# What Healthcare Gets Wrong About Addiction With Dr. Emma Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/sisters-in-sobriety-6679709/what-healthcare-gets-wrong-about-addiction-with-dr-emma Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/sisters-in-sobriety-6679709/what-healthcare-gets-wrong-about-addiction-with-dr-emma.md Podcast: [Sisters In Sobriety](https://stenobird.com/podcast/sisters-in-sobriety-6679709) Published: 2026-04-06T10:04:00+00:00 Episode link: https://soniakahlon6344.podbean.com/e/what-healthcare-gets-wrong-about-addiction-with-dr-emma-1775707990/ Audio file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/p36nodflgf3yqs9i/p_open_s_69417f2b443ad9891396e37a_e_69ce5c251d7024f1a7b04a5b_media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/sisters-in-sobriety-6679709/episodes/what-healthcare-gets-wrong-about-addiction-with-dr-emma Duration seconds: 2228 ## Resource <p>Sonia sits down with Dr. Emma Kay, professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing and a nationally recognized researcher focused on HIV care, substance use, harm reduction, and recovery. Together, they unpack the intersection of addiction, stigma, and healthcare systems, and explore how a more compassionate, whole-person approach can change outcomes. Sonia guides this conversation to help reframe how we think about recovery, disclosure, and what meaningful care actually looks like in practice.</p><br><p>The discussion moves beyond surface-level conversations about addiction and into the realities people face navigating HIV, substance use, and medical systems that often prioritize one condition over another. Questions emerge around why patients don’t disclose substance use, how stigma subtly shows up in healthcare settings, whether abstinence-only models are limiting recovery options, and what happens when providers assume noncompliance. It also touches on the gap between medical innovation and lived patient experience, especially when it comes to trust, access, and education.</p><br><p>The conversation highlights how recovery is often non-linear, why patient autonomy matters, and how small behavioral shifts can represent meaningful progress. It also sheds light on systemic barriers including cost, lack of education in medical training, and disparities tied to race, geography, and socioeconomic status. The contrast between rapid advancements in HIV treatment and the slower evolution of addiction care reveals where healthcare systems are still falling short.</p><br><p>Sonia and Dr. Kay also talk about—what it actually looks like when patients feel seen, heard, and respected versus judg… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/sisters-in-sobriety-6679709/episodes/what-healthcare-gets-wrong-about-addiction-with-dr-emma/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/sisters-in-sobriety-6679709/what-healthcare-gets-wrong-about-addiction-with-dr-emma.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.