My personal experience with addiction ~ my journey into recovery from drugs and alcohol guide me and my team.

I would like to think that other treatment providers and those in this industry have their clients best interest in mind when treating, housing and advising people in early recovery. In the 10 years that I have spent preparing for this day, I have seen myself and others in the field of addiction recovery grow and find that we are not in control. Not in control of anything but ourselves.

The person sitting in front of you is at an impasse that is not always fully recognizable to many ‘providers’. It has always been a hard thing to witness when the person sitting in front of you is sitting in front of you. We tend to rationalize and internalize that which is obvious to people suffering from SUD. What I am trying to say is that most of us want to help, but are truly not listening and understanding the client. Put yourself in their shoes, live and learn from the person instead of wanting to jump in and swim without knowing why you are swimming.

Here’s a good way of stating this-What is it that stops a person from wanting a better life? What is a better life and why are we wanting to make it better for the person weeping in your office.

The best advice I could give a provider, an addict or anyone is open your to truly open your ears, open your mind, and open your heart. Once you have dropped all of the bullshit and stigmas we all have, we can begin to paint with broader, more defined strokes.

~The Effects of Covid-19 while opening a new recovery house~

We at El Rancho De La Vida are doing our very best as we try attract new clients to our new beautiful facility in central Maine. We are here to offer a safe place to get well and to recover from addictions with grace and dignity. That being said, we are all coming out of a 2 month quarantine while addictions never sleep…

It has truly been a mind bending couple of months for us at the ranch-as we have been working very hard to furnish and design our recovery house. While we implement policy and procedure, stock food and assemble all of the working parts. There is no written manual for what we are trying to do, while remaining true to our values, vision and mission.

~To say nothing of how inept banks, lenders, politicians and others which hold power over money have treated us. We have not been persuaded to give up and we will never give up, but at times it has been impossibly and indescribably challenging these past 2 months has been for all of us at the ranch~

We are starting to see daylight now as the SBA loans have started to trickle in while we have now onboarded our first couple. Great things are happening in this little corner of the world and we are moving towards the light.

Have faith and things will get better-Peace

Notes from The Ranch~Interesting Times for people with addictions-What will happen once we open again.

It is a very strange time in the history of human existence. All of us in lockdown – All of us on the entire planet are complying with a stay at home rule that has never ever happened before – ever. There has never been a time like what we are going through right now.
Lately, as a new co-founder and Exec. director of a brand new recovery house, we have come up against the Covid-19 wall. Again, we just opened on April 1st, 2020. We are located in Northern Maine, in a very secluded and wonderful environment to recover from addictions.I have been thinking about the state of play for people staying at home.
What really scares me at this moment everyone (or most people) are home and I am guessing that their addictions are not getting any better. What will happen to these folks when we come out of self-quarantine? Will folks be able to dry out, will they want to get better. As you may not know, treatment centers around Maine (The entire country) are not taking any new clients and most are closed and doing some tele-health. We have struggled to open here. We are ready and here we sit, while folks needing a safe place to recover are not getting in.
I wonder and I worry as how will this thing end. It is time to at least wonder about folks sitting at home, doing what they need to do until the country is open again.

October 24, 2019- Bill White THE CREATION OF AA AND ITS ICONIC TEXT

Considerable research has been done on the birth and early evolution of A.A. since Not-God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous by Harvard-trained historian Ernie Kurtz was published in 1979. Ernie was subsequently encouraged and enthralled by each new historical discovery about A.A. but remained in the final years of his life disappointed that no one had since published a scholarly update of A.A.’s birth and continued evolution. If Ernie was still with us, he would be the first to congratulate William H. Schaberg on the publication of Writing the Big Book: The Creation of A.A.

Recent decades have witnessed growing interest in the history of Alcoholics Anonymous, with both professionals and amateurs (e.g., members of AA History Lovers) making important discoveries. Numerous biographical works on early A.A. figures include Bill Wilson, Lois Wilson, Dr. Bob, Anne Smith, Dr. William Silkworth, Clarence Snyder, Marty Mann, Sister Ignatia, Nell Wing, and Fr. Ed Dowling. Equally important works on the history and experience of particular groups within A.A. have been published, most notably Glen C.’s Heroes of Early Black AA, Jolene Sanders’ Women in Alcoholics Anonymous, Roger C.’s A History of Agnostics in AA, and Audrey Borden’s The History of Gay People in Alcoholics Anonymous. But until publication of Writing the Big Book, there has been no scholarly history of early AA with the academic rigor or quality of storytelling found in Not-God.

