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.

To Move Forward, Our Institutions Must Take a Hard Look at Their Internalized Stigma Against Us

~ billstaufferpa ~ 6 Comments

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

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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 

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“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 

Those Who Control the Teachings of a Movement’s History Control Its Future

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How we think of addiction and recovery has changed in America, largely due to the New Recovery Advocacy Movement (NRAM). The future of NRAM and SUD Peer Services are inseparably intertwined. SUD Peer Services originated out of NRAM as a primary objective. In An Open Letter to SAMHSA and the SSA’s On Inclusion – Our … Continue reading Those Who Control the Teachings of a Movement’s History Control Its Future

Embracing Recovery Capital Within Our Care System to Save It

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There have been devastating impacts on our entire helping systems workforce over the long siege of the COVID Pandemic. Recently, I read the Ohio PHP Executive Report, the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Health and Well-being of Ohio's Healthcare Workers. The report summarizes data collected from 13,532 respondents across 13 of Ohio’s Professional … Continue reading Embracing Recovery Capital Within Our Care System to Save It

Sean Fogler and William Stauffer: How to help people who use drugs stop

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SEAN FOGLER AND WILLIAM STAUFFER - AUG 15, 2022 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Op-ed Today drug overdose deaths will claim almost three hundred American lives — thanks to stigma. The labels and stereotypes so many of us use are stigma in action, and separate us from those we mark as inferior, people to avoid. We judge and discriminate, … Continue reading Sean Fogler and William Stauffer: How to help people who use drugs stop

Preaddiction as a Missing Concept in Articulating the Dynamics of Healing & Recovery

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Earlier this month, Dr. Thomas McLellan, Dr George Koob, and Dr Nora Volkow published a viewpoint article at JAMA titled Preaddiction—A Missing Concept for Treating Substance Use Disorders.  It is an important piece. The concept of preaddiction could dramatically expand our intervention strategies and better help us address the horrific consequences of harmful substance use … Continue reading Preaddiction as a Missing Concept in Articulating the Dynamics of Healing & Recovery

Are We Serving as Good Stewards in Our Collective Responsibility to the Recovery Community?

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“Therein is the tragedy. Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit -- in a world that is limited. Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons. Freedom in … Continue reading Are We Serving as Good Stewards in Our Collective Responsibility to the Recovery Community?