In the first two posts of this series, I described the origin and then the early evolution of what we call the Recovery Alliance Initiative.  I encourage you to go back and read those installments before you read this one on the expansion and clarification of our model and methods.  Through our many conversations and … Continue reading The Recovery Alliance Initiative – Expansion and Clarification

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

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

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com To what extent does this tendency influence discussions around addiction and drug policy -- elevating counterintuitive and novel ideas? “Human attention is drawn to novelty, to things that are new and unexpected,” says Aral. “We gain in status when we share novel information because it looks like we're in the … Continue reading Sentences to ponder

Persons like me in long term recovery can face horrible treatment if it becomes known we have had a substance use disorder. This is particularly true when we may need controlled substances as part of our legitimate medical care. There are now algorithms being used to scan our personal and medical data to see if … Continue reading The Algorithm of Medical Care Discrimination

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 24, 2022. Mike said the new address for Bill's content is: https://www.chestnut.org/william-white-papers/ and that users navigating to the previous web address … Continue reading Bill White’s website has moved

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

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 from 2003, the toughest job you'll ever love: A Pacific Northwest Treatment Workforce Survey. It identified turnover … Continue reading Loss of Institutional Knowledge – a Critical Tipping Point in the SUD Workforce Crisis

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