I was introduced to Darren McGarvey's work a few years ago. I haven't followed him closely, but he seems to have a knack for putting his finger on very salient contradictions and tensions in public and professional discourse about addiction and recovery. I came across this Instagram post yesterday that touches upon the uses and … Continue reading “Today, I live in the shadow of a character I created.”

The Minneapolis Times published a provocative column on harm reduction from a writer who previously worked in a social service agency. Harm reduction made sense to me as a way of managing an immediate danger. Somewhere along the way, it seemed to become an end in itself. The question was no longer only how to … Continue reading When survival becomes the endpoint

Learn more and join Voices of the Unheard through NACoA’s campaign page This blog has shared thousands of posts about drug use, addiction, treatment, and recovery over the last 20 years. Very few of those posts focused on the effects of adult substance use problems on children. All of our contributors tend to focus on … Continue reading Children Deserve Recovery Too

We've known for many years that social model programs are effective and that helping helps the helper, but why do they help? Our findings tentatively suggest that sober living homes (SLHs) adhering to social model principles do not achieve better outcomes by stimulating more helping, but rather that more resident helping can foster a supportive … Continue reading In recovery, helping helps the helper IF…

Justin Bell's recent post on the scientific dilemma of whether to drop or keep recovery sparked a lot of discussion. One takeaway from the discussion is the confirmation that people really struggle to hold space for one definition in scientific spaces while holding space for other definitions in personal, community, and professional service spaces. There … Continue reading Can science give up on defining recovery and maintain a recovery orientation?

A recently published study examines the experience of family members affected by addiction. A recently published study examines the experience of family members affected by addiction. [boundaries by joiseyshawaa] Why study family members affected by addiction? Because they experience many harms1: AUD harms the physical, emotional, and mental health of people and their affected family … Continue reading Ambiguous loss, boundary ambiguity, and psychological flexibility in families affected by addiction

I came across an interesting story from San Francisco. I think it's important to note that sharing this doesn't imply that San Francisco's drug problem is representative or that the positions espoused by members of their recovering community are representative of other communities. However, it's an interesting story and, while it may not be representative … Continue reading “We need to just enforce the law” or “high-impact interventions”?

ANKORS Manual: Drug Checking at Music Festivals The NY Times published an article about the Shambhala music festival's approach to harm reduction 1: Shambhala’s harm reduction efforts go well beyond testing. It has a 12-bed field hospital, run by an emergency room doctor and staffed by 30 physicians; roaming teams of harm reduction counselors; and … Continue reading “Their drugs all tested as expected.”

Keith Humphreys recently published a reflection on the social roles of public health professionals. in response to a recently published memoir by Griffith Edwards, the former editor of the journal Addiction for 25 years. The contract to which I refer, roughly speaking, ran as follows. Researchers’ fundamental duty was to systematically and accurately describe the … Continue reading Science, policy, and the public trust

Yesterday’s post about confrontation as a goal versus confrontation as a style reminded me of a paper I’ve been meaning to blog. The paper reports on the findings from a study of men currently participating in treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) seeking to understand their motivators for seeking help with their OUD. The researchers, … Continue reading Transformation grounded in the reconciliation of identity, values, and belonging