Comparisons between Writing the Big Book and Not-God are apt as Schaberg follows the major admonitions Ernie Kurtz shared with so many of us about how to do exemplary historical research and writing. Schaberg tells the story of early AA chronologically so that we as readers retain a clear sense of sequence and how each event flowed from what preceded it and influenced what followed, and he identifies crucial events and decisions that defy such orderly sequence. He tells the story in context so that we as readers understand the cultural and organizational atmosphere in which key decisions were made. Like Kurtz, Schaberg provides us with all the evidentiary sources that help separate fact from widely-promulgated myths about A.A.’s birth and early evolution. His liberal use of excerpts from primary sources is crucial as many of the contemporary documents challenge popular origin myths about A.A. Schaberg tells the A.A. story from multiple personal and localized (e.g., Akron, New York, and Cleveland) perspectives, clearly identifying what we know and the mysteries that remain pending the discovery of new evidence. Finally, Schaberg defies the “history is boring” trope by detailing a most fascinating story that keeps the reader—even the informed reader—wanting to keep turning pages to find out what happens next. There are some surprises in these pages!

The early history of A.A. as first outlined in 1979 in Not-God has now been skillfully and eloquently updated. What remains is a new scholarly history that documents the ongoing evolution of A.A. over the last five decades—a history every bit as complex and engaging as A.A.’s birth and early years, but a story that remains untold. Researching more recent decades and A.A.’s history as it is now unfolding is as great a challenge as that faced by Kurtz and Shaberg. Perhaps someone reading Writing the Big Book will have the commitment, skill, and persistence to research and share this still-unfolding story. I hope so, as the future of A.A. may well rest with understanding these later years of A.A. William H. Schaberg has performed a great service by placing Writing the Big Book—The Creation of A.A. in our hands. The remaining question is how A.A. has adapted and evolved since its founding decades. It will be up to future historians to reveal the continuing history of A.A. and the larger history of addiction recovery.

Writing of the Big Book: The Creation of A.A. will be released on November 5, 2019.

Post Date October 24, 2019 by Bill White

Bill White RECOVERY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION LEADERSHIP-October 3, 2019

For more than a decade, I have regularly corresponded with Mr. Hossein Dezhakam (HD), founder of the Congress 60 recovery community within the Islamic Republic of Iran, on the subject of addiction recovery and the challenges faced by leaders of recovery community organizations (RCOs). A recent increase in questions posed to me about RCO leadership has prompted me to review my past communications with Mr. Dezhakam (HD) and my earlier writings on this subject. Below are excerpts from these communications (used with permission) and my own writings (WW) that I hope will be of interest to my readers.

On Unique Leadership demands of RCOs

A leader in other organizations leads through thoughts; however, a recovery leader must rule the hearts. In other words, management of other organizations can make changes by issuing edicts, raising salaries, or through discipline, but a recovery leader must communicate with affection within and without. Such a leader must be able to turn enemies into friends. A wise person is constantly changing enemies into friends and an ignorant person is in the business of making enemies. (HD)

Mr. Dezhakam’s observation about leading from the heart reminded me of the following observation of Van Jones in his book Beyond the Messy Truth: “You can’t lead people you don’t love. You can’t rally people you don’t respect.”

