“Faces that are visible, voices who are vocal, will prove that recovery is valuable, and that is how we will be victorious!” - Maryanne Frangules of MOAR Maryanne Frangules has decades of experience as a recovery community advocate and community recovery capital builder. I have long thought about doing an interview with Maryanne Frangules. I … Continue reading An Interview with Maryanne Frangules of the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery (MOAR)
Tag: Recovery
A War on Recovery?
STAT just ran another article in its "War on Recovery" series and continues its narrative of casting recovering people in Narcotics Anonymous and non-agonist recovery pathways as the villains. There's an important story undergirding this article (and the previous article attacking recovering people in NA) -- that there are important gaps in social support for … Continue reading A War on Recovery?
The Hollow Villain: How Stigma Distracts Us from Action
In the world of addiction, “stigma” often gets cast as the ultimate villain—the big bad wolf of public health narratives. It’s the term we throw around when we talk about shame, isolation, and the barriers people face when seeking treatment. The problem with the term stigma is that it's broad and elusive, seeming to apply … Continue reading The Hollow Villain: How Stigma Distracts Us from Action
Societal Hikikomori and the Importance of Bridging Community Capital
“I know of a place, where you never get harmed. A magical place, with magical charms. Indoors! Indoors! Indoors!” —SpongeBob SquarePants Physical isolation is increasingly becoming a common way that people cope with challenges in our society. Hikikomori is a Japanese term that describes a condition where a person, typically a young adult is socially … Continue reading Societal Hikikomori and the Importance of Bridging Community Capital
Once Bitten Twice Shy – the Recovery Community and the False Promise of Harmless Drugs
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” ― Noel Langley, The Wizard of Oz Screenplay On March, 18th, 1898, Heroin was introduced to the world as a cough suppressant by its maker, Friedrich Bayer & Co, now known principally as a producer of Aspirin. Bayer marketed Heroin as a cough suppressant with weaker narcotic properties … Continue reading Once Bitten Twice Shy – the Recovery Community and the False Promise of Harmless Drugs
The Risks of Public Recovery Storytelling (Bill White, Bill Stauffer, and Danielle Tarino)
The first blog in this series explored the value and limitations of recovery storytelling as an anti-stigma strategy. We suggested that public storytelling is best wedded to larger recovery community inclusive strategies that move beyond the goal of changing personal attitudes to the larger goal of dismantling the institutional machinery that perpetuates stigma and discrimination. … Continue reading The Risks of Public Recovery Storytelling (Bill White, Bill Stauffer, and Danielle Tarino)
Is it harmful to frame addiction as a disease?
Yesterday's post discussed a response to a guide intended to facilitate the protection of people with lived experience when sharing their personal stories. Activism for the rights of people who use drugs and models of recovery that include ongoing AOD use increasingly destabilizes our understandings of the nature of addiction and its solutions, often seeking … Continue reading Is it harmful to frame addiction as a disease?
Guidelines for publicly sharing addiction recovery stories: protecting, paternalism, or gatekeeping?
Several months ago, the National Council for Mental Wellbeing (NCMW) posted their Protecting Individuals with Lived Experience in Public Disclosure Guide. They describe it as a tool for self-evaluation allowing individuals and organizations to assess the risks to people publicly sharing addiction and recovery stories. I've seen little attention to this topic, but I welcome … Continue reading Guidelines for publicly sharing addiction recovery stories: protecting, paternalism, or gatekeeping?
Constructive Feedback and thoughts on the SAMHSA Unified Client-Level Performance Reporting Tool (SUPRT)
As posted in the Federal Register in early September, The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is the agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that leads public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation. SAMHSA is seeking approval for the new SAMHSA Unified Client-level Performance Reporting … Continue reading Constructive Feedback and thoughts on the SAMHSA Unified Client-Level Performance Reporting Tool (SUPRT)
Nora Volkow on More Realistic And Pragmatic Addiction Treatment
(This post was originally published on 2/6/2022) Source: NIDA There is and can be no ultimate solution for us to discover, but instead a permanent need for balancing contradictory claims, for careful trade-offs between conflicting values, toleration of difference, consideration of the specific factors at play when a choice is needed, not reliance on an … Continue reading Nora Volkow on More Realistic And Pragmatic Addiction Treatment