Female entrepreneurs’ indulgence in Substance abuse

The entrepreneurship and business arena is on a consistent transformation path courtesy of incorporation of newer, efficient and almost instant problem-solving techniques. Women are gradually taking over and excelling in the rather male dominated entrepreneurial world, and opting for this as their source of livelihood. In the year 2016, women entrepreneurs in the US hit an all time high in 20 years. This is according to a popular statistic, and the numbers may have increased or decreased as time takes its toll.

4 in every 10 new entrepreneurs are women. A recent rise in the number of lady billionaires has been noted in this statistic in the past decades. This has brought about more job creation, product and services creation, business opportunities, and boosting of trade, a notable and positive impact globally. Women shelving their professional and social ambitions to solely pursue entrepreneurship has become a daily phenomenon, and these ladies come armed with the zeal and resilience needed to overcome the hurdles posed by the business venture. Somehow, they manage to ace their businesses while still taking care of their families, a feat that is not simple to accomplish.

A popular report indicates that 1 in every 3 entrepreneurs in the States is a woman, which translates to over 3 million business ventures being owned and run by women. It goes without saying that most of these women double up as wives, mothers and caregivers to their aging parents and relatives. Juggling between family needs and entrepreneurial obligations is not child play, and more often leaves these women battling excess fatigue, stress and may even break down if things go south. Such challenges drive them to seek solace in frequent drug abuse, which brings them related disorders.

The Rise, Growth and Prevalence of Female Entrepreneurship.

Generally, women are considered to have a lesser role in national development compared to men. Their input, especially in the business sector is huge effort in improving the economy of a nation through job creation and service delivery. Nurturing women entrepreneurship is in order to help heal, stabilize and grow the economy of both the region and the whole nation. Bearing this in mind, it will be simpler to identify and curb challenges that hinder women from launching and running their own business ventures.

In the recent years, a study carried out on women involvement in opening new ventures revealed that women entrepreneurs are under-represented nationally and internationally, more so in sectors dealing with information, especially in recently founded firms. This study has grown and is majoring on improving the qualities of women entrepreneurs, inspiring them into delving into the entrepreneurship world, leadership skills and daily challenges women face. Ladies are yet to fully dive into the technical and innovative fields.

A flourishing economy calls for opportunity identification, inspiration of willing investors into investing in the same, among other factors. Women involvement in the entrepreneurship not only aids in opportunity identification and utilization, but also gives the business sector the diversity it so much needs. More women get the chance to obtain education from the best institutions in the world, which gives them an advantage which they can employ in the entrepreneurship sector and do well.

There has been a notable surge in the number of women venturing into small firms and medium businesses around the globe. In the States alone, women possess 38% of all firms, which is 9.1 million different business ventures. This is a 103% increase in female-owned businesses from the year 1990, while employment in these ventures increased by a mammoth 302%, and sales shot to 43%. This fetches the US government an approximated $3.6Trillion annually in licenses and taxes.

Substance Use Disorder (SUD) in Female Entrepreneurs

The lady entrepreneurs with low esteem, adaptation, self-identity issues, and a drug abuse background are prone to substance indulgence and abuse. Those undergoing medication and the above-mentioned issues are exposed to SUD, and the nature of the entrepreneurship work may worsen their condition.

Research shows a number of conditions that can drive women entrepreneurs into this disorder. They range from recurrence of mood swings, acute anxiety and related disorders, persistent eating disorders, stress and heightened occurrence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSD)

This disorder can be accelerated in women more than in men because ladies have biological, psychological and social differences that hinder them from initiating a help-seeking pattern or program.

Stress, low self-esteem, fatigue and loneliness adversely affect women and increase their vulnerability to substance use disorder.

The common and seemingly harmless substances pose the biggest threat of abuse and consequently lead to SUD risk. They include stimulants, painkillers, sleep inducing pills, and sleep relieving drugs.

Treatment challenges faced by women entrepreneurs.

Fear of stigma

People battling drug and substance addiction have suffered stigmatization for a long time. This not only derails them from their recovery path, but also demoralizes the addicted lot, and dissuades them from seeking counseling. They are viewed as persons who are not even responsible for their own health. They thus wish to hide their problem than expose it to the public and receive admonishing from the public.

Lack of support.

Women entrepreneurs need support, both financial and emotional during this period. However, most people may choose to look the other way, and deny them the financial support they so much need. Emotional support from their families is important too, and its lack thereof may drive these women back to their addictions again.

Denial

Being in denial is perfectly normal especially if you are battling addiction. However, acknowledgement is good as it gives you a starting point and knowing that you indeed have a problem that needs a solution. It poses a challenge to these successful business women to accept that despite all their success, an addiction crawled in, colonized them and now they need liberation.

Medication avenues

Detoxification

This is the foremost treatment step, which includes flushing out the addictive substance from your system and restraining negative withdrawal responses.

Behavioral treatment and counseling.

This medication step comes in after detoxification. This treatment can be carried out at your premise or at the counselor’s venue. It is tweaked to suit your exact needs and help you psychologically heal, and amass enough will to overcome the setback.

Rehabilitation programs

These programs help drug and substance victims contain the disorders, and ensure they guide them to full recovery and total abstinence of the substances. They offer shelter and prescribed therapeutic medication.

Self-improvement Group

These are gatherings which a recovering person meets same people, battling addictions or recovering, and they share their experiences and steps they are taking to recover fully.

Medicinal drugs

A proper prescription can help you recover from SUD. This is a sure way to effectively boot withdrawal symptoms.

Successful and entrepreneurial women face their fare share of challenges from their business ventures and immediate families, but Substance Use disorder beats them all. If not well handled, these disorders can even bring down the whole business you worked so hard to launch and run. However, fret not, for you can easily get help from The Ho Tai Way – Recovery for Women. This facility provides an individualized program which is specially customized to embrace adult professionals. Feel free to call for inquiries and refer your friends, colleagues and family members who need help.