Messiness of Movements; Leadership Vulnerability

Movements, including recovery movements, are about struggle, which means they are not for the faint of heart. Movements are turbulent, messy, unpredictable and, at times, very primitive. Movements can magnify the best and worst in us. We went through such messiness in the early days of the new recovery advocacy movement—rampant paranoia about which person and organization would lead the movement, underground gossip rather than direct communication, fears of secret deals being made, and the scapegoating of early leaders. I think these processes are endemic to all important social movements, but they can get magnified in a community of recovering people or in other historically disempowered groups. It’s a form of historical trauma that gets acted out in our intragroup relations. That’s why nearly all of the recovery mutual aid organizations before AA self-destructed, as did many of their leaders. It wasn’t from the lack of a personal recovery program; it was their failure to find principles that could rein in these destructive group processes. (WW)

Vulnerability of Recovery Advocacy Leaders

Such [leadership] roles can bring deep fulfillment, but they also come with hidden risks. Vulnerability may be an aspect of all leadership roles, but this may be particularly pronounced in organizations organized by and on behalf of persons from historically disempowered groups. I recall one of my friends once noting of the civil rights organizations in which he was involved, “We don’t elect leaders; we elect victims.” He was referring to the tendency of these organizations to scapegoat their leaders while the leaders are living only to later reify them–often after their deaths. Within any stigmatized group, we want our leaders to excel—to model the best of what we can be. And yet the shadows of shame and inferiority buried inside us get projected onto our leaders in the form of doubt, criticism and attack. (WW)

It is the awareness that standing by the hundreds and thousands reduces the enormous vulnerability that comes from standing in isolation to confront stigma and its multiple manifestations. Put simply, it is not safe for us to stand alone. Attention can make the most stable recovery tremble. The glare of the camera and the beckoning microphone can be as intoxicating as any drug. Like Icarus flying too close to the sun, we are doomed in the face of such self-absorption—whether from overwhelming feelings of unworthiness or, perhaps worse, from the feeling that we are the most worthy. It is only when we speak from a position of WE that safety and protection of the larger cause is assured. When asked, “Who is your leader?” we should declare that we are without leaders or that we are all leaders. (WW)

The risk is the virus which can penetrate the recovery leader. This virus is deviation from the original recovery path. What I am trying to convey, is that a leader must have proper capabilities and capacity. Avery poor person who receives a huge amount of money in an instant may lack the capacity to adapt to that money or fame and can be easily destroyed. This is exactly why AA and NA recovery leaders warned the next generations that they must avoid some issues to be safe. I have known recovery leaders who were so kind, humble, and spiritual. They were always with their people but once they became famous, they changed! People couldn’t meet them easily anymore, they hired secretaries and it wasn’t easy to have meetings with them. They asked a lot of money for their time, and at last they hurt their group. They steered their group to darkness. (HD)

RCO Leadership Qualities

Leaders must have minimal defects of character so that they can be duplicated. A flawed leader will only duplicate bad models. Worldview [personal values and philosophy] must be the strong suit of recovery leaders so that they can identify and fix their defects. They must sustain their health and be on sound financial footing. (HD)

Working within recovery service roles does not require complete perfection. If it did, none of us would qualify. But it does require reasonable congruity between the message and the life of the messenger. The leader must by definition be a recovery carrier—a person who makes recovery contagious by the quality of their character, relationships and service. (WW)

Leaders of a recovery community must model the service ethic or belief that is at the heart of such communities. It is a prevailing belief within Congress 60 that: Others planted and we ate; we must plant so others could be fed. This is a figure of speech of course and it means that others helped us to gain our health and we must serve others on a voluntary basis too. That begins with the actions of the leader. (HD)

A leader must have a long-term vision. A wise man once said: if you are looking to get results within three months, then plant greens, tomato, or watermelon. if you are looking for results in one year, then grow sheep. If you are looking to get results within 10 years, then plant a tree. However, if you are planning to educate a human, then plan for a 100 years. Therefore, our jobs requires a long time and is continuous. We will hit challenges and obstacles along the way for sure. But eventually success will embrace us in the end. (HD)

Ethical Leadership

Recovery leaders must be spiritual leaders as well. Thus, ethics play a unique role in a recovery leader. In my opinion, a recovery leader must not hunger! A hungry ego is incorrigible. A person could be poor but not hunger (desiring more and more) at the same time. Beware of those whom hungry eyes! They will never get satisfied! They have eaten all the foods and they are dying of fullness! Still they are looking for more to eat! They are like someone who has stopped smoking heroin 20 years ago, but for the past 20 years their thoughts and eyes have been fixed on heroin. After 20 years of sobriety they still dream about Heroin! They suffer from a hungry ego. (HD)

