It is abundantly clear that COVID-19 will result in fundamental changes in how societies around the world function. We can all sense this demarcation of a fundamental change in our own lives and communities. It will take years to fully understand all of the ramifications of how this will impact our lives and all of … Continue reading Redesigning Addiction and Recovery Services in a COVID-19 World

Nothing about us without us means inclusion in policy decisions impacting the recovery community, not just having a token recovering person sitting in the room to say that we were included. The COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis is a good example of this dynamic. In talking to recovery community organizations across the country, I am hearing vast … Continue reading On Implicit Bias and Institutionalized Exclusion

Over the last few weeks, there has been an expansive and dramatic shift to the provision of Substance Use Disorder services onto digital platforms as we move into the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Recovery community and treatment organizations would be well served to develop these services in a manner that supports safe, effective and individualized care. … Continue reading Ten Assurances for Conducting Effective, Safe and Ethically Run Virtual Recovery Support Services

In recent weeks I have been less focused on the science of recovery and more on the social connectedness elements of recovery. I hope that my colleagues writing here on this blog with me are ok with the direction I am taking as of late. I am focused here simply because I think that there … Continue reading Let’s focus the recovery community on hope, connection, and purpose

And just like that, overnight all of our worlds have changed. I already miss things that I did without a second thought less than two weeks ago before COVID-19 took hold. I am sure I am not alone in that. All of us are reeling from unprecedented change and disorienting events occurring wholly outside of … Continue reading Recovery Community: This can be our finest hour – let’s show the world what the recovery community is all about!

First things first. How we treat others says a lot about a us as people or organizations. Are our systems inclusive or persons in recovery at all levels of system design and implementation? How are we treated by these systems that govern care? As valued partners, window dressing or simply marginalized? We will not make … Continue reading The Golden Rule of SUD Treatment and Recovery Services

I have never failed to underestimate the depth of discrimination that surround addiction and those of us in recovery from addiction. It shows up in punitive policies, disparate funding, excessive barriers to care and the consistent discounting of our voices in policy matters that impact us. It is the last point I am writing about … Continue reading Discounting the Voices of Recovery

This is a political post; I hope readers give me a chance and hear me out. As I have said before, I am a student of history, and have spent some time learning about the history of addiction and recovery in America. History can teach us important and relevant lessons. Over the last sixty years … Continue reading I am a card-carrying member of the nonpartisan “Recovery Party”

  There is a famous quote - “Americans Will Always Do the Right Thing — After Exhausting All the Alternatives” often credited to Winston Churchill. I have been thinking about the quote as it relates to the narrative around deaths of despair and the erosion of social connections, hope and purpose. These deaths are often … Continue reading Investing in Community Recovery Capital – it is beyond time to do the right thing