In the first post in this series, I described concepts connected to the origin and early formation of the Recovery Advocacy Alliance. For the sake of continuity and understanding, I encourage you to go back and read that post if you haven’t done that yet. This is the second post in the series. In this … Continue reading The Recovery Alliance Initiative – Evolution
Author: Brian Coon
The Recovery Alliance Initiative
This is the first post in a series within which I will provide an overview and history of the Recovery Alliance Initiative. Here’s the Alliance website in case you would like to check that out. The Recovery Alliance Initiative began as an idea in 2013. What started as an idea developed into a structured method … Continue reading The Recovery Alliance Initiative
Bill White’s website has moved
Attention! There is a 2025 update! Jump all the way down below the original 2022 section, and see the 2025 update. Early this morning I noticed that Mike Dennis, the researcher at Lighthouse Institute, posted the following on his LinkedIn account: Researchers and practitioners who access Bill’s website, williamwhitepapers.com, will notice a new look effective May … Continue reading Bill White’s website has moved
Grief and Depression as Factors in Addiction Counseling
Disclaimer: nothing in this post should be taken or held as clinical instruction, clinical supervision, or advisory concerning patient care. In his 1916 article1 titled “Mourning and Melancholia” Sigmund Freud grappled with clarifying the differences between melancholy and mourning. In his usage melancholy refers to what we would loosely call “depression” and mourning refers to … Continue reading Grief and Depression as Factors in Addiction Counseling
Rescorla is to Pavlov as Semiotics is to Freud
A few weeks ago, while I was reading in the psychoanalytic literature, I saw that Freud (1915) abbreviates the Conscious mind with the initials “CS” and the Unconscious mind with the initials “UCS”. To me this seemed like much too much of a coincidence. Why did it seem like a coincidence? From my rather extensive … Continue reading Rescorla is to Pavlov as Semiotics is to Freud
Our Unconscious Relationship with Tobacco
In the first part of this article, I’ll note one particular barrier I have heard expressed about the idea of changing an addiction treatment campus to “tobacco-free” or to the idea of a tobacco-free model of care. And then I’ll discuss a few responses to that barrier. In the second part of the article, I’ll … Continue reading Our Unconscious Relationship with Tobacco
Addiction: Understandings and Enactments of the Current Era
Preface: I see a lot of change going on. Sometimes I like to take notes and get things down on paper in an organized way so I can clear my mind and try to make better sense of what I am noticing. This article is that. I share this writing for the sake of the … Continue reading Addiction: Understandings and Enactments of the Current Era
Comments On the Practical Use of Spiritual Care
Disclaimer: nothing in this post should be taken or held as clinical instruction, clinical supervision, or advisory concerning patient care. Spiritual care is a clinical discipline. Spiritual care can be a clinical team member in the separate settings for physical health problems, psychiatric problems, or substance use disorders. And spiritual care can be a member of … Continue reading Comments On the Practical Use of Spiritual Care
Working Out a Multi-Year Support Structure
Lately I’ve been working out a practical structure1 for a 5-year model of clinical involvement for patients with addiction illness (not less severe presentations). What I have in mind is quite concrete but would take a lot of words to say. I am often a visual or spatial thinker, and for this topic it’s true … Continue reading Working Out a Multi-Year Support Structure
A Fresh Look at “The Big 5” Substance Use Disorder Criteria
Recently here on Recovery Review Jason Schwartz has been posting some fairly interesting new material, as well as re-posting older material, about the idea of addiction as a disease. The material he has shared has grown interesting enough and produced enough thoughtful conversation on various platforms, that I wanted to share a version of my very first … Continue reading A Fresh Look at “The Big 5” Substance Use Disorder Criteria
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