On Value and Dangers of Charisma

Charismatic leadership functions in a way that people listen to the leader out of deep trust. This type of leadership can lead to a faster pace in terms of getting jobs done. It can prevent debates and divisions, and people will give up many things upon the request of the leader. As for the risks, if people chose the leader wisely this type of leadership will produce great results, however, if a bad person with charisma is chose then the results will be devastating and destructive. We can see this type of bad choosing in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or companies or even countries, take Adolf Hitler for instance. (HD)

Charisma is a blessing and a curse to recovery mutual aid and recovery advocacy movements. It is something of a paradox that such movements often cannot survive their infancy without charismatic leaders, but cannot reach maturity without transcending charismatic styles of leadership. Alternatives to cult-like leaders require concerted leadership development efforts and the progressive decentralization of decision-making throughout the organization. This does not mean that we have to challenge and extrude our charismatic figures to achieve maturity, but it does mean that we have to help such figures redefine their roles and relationships—in short, to join the movement as members. When that doesn’t happen, the organization/movement moves towards incestuous closure and the risk of eventual implosion (WW).

RCO Leadership Development

A recovery leader is often one who never thought about becoming a leader when he started the work, but he ends leading. Recovery leaders must gurgle like a spring. They must contemplate deeply while taking benefit of consulting with others. They must utilize elders for legislation, just like Congress 60’s watchman which consists of 14 elders. Then the leader must take an approach in which all the members get familiar with these elders and respect them. In return, the elders must treat people with affection and honesty. Therefore, in absence of leader (illness or even death) this counsel can take control. The leader also can choose an individual out of this counsel to take the leadership role in case of his absence. (HD)

I believe a non-governmental organization (NGO) must be planned somehow to engage all members in related activities. It should not be up to few people to plan and execute everything. That’s why all members of Congress 60 are active in a special group, and these groups are called legions. For instance: treatment legions, musical legions, tree planting legions, Marzban legions, cleaning legions, cyber legions, and financial legions. (HD)

On Financial Sustainability

In each branch, those who are financially gifted (travelers or companions) can take part in financial legions with payment annually. Their task will be to plan for receiving donations from members of that very branch. The members of each financial legion are 10 to 50 members for each branch. The gathered donations will be allocated as below: 80 % of it will be allocated to the same branch and the rest will be sent to central office in Tehran (just like Federal system), and this 20% will be allocated to research or helping other branches. As you can see, in our system it is not only up to me or few others to think about financial status. We have hundreds of other members whose job is to fix the budget of branches. We have many members within Congress 60 with more than 15 years of recovery, many have achieved financial status and therefore they are helping Congress 60. (HD)

On Leadership Transition

Perhaps the greatest of such challenges is the transition in leadership between the founders of recovery advocacy organizations and the second generation. That is always a litmus test of viability, just as it is in recovery mutual aid societies. Organizations and larger movements that are successful find ways to decentralize leadership through structures that provide for leadership development and rituals that facilitate regular succession. Even under the best circumstances, these transitions can be difficult for the organization and for the individuals involved….The movement itself is best conceptualized as a marathon run as a relay—people engaging and disengaging as needed over a prolonged period of time. Many people will come and go or return at particular times in the life of the movement, while others will be part of the daily struggles of the movement for the duration. That’s just the way social movements are; this is not to say one style is superior to another. I am a great admirer of endurance and tenacity, but movements also need those who help in short bursts. (WW)

On Recovery Community Organization Sustainability

A.A. found creative solutions to the forces that had limited or destroyed its predecessors. Through the principles imbedded in its Twelve Traditions, A.A. forged solutions to the pitfalls of charismatic and centralized leadership, mission diversion, colonization by other organizations, ideological extremism and schisms, professionalization, commercialization, and relationships with other organizations and the media. A.A. created a historically unique organizational structure (a blend of anarchy and radical democracy relying on rotating leadership, group conscience, intentional corporate poverty, etc.) that even its most devoted early professional allies believed could not work. That structure and those principles have protected A.A. and offer a case study in organizational resilience. (WW)

