The new administration released a Statement of Drug Policy Priorities last week. What's in the White House Statement of Drug Policy Priorities? It's not a long document -- just a few pages, and it identifies 6 priorities listed below. I've also called out specific references to treatment, prevention, harm reduction, and research. Reduce the Number … Continue reading Understanding the Trump Administration’s Drug Policy Changes
5 Year Management Severe SUD FINALDownload I had always assumed that well before now someone would have compiled and consolidated some of the later-arriving recovery-oriented academic research findings into a framework suitable for clinical implementation. If such work has been completed, I have not seen it. Now, having waited longer than I had hoped, I … Continue reading 5 Year Continuing Care System for High Severity, Complexity, and Chronicity SUD’s: Clinical Targets, Methods, and Increments of Time
Bill and I wrote this in 2020, it is verbatim below. Recently I have been reflecting on the risks of the limelight and the quest for notoriety that can befall us. Consequences experienced systemically when we fail to create an ethos grounded in custodial leadership. What occurs when our focus is on not on taking … Continue reading Revisiting William White: We Need More Recovery Custodians and Fewer Recovery Rock Stars (2020)
https://www.instagram.com/p/DEsF433RQhg/ What does a recovery-friendly workplace look like? Phillis Engelbert provides an amazing example with her restaurants, the Lunch Room, Detroit Filling Station, and North Star Lounge. My recovery staff are filled with heart and soul and operate in a way that exemplifies community, camaraderie, and accountability. Together in a fight for their lives, they … Continue reading What does a recovery-friendly workplace look like?
“The look which the doctor gave me simply set me back on my heels. My hand remained untaken...Then I realized with a shock that this was not a meeting of two gentlemen on a plane of equality. In the eyes of the man before me, I was just another insane patient” - Marle Woodson 1933 … Continue reading Revisiting William White: A History of Contempt: Countertransference and the Dangers of Service Integration
The Wall Street Journal recently ran a commentary arguing that "Not Everything is Healthcare." Health insurers like UnitedHealthcare, Centene and Humana have devoted billions of dollars in the past decade to building new “affordable housing.” They’re also spending heavily on nutrition programs and local community resources. No, the insurance industry hasn’t suddenly begun emphasizing philanthropy over profit. Rather, it … Continue reading SDOH and Recovery Capital: Of Course Everything Isn’t Healthcare
“I was recruited by the field to address a shadow side of the organizational life of addiction treatment programs. As I responded to these calls, it became quickly apparent that something far more universal was afoot than the aberration of organizational life of addiction programs” – William White, Recovery Rising pg. 233 In 1989, John … Continue reading Revisiting the Work of William White: Sick Systems in Treatment Interview with John DuCane 1989
The last few months have been pretty distressing for those of us who care about people with addiction, their access to treatment, as well as the welfare of their families and communities. There are credible threats to cut Medicaid funding, which is estimated to fund 30-40% of all substance use disorder treatment in the US. … Continue reading Addiction care system under threat and more vulnerable due to low institutional trust
This foundational paper can be found in various places. Currently, the most convenient place to find the paper is the archive of Bill's materials at the Lighthouse website. As of today, this link does work for free access to the full paper, from the new location archiving his papers. (The section of their website containing … Continue reading Revisiting the Work of William White. “Alcoholism/Addiction as a Chronic Disease: From Rhetoric to Clinical Reality”
A few weeks ago on February 27th, Melody Beattie died at age 76. For those who may not know the name, she was an author and wrote a best-selling book called Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself. It may be hard for readers in our current era to … Continue reading Codependency A Helpful Concept Turned Toxic: A Lesson from Our Own History
Recovery Review 