Over the years in the course of my writings I have had the distinct honor to conduct interviews focused on historical and future oriented topics of interest to the New Recovery Advocacy Movement (NRAM). These interviews and those that follow into the future may be of interest to future leaders as recovery movements evolve over … Continue reading Current list of interviews on the first national meeting of the New Recovery Advocacy Movement in Saint Paul MN with key leaders, recovery leaders in Government and the Frontiers of Recovery Research interview series as of March 1st, 2026
An Interview with Caroline Beidler – The Future of Family Recovery as a Coproduced Collaborative Process of Resiliency: The Frontiers of Recovery Research Interview Series
What is this series of interviews? In April of 2024, I had the distinct honor of being asked by William White author and thought leader of the new recovery advocacy movement, to present his words as the keynote to open up the first annual NIDA Consortium on Addiction Recovery Science (CoARS) conference. The paper was … Continue reading An Interview with Caroline Beidler – The Future of Family Recovery as a Coproduced Collaborative Process of Resiliency: The Frontiers of Recovery Research Interview Series
When We Expect Peers to be “Magical Saviors”: A 50-Year-Old Problem Revisited
The peer recovery specialist owes a great deal to the therapeutic community, or TC. As much as the recovery movement has distanced itself from the blight of Synanon, Synanon and its TC offshoots were once considered the future of addiction treatment and looked to as a source of solutions by scientists and practitioners. Seeking to … Continue reading When We Expect Peers to be “Magical Saviors”: A 50-Year-Old Problem Revisited
Authenticity and Actualization: Stronger Through Our Brokenness, Together
"Know thyself"(γνῶθι σεαυτόν) – Inscribed on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi 4th century B.C.E For millennia, philosophy has grappled with our capacity to reach our fullest potential, barriers to these ends and the conditions under which we are most likely to actualize. William James (1842-1910), often called the "father of American psychology," well over … Continue reading Authenticity and Actualization: Stronger Through Our Brokenness, Together
Sentences to Ponder (John Kelly/Carl Jung)
I'm afraid medicine has nothing for you. I recommend three things. A protective wall of human community. Real religious insight. And a group of friends with whom you can be honest. John Kelly, PhD, paraphrasing Carl Jung's letter to Bill Wilson
Recovery Alliance Initiative: Proposed Principles and Stages of Care
Below is a document I've prepared at the request of the Recovery Alliance Initiative (RAI) leadership. It outlines some basic information that will be helpful for community-based leaders to better see the big picture of the RAI model, as it applies to helping the individual. Recovery Alliance Initiative: Proposed Principles and Stages of Care Principle … Continue reading Recovery Alliance Initiative: Proposed Principles and Stages of Care
The Historical Emergence of Peer Recovery; Conditions and Contradictions
What can a genealogical analysis of peer recovery tell us about our modern dilemmas?
Moving Beyond Macro Level Dysfunctional Dynamics – Supporting Addiction Recovery Efforts in America
On Tuesday, January 13th in the evening, around 9:30 PM on the east coast or 6:30 PM on the west coast, thousands of emails went out across America from SAMHSA, the nation’s mental health and substance use condition federal authority. Attached was a form letter notifying service providers, their staff and the people they served … Continue reading Moving Beyond Macro Level Dysfunctional Dynamics – Supporting Addiction Recovery Efforts in America
Sentences to Ponder (Norman Hoffmann, PhD)
If your theory doesn't match the folklore, it's time to adjust your theory. The first time Norm said this to me I knew I was learning from someone who knew what they were talking about. Norm told me how, from an academic standpoint and from a research standpoint, the lives of large numbers of people … Continue reading Sentences to Ponder (Norman Hoffmann, PhD)
A Metapsychology of Addiction, Addiction Recovery, and Human Beings
It seems to me that addiction: is dynamic has a form consumes energy and manages affects is influenced by genes and is also developmental has substructures that are simultaneously independent and interdependent adapts to reality. Let me expound each of those points in turn. Addiction is fluid, not static. Once in place it undulates within, … Continue reading A Metapsychology of Addiction, Addiction Recovery, and Human Beings
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