On Non-affiliation

Supporting other political or religious groups is a devastating mistake which is like an earthquake for a recovery organization. For instance: if the leader of recovery organization is in favor of blue color then the fans of red color will be against him and vice versa. We need to be friends with blue and red or in other words with all regardless of political or religious views or other ways humans divide themselves. The obligation of a non-governmental organization (NGO) is to help people without taking sides. We have achieved this goal within Congress 60 and it is a source of our strength. All sides and groups respect Congress 60. (HD)

Recovery leaders must maintain balance in all of their communications within and without the recovery organization. Their distance with outside and inside entities must be kept exactly just like the distance between earth and sun. If our planet gets too close to sun, we will burn, and we will freeze to death if the reverse happens. Recovery leader must plan in a way to be independent. They must not be financially dependent to governments or other organizations. (HD)

On Evaluating Effectiveness of Recovery Community Organizations

The prime capital of a business organizations is money. Everything is measured by the amount of money. In a recovery community the capital is in terms of sociality. To measure sociality, we must pay attention to:

A: The increased rate of the NGO members annually! If a recovery community performs well then the rate of members must increase fast. For instance, during last year about 10,000 individuals were added to Congress 60’s members.

B: The occupational, financial, educational and social status of the members.

For instance; when we decide to start a new building for Congress 60, since we have all sorts of people with different occupations within Congress 60, this is what happens.

One person donates bricks, another donates plaster, or girder. One takes care of electricity, and another handles the paper work or the administrative process. The sum of these things constitutes the sociality of a NGO.

C: The popularity of the NGO in social media like newspapers, radio, TV, seminars, universities, public, etc.

D: And last but not the least is the effectiveness of that very NGO in its own field using measurable recovery benchmarks. (HD)

Photo: Mr. Hossein Dezhakam Addressing the 2017 International Addiction Science Symposium

Of Related Interest:

Hill, T. (2005). Commonstrength: Building leaders, transforming recovery. Published by Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership 2006.

Post Date October 3, 2019 by Bill White

June 20, 2019- Bill White RECOVERY ATTEMPTS: NEW DATA AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS (BILL WHITE AND JOHN KELLY)

What is the number of serious attempts required to achieve stable resolution of a significant alcohol or other drug (AOD) problem? Previous studies of addiction treatment populations suggest prolonged addiction careers, and a substantial proportion (over half) of people in the United States admitted to addiction treatment indicate one or more prior treatment admissions. These reports stand as justification for the characterization of addiction as a “chronic relapsing” disorder. Such clinical studies, however, may not be representative of the larger pool of people experiencing AOD-related problems.

Convenience studies of community populations of “people in recovery” reveal a different profile. A recent Canadian study found that more than half of those surveyed reported no problem recurrence after the first initial recovery attempt, and that only 15% of those surveyed required six or more attempts prior to achieve stable recovery. But it has been unclear whether such convenience samples accurately represent the experience of all people who have resolved AOD problems, including those who do not embrace a recovery identity.

Having normative information about recovery attempts prior to successful AOD problem resolution is critically important to the individuals and families affected by such problems, to the multiple professionals and institutions seeking to help such individuals and families, and to drug and health care policy makers. A newly published study by Dr. John Kelly and colleagues provides the first available data on recovery attempts based on a national representative sample of people who have resolved a significant AOD problem. Findings and implications of this landmark study include the following.

