“The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger--but recognize the opportunity.” ― John F. Kennedy Societies, like people rise to challenges when faced and decay when hard tasks are avoided. Healing for people and … Continue reading Looking Beyond Crisis, Our Opportunities Are All About Connection!
Author: billstaufferpa
William Stauffer has been the Executive Director of Pennsylvania Recovery Organization Alliance (PRO-A), the statewide recovery organization of Pennsylvania. He is in long-term recovery since age 21 and has been actively engaged in public policy in the recovery arena for most of those years. He is also an adjunct professor of Social Work at Misericordia University in Dallas Pennsylvania. He holds a Bachelors in Social work degree from Cedar Crest College and a Masters Degree from Kutztown University.
William Stauffer has initiated numerous workforce expansion initiatives for persons in recovery. A major focus of his work has been aimed at moving our entire SUD care system towards a five-year care paradigm to dramatically expand the numbers of Americans in Recovery while saving lives, resources, and communities. Mr. Stauffer has been a staunch advocate for strong SUD Patient Privacy Protections at both the state and federal levels for many years. He ran a recovery house taskforce for the Pennsylvania that helped inform PA Act 59 of 2017. In 2018, he testified in front of the US Senate Special Committee on Aging on the opioid epidemic and older adults, and in 2019, he conducted a hearing with the PA House Human Services Committee to expand recovery opportunities for young people.
He was the 2019 recipient of the Vernon Johnson Award Individual Recovery Advocate of the year. Mr. Stauffer was also the 2002 Recipient of the Lecie G. Machell prize in Social Work and, prior to taking the position of executive director of PRO-A , received Pennsylvania Recovery Organization Alliances award of the Recovery Advocate of the year, in 2008.
Moving Beyond a System of Care Designed to Fail Us
“All systems are perfectly designed to get the results they get.” – Don Coyhis What would happen if we treated substance use with comprehensive, individualized care and support over the long-term? We don’t entirely know; we have never fully tried that approach for the general population. We do know that the kind of care provided … Continue reading Moving Beyond a System of Care Designed to Fail Us
It Is Time We Seize the Opportunity to Address SUD Stigma in the U.S. Healthcare System
Across our nation, far too often patients are treated rudely or provided inferior care when their healthcare provider learns that they use drugs, have a history of using drugs or are in recovery. Stigma is often the primary barrier for people seeking help. To shift these negative perceptions and improve care within our healthcare systems, … Continue reading It Is Time We Seize the Opportunity to Address SUD Stigma in the U.S. Healthcare System
Building a Recovery Affirming Care System on a Foundation More Solid than Stigma
Over the course of my decades of work in the SUD field and as a person in recovery, I can honestly say that I have tried as hard as I can to do my very best to serve people in need of help with a substance use condition. I suspect most others in this field … Continue reading Building a Recovery Affirming Care System on a Foundation More Solid than Stigma
Developing Broad Consensus on How We Conceptualize the Resolution of Substance Misuse
The first major effort to define recovery in America was in 2007, when the Betty Ford Foundation, now the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation published What is recovery? A working definition from the Betty Ford Institute. The paper noted that “recovery is a voluntarily maintained lifestyle composed characterized by sobriety, personal health, and citizenship.” Our understanding … Continue reading Developing Broad Consensus on How We Conceptualize the Resolution of Substance Misuse
2022’s #8 post: Headwinds for Recovery Community Self Agency
“. . . the individual, family and community are not separate; they are one. To injure one is to injure all; to heal one is to heal all. – from The Red Road to Wellbriety, 2002” – as quoted by William White, Recovery Rising Perhaps the most important insight in recent recovery history is that … Continue reading 2022’s #8 post: Headwinds for Recovery Community Self Agency
Holding Space for Healing & Resiliency – What We Know and Yet Still Fail to Apply
“I believe that the community - in the fullest sense: a place and all its creatures - is the smallest unit of health and that to speak of the health of an isolated individual is a contradiction in terms.” - Wendell Berry We need to change how we think of recovery community organizations across our … Continue reading Holding Space for Healing & Resiliency – What We Know and Yet Still Fail to Apply
To Move Forward, Our Institutions Must Take a Hard Look at Their Internalized Stigma Against Us
Recovery from addiction has two significant facets. For centuries, it is centered on a dynamic that is relatively unique in respect to medical conditions. The power of one person, as part of their own journey of healing helping another to also find their way into recovery. This dynamic has then been repeated over the eons … Continue reading To Move Forward, Our Institutions Must Take a Hard Look at Their Internalized Stigma Against Us
The Birthing of the Modern Recovery Movement & Marty Mann Recovery History Interview with Bev Haberle
Forward – I have been thinking for some time about the linkages across recovery history. We don’t always do the best job at recording and teaching our own history. It is vital to the future that we understand our own past and how it has shaped our current environment. We must understand where we came … Continue reading The Birthing of the Modern Recovery Movement & Marty Mann Recovery History Interview with Bev Haberle
Cannabis: Demon Drug or Miracle Medicinal Plant, the Dilemma of Binary Thinking
“Human beings have a strong dramatic instinct toward binary thinking, a basic urge to divide things into two distinct groups, with nothing but an empty gap in between. We love to dichotomize. Good versus bad. Heroes versus villains. My country versus the rest. Dividing the world into two distinct sides is simple and intuitive, and … Continue reading Cannabis: Demon Drug or Miracle Medicinal Plant, the Dilemma of Binary Thinking
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