actually create real, long-term change in addiction treatment?

At the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, we’re focusing on the following efforts and goals to create meaningful and lasting change:

• Building a culturally competent organization by fostering cultural humility, curiosity, and belonging

• Developing an infrastructure that creates and reinforces an inclusive culture

• Ensuring fair and equitable treatment of everyone

• Increasing the diverse customer, patient, family and student populations that we reach and serve

• Increasing staff and student clinical cultural responsiveness

• Improving and broadening access to underrepresented communities

• Establishing and consistently utilizing a framework for employees to provide feedback on community outreach efforts and impact

• Driving acquisition and partnership with other health care organizations focused on improving access to quality care and resources