In contrast to public and professional perception, the number of recovery attempts to achieve stable resolution of an AOD problem is actually surprisingly low, with most people surveyed achieving resolution within the range of 1-2 attempts. The range of time in recovery within the study sample was from a few months to 40+ years and it may be likely – particularly for those in the early phases of recovery – that there could be further AOD problem recurrence and thus additional recovery attempts made that could add to the estimated tally of serious recovery attempts. The researchers found that those with more stable recovery (5+yrs) were no different than those in the first 5 years of recovery – for both groups of individuals the median number remained at 2 and the mean was still just over 5.
A greater number of recovery attempts is associated with greater problem severity and complexity, to include a history of mood and anxiety disorders, past history of treatment services and mutual help group participation, greater social isolation, and/or higher levels of current psychological distress. While this pattern of high problem severity, complexity, and chronicity is seen as the norm, most people with AOD problems do not experience this pattern.
Interestingly, the number of recovery attempts to resolve AOD problems is far lower than the number of attempts required to successfully stop smoking—the latter ranging from 6-30 attempts depending on the study methodology (Chaiton, et al., 2016).
The difference between the mean (average) recovery attempts (5.35 attempts) and the median (2 recovery attempts) indicates wide divergence in characteristics of those experiencing AOD problems and the presence of outliers with high problem severity and low recovery capital that require a much higher number of recovery attempts prior to successful problem resolution. Reporting average recovery attempts produces a distorted representation of the intractability of AOD problems, whereas reporting the median conveys more positive expectations for problem resolution.
“…a treatment system designed around the mean clinical profile would have 2 unforeseen consequences: overtreating those persons with lower severity patterns and high recovery capital and undertreating those with high problem severity patterns but minimal recovery capital.” (Kelly, et al., 2019)
The characterization of all AOD problems as a “chronically relapsing disease” erroneously conveys an image of endless recovery attempts with limited likelihood of success when, in fact, successful recovery with a low number of attempts may well be the norm with the pattern of prolonged “chronic relapse” the exception to this more positive general rule.
Data from the Kelly study should spur optimism among people seeking resolution of low to moderate AOD problems, their families, and their service providers. The study also encourages persistence and possibility among those with the most severe and complex problems. Recovery is possible in both circumstances though with varying levels of effort.

Future reports on recovery attempts and reported treatment history should report both the mean and median of such episodes to assure that the prospects of problem resolution are not over or under estimated. AOD problems are not a single clinical entity and representing them as such may do great disservice to both those with the lowest and highest levels of problem severity.

References

Chaiton, M., Diemert, L., Cohen, J. E., Bondy, S. J., Selby, P., Philipneri, A., & Schwartz, R. (2016). Estimating the number of quit attempts it takes to quit smoking successfully in a longitudinal cohort of smokers. BMJ Open, 6:e011045.

Kelly, J. F., Greene, M. C., Bergman, B. G., White, W. L., & Hoeppner, R. B. (2019). How many recovery attempts does it take to successfully resolve a drug or alcohol problem? Estimates and correlates from a national representatives study of recovering U.S. adults. Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. May 15. doi: 10.1111/acer.14067. [Epub ahead of print]

Post Date June 20, 2019 by Bill White

REFLECTIONS ON LONG-TERM RECOVERY (GALEN TINDER AND BILL WHITE)-April 12, 2019-Bill White

Addiction recovery is far more than the removal of drugs from an otherwise unchanged life. Recent definitions of recovery transcend radical changes in the person-drug relationship and encompass enhanced global health and social functioning. The authors have carried on a decades-long interest in what has been christened full recovery or amplified recovery—a state of enhanced quality of life and personal character in long-term recovery. We each know individuals we believe have achieved such status and have asked ourselves what unique characteristics distinguish such persons. Here are some of our initial reflections on this question, offered here as an expression of gratitude to such people who have enriched our own lives.

They have been freed from the daily physical cravings (that insatiable itch) and distorted thinking that are at the heart of the addiction experience and that in the past rendered them uncomfortable within their own skin. The necessity to live life drug free has shifted from a perceived curse to a gift that one wears comfortably and humbly. Their recovery is no longer a struggle, but a set of favorite old clothes worn comfortably like a second skin.

They are not in the grip of non-substance cross-addictions such as gambling, sex, food, money, and control. (They also embrace smoking cessation and other acts of self-care within their personal understanding of recovery.) They may have tangled with one or more of these addictions earlier in their recovery career but typically somewhere between 10 and 15 years they were able to shake them. Some experience periodic temptation but they move through these periods, not through an assertion of will but by talking to other people about managing these shadow dimensions of personal character.

They are capable of achieving stable and emotionally rich relationships with partners, family members, friends, and colleagues. Their history of past relationships may be harrowing but they have now tamed the disruptive and self-destructive patterns of behavior that previously complicated their relations with others. Rifts in family relationships have been healed to the extent possible.

Regardless of whether they have pursued a secular, spiritual, or religious pathway of recovery, they continue to work an active program of recovery that includes self-inventory, honest acknowledgement of misdeeds, personal amends, and acts of service to others. In addition, they address with equal determination issues of resentment and the forgiveness of others who have harmed them.

Most reflect in their lives four qualities that are fundamental to a life of spiritual substance- humility, compassion, honesty, and gratitude.

