Amy de la Garza, MD, FASAM
Candidate for Regional Director
Region VIII - Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming
Amy de la Garza, MD, FASAM. I am an addiction medicine physician who has been treating patients with SUD since starting my family medicine residency in 2010. In 2021 I completed an addiction medicine fellowship at the University of Utah while working simultaneously in my private practice. In 2022 I obtained board certification in Addiction Medicine.
Additionally, I hold a certification in functional medicine from the Institute for Functional Medicine. I have been caring for patients with behavioral health diagnoses and SUD in various capacities across the continuum of care. I have served as the medical director for residential and intensive outpatient treatment programs, served veterans with addiction in an outpatient setting, and as medical director for a clinical and research program investigating the application of psilocybin and ketamine to patients with major depression and opioid use disorder.
Throughout the years of obtaining these varied clinical experiences, I have had one constant, and that is my small business, Heron Wellness. I have been the sole practitioner since 2017, caring for patients and families who are struggling with SUD. I approach patient's healing from an integrative, holistic perspective that includes evidence-based allopathic medication management of SUD as well as broad spectrum primary care. In addition, patients and families come to me specifically because I address their disease process utilizing my functional background, providing education and guidance to help them address their nutrition, sleep, movement, stress management, and healthy connections using a group medical visit model in addition to individual care.
I have provided education to patients, providers and organizations about the importance of a lifestyle and an integrative approach to recovery throughout Utah, as well as in California and Idaho. In July of this year my colleague and I initiated an online lifestyle training program to rural addiction providers in my region through a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant. The intersection of lifestyle and functional medicine, family medicine, and addiction medicine is where my true passion is, and it brings me great joy to see my patients and their families work through their recovery journey utilizing this novel approach. My hope is to continue to educate and provide clinical consultation to providers and organizations across the country so that we might expand this approach to many.
I submitted and just received acceptance for a new ASAM Special Interest Group - Integrative Behavioral Health for Addiction this on September 12! I am thrilled to bring my passion for whole-person, integrated addiction medicine to ASAM and hope to build a community of shared interest to further clinical implementation and research for our patients.
In addition to my clinical practice I am committed to service in my community and beyond. I am trained in a five needle ear acupuncture protocol to support healing for people suffering with stress, addiction and trauma. Together with my partner, Dr. Elizabeth Howell, we started Utah Acudetox, a grass-roots organization that provides training, community ear acupuncture and advocacy for access to this integrative approach for all who are in need. In 2022 we worked to successfully pass Utah House Bill 195 to expand training in ear acupuncture to all mental health care providers, and in the same year were awarded a SAMSHA grant to provide free training for Utah providers. To date we have trained over 100 individuals and have expanded access to this important protocol across our state.
I have been a member of ASAM since 2017, serving my local Utah chapter as Legislative Chair, President Elect, and currently as our President. Two years ago I joined the California Society of Addiction Medicine. I serve on the Education Committee and served on the Conference Planning Committee in 2023. I have served ASAM as the Region VIII Alternate Director for the last four years. My service to ASAM has provided me with knowledge regarding state and national advocacy work, connected me with numerous mentors who guide me as I work to expand my clinical knowledge, and inspiration to develop leadership skills which I hope to translate into work that will transform our systems of care to provide compassionate healing with integrity for our patients, their families, and our communities. I hope to continue my service to my local, regional and national ASAM community as the Region VIII Director.
Candidate Questionnaire Responses
1. What have been your greatest contributions to ASAM or to the field of addiction medicine over the last 10 years?
My greatest contribution to ASAM has been my ongoing involvement in leadership and advocacy since my first year of membership in 2017. I have played an active role in my local chapter since the beginning. I helped to develop a relationship with our state mental health and addiction authority who continues to be involved with our chapter providing legislative, financial and administrative support. As Legislative Chair I worked to develop relationships with representatives to build trust in our chapter so that we might provide consultation and support for legislative efforts related to mental health and addiction.
I have grown my relationship with ASAM through my additional membership with the California chapter, largely in an effort to build networking opportunities for our smaller chapter here in Utah, as well as to develop my own leadership skills. As a member of both chapters I have been able to help create a number of educational offerings for both chapters, and facilitate our first CME event for our Utah chapter earlier this year. As president I have attended all but one of the ASAM chapter meetings, and have developed relationships with other chapters, and mentors as well as continuing to learn about the advocacy process and important addiction topics.
As the alternate director for our region I have enjoyed being able to receive additional communication from ASAM about various topics and events within the organization which strengthen my desire to continue to expand my role locally and nationally.
My contributions to addiction medicine include advocacy at the state level. This includes the passing of a bill in Utah to expand training for health care and mental health providers to receive certification in the five needle ear acupuncture protocol. This protocol is simple, inexpensive, and easy to train and deliver to people suffering from anxiety, addiction, trauma and stress. I am passionate about this protocol because I believe that all people, regardless of social determinants, deserve an integrative, holistic approach to their healing process. Ear acupuncture is one of many ways I can help to achieve this goal. I believe that holistic care includes empowering individuals to heal themselves, physically, emotionally and spiritually. This is a harm reduction approach in my mind. If people do not care about themselves, nor feel well enough to engage actively in their ongoing recovery process, I think it will continue to be challenging for us to help people get better.
My continued efforts to provide education and clinical guidance to patients, families, providers, and organizations about the importance of nutrition, sleep, movement, stress reduction, and meaningful social connection are beginning to create meaningful change not only for those coming to see me in my practice but also for other community members and organizations in my state, and beyond.
2. How would your election to the ASAM Board of Directors benefit ASAM and the field of addiction medicine?
My election would benefit ASAM and addiction medicine because I will bring passionate discussion to the field regarding a number of topics. I would like to see discussion begin regarding the disparity in reimbursement and opportunity between those of us board certified in addiction medicine, versus those certified in addiction psychiatry.
As addiction medicine providers we bring many talents, specialty services, and experiences that I do not think are justly recognized. I would like to start having meaningful conversations about this. I would like to continue to raise awareness about holistic and integrative approaches to care as well as to see these approaches evaluated by clinical research.
Finally, if I were elected as Region VIII director one of my goals would be to develop and host a Region VIII CME event that would highlight innovative and specialty approaches to the treatment of addiction by members of our region's chapters. I would like to build a strong network of providers in our region that contribute significantly to clinical care, education, and advocacy for our patients, their families, and our communities.