“Words are important. If you want to care for something, you call it a flower; if you want to kill something, you call it a weed.” – Don Coyhis The very term “Zombie Drugs” drives drug hysteria. A specter that these drugs are so powerful and bad that people who have used them are no … Continue reading Pathways of Long-Term Recovery and the Rhetoric of “Zombie Drugs”
Author: billstaufferpa
William Stauffer is the Director of Pennsylvania Recovery Organization Alliance (PRO-A). In recovery for well over 3 decades, he is a nationally recognized trainer and writer addiction and recovery. He has testified to the US Senate Special Committee on Aging and in 2019, he organized a hearing with the PA House Human Services Committee to expand opportunities for young people. He is a past co-chair of the public policy committee for Faces & Voices of Recovery and the 2019 recipient of the Vernon Johnson Award Individual Recovery Advocate of the year. He teaches Social Work at Misericordia University. He was recently named to the Leadership Council of Foundations for Drug Policy Solutions (FDPS) a national think / do tank where he serves alongside some of the most respected leaders in the SUD service system. In December 2022, Mr. Stauffer was invited to serve Governor-Elect Josh Shapiro & Lieutenant Gov-Elect Austin Davis on the state Human Services transition team.
The Real Gold Standard Addiction Treatment
There has been a lot of focus over the years on what the “gold standard” of addiction treatment is. The simple truth is that the gold standard of addiction treatment is the one that most effectively fosters the conditions in which recovery flourishes over the long term. When we begin to think about it in … Continue reading The Real Gold Standard Addiction Treatment
Recovery is a Transformative Process Extending Beyond the Individual
There is an often used saying, “connection is the opposite of addiction.” It is an oversimplified slogan suggesting a simple solution to a series of highly complex pathogenesis and environmental processes. It contains truth but is far from the panacea it is used to convey. Yet connection really is vital to sustained recovery. Historically, recovery … Continue reading Recovery is a Transformative Process Extending Beyond the Individual
Revisiting the Article That Sent Shockwaves Throughout the Substance Use Disorder Profession
By Mark Sanders and Bill Stauffer In 2005 historian William White, MA published an article in the Great Lakes ATTC Bulletin titled, Recovery Management: What if we Really Believed Addiction was a Chronic Disorder? The article captured the profession’s attention and imagination as it challenged how we were currently doing business at that time (the Acute Care Model) and … Continue reading Revisiting the Article That Sent Shockwaves Throughout the Substance Use Disorder Profession
Revisiting William White – Sponsor, Recovery Coach, Addiction Counselor:
The Importance of Role Clarity and Role Integrity – Bill Stauffer & Mark Sanders “The fate of the recovery coach role will be influenced by the forces that shaped those roles that came before it: the future evolution of professional treatment organizations and recovery mutual aid societies, evolutions in the design of addiction treatment (e.g., … Continue reading Revisiting William White – Sponsor, Recovery Coach, Addiction Counselor:
Revisiting William White: The Collapse of 19th Century Addiction Treatment: Could It Happen Again?
“A weakened field found itself unable to respond to these environmental threats. Several factors contributed to the (19th Century) field’s professional and political impotence. The field’s public reputation had been wounded by highly publicized breaches of ethical conduct. Newspaper exposés charged incompetence and fraud in the field’s clinical and business practices. Allegations abounded of inadequate … Continue reading Revisiting William White: The Collapse of 19th Century Addiction Treatment: Could It Happen Again?
The Deadly Mirror of Validation in the Age of Artificial Community
Just over 2,000 years ago, the Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso, penned the parable of Narcissus. To punish Narcissus for his vanity and rejecting all those who loved him, the goddess Nemesis cursed him to fall in love with someone he could never have. While hunting, Narcissus bent over to drink from a clear pool … Continue reading The Deadly Mirror of Validation in the Age of Artificial Community
When Systems Become Isolated: The Erosion of Authentic Dialogue Across Our Addiction Care Institutions
There is a lot wrong with our SUD service system across our country currently when you scratch the surface to get underneath the press releases about how swell things are going. I was reminded of this recently when I read Rob Kent’s essay in Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly Unstable Foundations. In it he referenced … Continue reading When Systems Become Isolated: The Erosion of Authentic Dialogue Across Our Addiction Care Institutions
Have We Traded the Recovery Movement for a Peer Service Industry?
“The future of the recovery advocacy movement is not in the professionalization of peer recovery support services.” - State of the New Recovery Advocacy Movement, William White (2013) “Whereas associations are organized to express the properties and capacities of a competent community, systems are organized to produce services and products.” ― John McKnight, Abundant Community: … Continue reading Have We Traded the Recovery Movement for a Peer Service Industry?
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