"With the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark—that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back” – Hunter S. Thompson" Collection of 2000s recovery advocacy ephemera. (Credit: Illinois Addiction Studies Archive) This week I am attending the annual conference of the National Alliance on Recovery Residences (NARR). NARR is … Continue reading We Lack a United Voice in the Recovery Movement
Month: September 2025
Question from the field: How does someone maintain longevity in the addiction field?
Two people working in the addiction field recently gave me a question to respond to here on Recovery Review. Interestingly, they both gave me the same question. One phrased it as a topic by saying, “I would enjoy hearing some more about risk and protective factors for SUD clinicians.” The other phrased it as a question: … Continue reading Question from the field: How does someone maintain longevity in the addiction field?
Long Term Recovery – the Policy Opportunities of Demand Reduction to Strengthen Our Nation
Many years ago, I met with a conservative member of Congress from my home state of Pennsylvania who eventually went on to the US Senate. I was relatively new to legislative meetings but quite passionate about recovery, even in those days. His background before serving politically was in international economics. When I got done explaining … Continue reading Long Term Recovery – the Policy Opportunities of Demand Reduction to Strengthen Our Nation
7-OH and the Question of Harm Production
This guest post is by Lee Holley, LCSW, LCDC, PSS. Lee is a psychotherapist based in Texas. He specializes in therapy for people with alcohol and other drug problems through a recovery-oriented harm reduction lens, combining clinical expertise with lived experience in long-term recovery. As a psychotherapist who bases my philosophy of treating alcohol and … Continue reading 7-OH and the Question of Harm Production
Drug Innovation or Contamination?
As harm reduction has risen in prominence and influence in the addiction, treatment, and recovery spaces, one of its contributions to discussions about public policy related to drug use has been the suggestion that prohibition creates a drug supply with unpredictable potency that is vulnerable to contamination, and that these factors drive overdose. This leads … Continue reading Drug Innovation or Contamination?
History Repeating – the “Opioid” Epidemic Supplanting the Recovery Movement: Pathology Over Resiliency and Healing
“The historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence” ― T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets The New Recovery Advocacy Movement got off the ground in America roughly three decades ago, during a time when addiction recovery policy and practice had fundamentally lost its way. In that era, … Continue reading History Repeating – the “Opioid” Epidemic Supplanting the Recovery Movement: Pathology Over Resiliency and Healing
Question from the field: “Do ACT and the unconscious have any common ground?”
This week I was asked, “What common ground is there between Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and ‘the unconscious’? And if there is any common ground, how can it apply to addiction counseling and addiction recovery?” To me, the common ground is cognitive dissonance. In my opinion, that was an interesting question. Here’s why. Acceptance and … Continue reading Question from the field: “Do ACT and the unconscious have any common ground?”
Gratitude Friday – 9 5 25 National Recovery Month and the Giants Whose Shoulders We Stand On
Note to readers – as a practice of gratitude, for over five years I have posted a weekly gratitude musing at Billstauffer.net. This week, I decided to post it at Recovery Review as well given the content. Just in case anyone may not be aware, September is National Recovery Month. As this link explains, National … Continue reading Gratitude Friday – 9 5 25 National Recovery Month and the Giants Whose Shoulders We Stand On
Recovery Review 