From Understanding to Action: Catie Hodson's Approach to Medicine and Addiction

In this episode of The PA Mindset Matters podcast, hosts PA Mercedes Dodge and PA Jessica Spissinger speak with Katie Hodson, PA, an outpatient psychiatry clinician in Wilmington, North Carolina, who focuses on opioid use disorder and co-occurring conditions such as PTSD, stimulant use disorder, anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder. Katie discusses integrating addiction treatment with psychiatric care, using a collaborative, nonjudgmental approach that sets expectations, avoids punitive responses, and emphasizes meeting patients where they are. She reflects on her path to become a PA and her current clinical work focusing on psychosocial rehabilitation, addresses stigma from families and misconceptions about buprenorphine (including perioperative concerns), and highlights how public policy, housing, food insecurity, and insurance instability drive mental health and substance use outcomes. She also describes close collaboration with therapists, setting boundaries to prevent burnout, and self-care through family, exercise, faith, and grace.