One of the projects I am working on currently is to do interviews with people who attended the historic 2001 Recovery Summit in St. Paul, Minnesota. I am doing it to develop a deeper understanding of what was occurring at the time and how it all came together. The better we understand such things, the … Continue reading Many Pathways, One Cause
Some things worth knowing
Credit: istockphoto/GlobalIP, under license Here are some things/experiences that came onto my radar in the last week. I don’t think there’s much linking them, but some bits and pieces may be of interest to others. On mutual aid ‘Analyses reveal that membership of mutual aid groups is strongly associated with more participation and (self-reported) changes … Continue reading Some things worth knowing
Healing Moral Injury in our SUD Community & Care Service System
In late April, I wrote a piece on moral injury in our SUD care system. Moral injury, as identified in this Scientific American article is the psychic fallout of “morally injurious events, such as perpetrating, failing to prevent, or bearing witness to acts that transgress [one’s own] deeply held moral beliefs and expectations.” It would … Continue reading Healing Moral Injury in our SUD Community & Care Service System
“That’s some stupid s#!t”
I've avoided posting about Carl Hart's new book. Mostly because it seems likely to generate more heat than light and it strikes me as more likely to devolve into a battle in the culture wars rather than a serious science and policy exploration. This morning I decided to listen to an interview with him. Most … Continue reading “That’s some stupid s#!t”
Nothing to mourn; just a drug addict
A tweet from a colleague affected me this week. The subject was stigma in substance use disorders and he related how, at the funeral of a relative who had died very young from a heroin overdose, a family member callously slandered the dead man and skillfully ‘othered’ him. The message was ‘he was not at … Continue reading Nothing to mourn; just a drug addict
2001 St Paul Recovery Summit Blog Series – Article 2
David Whiters, PhD - Reflections on the historic 2001 Recovery Summit in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the start of the New Recovery Advocacy Movement Forward: In taking on this project to document individual accounts of the historic 2001 recovery summit in St Paul I began to ask around about who attended the summit and how … Continue reading 2001 St Paul Recovery Summit Blog Series – Article 2
Elements of recovery advocacy messaging
Credit: LarimdaME NAMI recently shared this profile of a woman living with schizoaffective disorder. They did a really nice job and it reminds me of addiction recovery advocacy and stigma reduction messaging circa 2000. It got me wondering which elements reminded me of that older brand of recovery advocacy. First, it frames Ashley as a … Continue reading Elements of recovery advocacy messaging
Sentences to ponder
“Drug abuse ceased to seem the preserve of a few eccentric or pathetic people and became a problem of national scope, with implications that touched American ideals. However imperfect, the new statistics indicated that many new drug abusers came from the ‘best elements’ of society. This discovery had important long-term results. It broke the stereotype … Continue reading Sentences to ponder
You’re all going to hate the word ‘recovery’.
One of the problems with an aspirational and non-prescriptive definition of recovery is that it is hard to measure. The definitions most commonly featured in the literature share some elements including wellbeing or health, abstinence and citizenship. Clearly if you can’t define it precisely, then it’s hard to commission services to deliver on it. In … Continue reading You’re all going to hate the word ‘recovery’.
Useless, yet full of urgency and importance
A friend shared this REALLY good post. It's a must-read for anyone working in the helping professions. I've written before about the importance of guarding against stealing pleasure through vicarious nonconformity and transgression. I've always struggled with conceptualizing and articulating this clearly, but Joe Wright, MD very clearly captures a very important dynamic for anyone … Continue reading Useless, yet full of urgency and importance
Recovery Review 