Just over four years ago, in the first weeks of the great pandemic isolation of March, 2020, I wrote Let’s focus the recovery community on hope, connection, and purpose. In those first days, it was clear that recovery community could do a great deal to save lives and build community resilience in that most uncertain … Continue reading The Keel of the New Recovery Advocacy Movement: Our Steering Concepts

Recently, while doing some reading, I came across the phrase, “…the patient’s unknown goal…” To me, that phrase is splendid for a number of reasons.  And it’s sent me reeling in my thinking across a variety of topics.  Noah Grossenbbacher, Unsplash In this post I’ll list a couple of those topics, and some of my … Continue reading “The patient’s unknown goal”

Presenting the words of one of our most respected recovery thought leaders at this historic gathering One morning in mid-February, William White called me. We have had a number of such conversations in recent years. They are always deeply meaningful to me. He noted over the course of the dialogue that he has fully stepped … Continue reading William White’s Opening Keynote to the Inaugural National Conference on Addiction Recovery Science: 

Repost from May 2022. Two years later, where are we in respect to the critical tipping point? Our substance use care system workforce has long faced very high turnover rates. One of the studies from years ago that always stuck with me as framing out the challenges and value of working in our field, was … Continue reading Loss of Institutional Knowledge – a Critical Tipping Point in the SUD Workforce Crisis

“I know of no class of people who have been so victimized by the quack as the inebriate” – Quote from Slaying the Dragon, William White William White over the course of decades has documented some of our most noble efforts to expand recovery across America and our lowest lows in how people with substance … Continue reading Addiction & Recovery Capitalist – Hustlers Hawking Drugs, Hucksters Selling Recovery

At this stage of my career, it seems to me that “Addiction Counseling” is one thing made from the following four essential ingredients:  listening with the “third ear”; those unique competencies and skills that are particular to the professional addiction counselor; the competencies and skills particular to the recovery coach; and finally, the qualities of … Continue reading What is Addiction Counseling?

"I think once I made up my mind that I was allergic to alcohol, and that’s what I learned, it made sense to me. And I think it was kind of pointed out that you know if you were allergic to strawberries, you wouldn’t eat strawberries. And that made sense to me.” — Betty Ford … Continue reading Recovery Representation – The First Lady of Recovery Advocacy Stamp Reveal, April 5th, 2024