The model shown below for the Recovery Alliance Initiative (RAI) is already happening in part, and other parts are aspirational. I thought I would share this for everyone's consideration and ease of access. The diagram is immediately below. At the bottom of this post I've placed the one-page PDF. The front side contains this diagram. … Continue reading Recovery Alliance Initiative: Structural Flow Model
Making Recovery as Accessible as Addiction in America: The 2026
ONDCP National Drug Control Strategy Report The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy recently released the 2026 national drug control policy. Like most people in our space, I have never read a strategy report that fully aligned with my own views in entirety, full disclosure, I do not agree with myself one hundred … Continue reading Making Recovery as Accessible as Addiction in America: The 2026
AA: Poisoned at the root?
STAT recently posted a series on the public health costs associated with alcohol. It's a welcome subject of focus. Opioids have overwhelmed media and professional attention, despite far greater death tolls from alcohol and tobacco. ...the number of alcohol deaths occurring in the U.S. each year exceeds the number of opioid deaths at any point in that … Continue reading AA: Poisoned at the root?
Episode 2: Protecting the Soul of Peer Support – Lessons in History with Bill Stauffer
This is a fantastic episode of The Peer Support Professional's Guide podcast. Click here to listen to this conversation. I just got done listening to this episode and had to share it. Here's the episode description: Recovery advocate and policy leader Bill Stauffer joins me to trace the evolution of peer support from its grassroots … Continue reading Episode 2: Protecting the Soul of Peer Support – Lessons in History with Bill Stauffer
Addiction and Alcoholism: The Form of the Disorder
Below you will find the PDF of my latest monograph. First, a brief excerpt: "...here, my main focus is the syndrome we all know as alcoholism (when present for alcohol) or addiction (when present for other drug classes). And what I address about addiction illness in this work is the form of the disorder." Anagha … Continue reading Addiction and Alcoholism: The Form of the Disorder
A wish list for the Recovery Alliance Initiative
Overview If you're not familiar with the Recovery Alliance Initiative (RAI), you could have a look at this post on its history, methods and purpose. It's an effort that has been underway from 2013 to the present. Here's the RAI website. What we try to do in RAI is build awareness, collaboration, advocacy (both between/among … Continue reading A wish list for the Recovery Alliance Initiative
Remembering Sis Wenger: a tireless voice for children impacted by addiction
Sis Wenger, a pioneering advocate for children affected by addiction and former leader of the National Association for Children of Addiction (formerly National Association for Children of Alcoholics), recently passed away. She also worked tirelessly to reach children living with addiction directly, spreading the message that they were not alone. Under a partnership between Maplegrove … Continue reading Remembering Sis Wenger: a tireless voice for children impacted by addiction
Moms, SUDs, & “emotional disintegration within the family”
Addiction Research & Theory recently published an interesting article entitled "The unseen burden: exploring the lived experiences of mothers caring for individuals with substance use disorder." It focuses on the lived experiences of Indian mothers caring for sons with severe Substance Use Disorders. The authors set the focus of the paper as follows: This growing … Continue reading Moms, SUDs, & “emotional disintegration within the family”
Hope Carriers in a System That Doesn’t Walk Its Own Talk on Recovery
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” – James Baldwin Workforce attrition in addiction care is about much more than burnout. It is often more a result of moral dissonance created by systems that profess recovery but operationalize something far less. As an example, the … Continue reading Hope Carriers in a System That Doesn’t Walk Its Own Talk on Recovery
Quality of life in the first five years of recovery
I recently had the opportunity to see John Kelly present some of his research on recovery. Kelly is doing some of the most important work in the addiction and recovery space. I say this because he's one of the few researchers publishing on long-term outcomes and quality-of-life. Most contemporary research gives us little more than … Continue reading Quality of life in the first five years of recovery