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
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.
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
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
Emerging From the Shadows, Beyond Existing into Mattering and Belonging
Developing the Science of Flourishing in Addiction Recovery – William Stauffer & Dr David Best This essay was coauthored with Dr. David Best, an internationally recognized researcher in addiction recovery whose work has been central to advancing the science of recovery capital, social networks, and community-based pathways to long-term change. As coauthor, he brings decades … Continue reading Emerging From the Shadows, Beyond Existing into Mattering and Belonging
Beyond Low Expectations of Languishing to the Probability of Flourishing in Addiction Recovery
William White, the highly regarded historian and thought leader of the new recovery advocacy movement recently put out a comprehensive paper on Post Traumatic Growth and Flourishing in Addiction Recovery. This essay should be a roadmap to retool our systems of care. A plan from which we can foster the full potential of individuals and … Continue reading Beyond Low Expectations of Languishing to the Probability of Flourishing in Addiction Recovery
Ripples of Resiliency – Fifty Years Since Operation Understanding
“What if instead of heroically bursting from the fire, a weakened and traumatized bird rises awkwardly, just barely, careening through a wall of sky on fire, entirely uncertain of what fate awaits when it finally clears the smoke? Why can't this mess be a triumph? Why can't basic survival be a kind of glory? Why … Continue reading Ripples of Resiliency – Fifty Years Since Operation Understanding
Is the California Recovery Pathway of Benefit or Bane?
“I am perfectly cured of the whisky habit, thanks to you and erthoxylon coca, but I can scarcely keep from forming a coca habit, becoming a “coquero”” – An 1889 letter from a patient to Dr W.H. Bently, Slaying the Dragon, the History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America - William White. Pg 146 … Continue reading Is the California Recovery Pathway of Benefit or Bane?
Recovery Centered Research Requires Accepted Definitions of Recovery –
An Interview with Justin Bell, the Frontiers of Recovery Research Interview Series What is this series of interviews? In April of 2024, I had the distinct honor of being asked by author and thought leader of the new recovery advocacy movement, William White, to present his words publicly. It was the keynote to open up … Continue reading Recovery Centered Research Requires Accepted Definitions of Recovery –