New Seminal Monograph from William L White

I'm back after a period of looking after my three youngest children during their summer visit - and a period of recovery!

I have just received notification from William L White of his new publication, 'Recovery Management and Recovery-Oriented Systems of Care: Scientific Rationale and Promising Practices', that has just gone to press and can be downloaded from the Faces and Voices of Recovery website. As pointed out by Arthur C. Evans in his Prologue, this monograph will be regarded as a seminal work in the addictions treatment literature, as it is the most comprehensive attempt to lay out the empirical support for moving to recovery-oriented systems of care.

In America, there is a major shift in thinking about how we must help people overcome serious substance use problems. There is a shift away from focusing on the problem (addiction) to focusing on the lived solution (long-term addiction recovery). There is also 'a shift away from crisis-oriented, professionally directed, acute-care approach with its emphasis on isolated treatment episodes, to a recovery management approach that provides long-term supports and recognizes the many pathways to healing.' 

This approach is key to society improving long-term outcomes of addiction treatment. We in the UK have no option but to follow the approach being adopted in America. Our overall success as a nation in helping people overcome serious substance use problems and find recovery has been disappointing over recent years, despite a significant investment in funding from government. 

Whilst a shift to a recovery-oriented system of care represents a major challenge for this country, we are very fortunate in being able to read the writings of Bill White and implement the changes that are being advocated. White is providing a framework that can be used to guide the planning of policy makers and help them understand the key issues that must be addressed.   

I urge people working in this field to read this seminal monograph! There is a lot to take in and think about, but the people suffering from substance use problems deserve us devoting the attention that is needed.

The Upcoming Wired In Online Recovery Community: An Update on Progress

I was thrilled on Friday to receive an email from Nathan Pitman of Nine Four to say that I can start loading content onto our new website, which will be located at www.wiredin.org.uk. He has completed a good deal of work on our content management system. 

This doesn't mean that the website will be ready for viewing in the near future, as we have lots of content to load and much testing to do. However, it will be ready sometime in the autumn. Some of our close colleagues will be getting an earlier sneak preview and helping us trouble shoot.

The new website will be an online recovery community, a place where people can meet and interact, learn about recovery and addiction, contribute content, and help others. We will be offering personal web pages where you can show your personal profile, write a Blog, and get involved in other activities. The best of the material generated by our community members will be highlighted on one of three channel pages - Users/Ex-Users, Families and Practitioners - and on Daily Dose. We will be using a variety of social networking tools to get more people involved from around the world.

I am so excited as I have been dreaming about this online community ever since I first read Amy Jo Kim's excellent book on web communities seven years. Have tried to get funding to set up and maintain a community in the past, but no such luck.

There is no doubt that this web community can be very special, helping people affected by substance use problems and acting as a recovery advocacy centre to improve and widen the understanding of recovery and addiction in society. However, its success will depend on you!

Nathan will be posting sneak previews of the site on our Flickr pages. I have also attached a short video on recovery from our recently set up vimeo channel. 

If you want to be informed of our latest news, you can sign up to an RSS feed on the right side of this Blog.

PS. I should point that whilst I have some money to fund the initial development of this online community, I need to raise a good deal of funding to keep it maintained. I start making approaches to potential sponsors or other funders when my children finish their holiday visit with me in a few weeks time. Wish me luck!!

Watch Mike Ashton talking about addiction and recovery

I recently watched some film clips of Mike Ashton, a leading researcher taking part in the Lifeline film series, which re-emphasised to me the unjust way that society treats people with a drug problem. And helps exacerbate the drug problem. I can strongly recommend a quick look at Mike's film clips.

In society today, we have a climate that works against people overcoming drug use problems. We stigmatise people with a drug problem, in particular those who use heroin. We criminalise users and make it more difficult for them to find social support, housing and a job. We make it more difficult for them to access treatment by placing the treatment system within the criminal justice system - many users feel they will be stigmatised by accessing this system. The leader of the National Treatment Agency even tells problematic drug users that the only reason the government is interested in helping them is because heroin users are a threat to society because of the crime they commit.

People with a drug problem are often told that they have a chronic relapsing condition (addiction) and given little hope that they can overcome their problem. The social capital that they require to help them on the path to recovery has often been stripped away - as a society we contribute to this stripping away, and do not help alleviate the situation as much as we could.

People with drug and alcohol problems need to help themselves in finding their path to recovery. However, it is very much easier for them to do this when they have the understanding and support of people close to them and in the wider community.