December 17th, 2020 He who shows himself at every place will someday look for a place to hide. –African Proverb Earlier blogs in this series explored the benefits and limitations of public recovery disclosure, the potential risks to multiple parties involved in such disclosure, and the ethics of recovery disclosure. In this final blog in … Continue reading Guidelines for Personal Safety and Public Recovery Self-Disclosure (Bill White, Bill Stauffer, and Danielle Tarino)

Ethics involves the application of moral principles to promote good and prevent harm. Ethical decision-making within our service and advocacy activities is an assessment of the ratio of potential benefits to potential harms in any course of action—with a particular emphasis on “first do no harm.” Such decision-making involves asking ourselves three questions. First, what … Continue reading The Ethics of Public Recovery Self-Disclosure (Bill White, Bill Stauffer, and Danielle Tarino)

December 3, 2020 A central goal of public recovery self-disclosure is to challenge myths and misconceptions about addiction and recovery through the elements of our personal stories. Recovery advocates must avoid contributing to false narratives by having selective parts of our stories appropriated while ignoring the central recovery message. Addiction/treatment/recovery-related social stigma and its untoward … Continue reading Pillars of Stigma and Recovery Storytelling (Bill White, Bill Stauffer, and Danielle Tarino)

A central strategy of the new recovery movement is sharing our stories in public and professional venues to change public perceptions and public policies related to addiction and recovery. Drawing from earlier social movements, we learned that “contact strategies”—increasing personal contact between marginalized and mainstream populations—is one of the most effective means of reducing stigma … Continue reading Personal Privacy and Public Recovery Advocacy (Bill White, Bill Stauffer, and Danielle Tarino)