They laugh regularly and deeply with rather than at people. They find joy and humor in the simple incongruities and absurdities encountered in daily life. The can offer healing laughter and a twinkle in the eyes as a balm to those in early recovery whose daily emotional dramas seem unceasing. Theirs is a healing laughter.

They are open-minded and inquisitive. They acknowledge that their own views and convictions may be mistaken or limited. They are thus eager to learn about the experiences and opinions of others and to expand their knowledge of the world. They have fully relinquished the distorted belief that the universe revolves around them. They listen more than they speak.

They give service to the community outside of their immediate recovery support network, usually on a volunteer basis. In addition, they are aware of the value to the larger society of maintaining a personal posture of openness, civility, and compassion. They view this posture as an act of needed service that, through its infectiousness, counter the poisonous tone of current social and political discourse.

They have worked through childhood traumas, one of the most tenacious causes of addiction recurrence. Working through does not mean putting it behind them (negating the suffering) but rather integrating the trauma experience in a manner that transmutes their suffering into compassion for themselves and others. It remains fresh, but not disabling, so that they can draw from it in helping others. In our observations, most of this trauma work occurs after five years of stable recovery.

For those achieving amplified recovery within a 12-Step program, most maintain meeting attendance of at least once a week. They usually have a sponsor and sponsor others. They periodically brush up on the steps, sometimes by facilitating step studies. At the same time, however, they are non-dogmatic about the program and take ample advantage of other aids to recovery such as psychodynamic therapy, CBT, yoga, meditation, the Buddhist grounded program of Refuge Recovery, and energy healing.

They recovered through living narratively—what some call living out loud. In the beginning, they told the story of their past, affirming that they did not want to return to their former way of life. Next, they began to contrast the present and past as they sought to construct a new identity centered in a new set of values. They became at ease talking about their experiences and their feelings—literally talking their way into a new more transparent existence, leaving behind their former duplicitous, self-absorbed, self-contained personage.

In the process of constructing a new identity, they faced the challenge of shame that is typically rooted in the past and revitalized by present events and relationships. Shame is the most potent impediment to recovery—the whisper that we are not worthy of recovery and the fruits it can bring. In tackling their shame, they discovered what Brene Brown found through her grounded theory research – shame is defeated by vulnerability, by developing exactly the wide-open stance toward the world that shame warns us against.

They have developed the capacity to listen closely and effectively to other people, and particularly to their pain. They are “wounded healers” who use their own survival to help others facing similar threats and opportunities. From a deep plunge into their own depths of agony, they emerged with new capacities for hope and love.

They have found meaning and purpose in their lives beyond themselves, one that evolves through an epiphany at the intersection of transcendence and communion. The nature of this transcendence varies greatly from formal religious faith to the sense that the universe vibrates with either love or hate, depending on what we humans project into it through our thoughts and deeds. They have committed themselves to healing themselves, their families, their communities, and, to the extent possible, the world, knowing that they will pursue this effort imperfectly but relentlessly and that profound meaning lies within that pursuit.

We have met some wonderful people through our recovery journeys—people who have lived full meaningful lives in recovery and exhibited exemplary qualities of character and styles of daily living. In closing, we should also note that we have met others not in recovery who shared these traits and lifestyles but who had survived their own “dark night of the soul” and had emerged as different and quite remarkable people. Surviving life-threatening events or conditions have the potential to be life-transforming—taking people beyond survival and healing to the status of healers in their own right. We hope your life has been similarly blessed by your encounters with such people.

Post Date April 12, 2019 by Bill White

RADICAL HOPE AND RECOVERY INITIATION-April 5, 2019 -Bill White

Radical hope—a radiant vision of new possibilities in the face of personal or collective devastation—is the catalytic ingredient at the heart of personal transformations and successful social movements. Such hope has been spread contagiously by charismatic figures like Handsome Lake, Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Cesar Chavez, to name a few. Radical hope, at a personal level, allows one to rise from the ashes of addiction-related collapse and step into an unknown recovery future.

Psychoanalyst and philosopher Jonathan Lear, in his 2008 book Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation recounts the story of the great Crow Chief, Plenty Coups, who guided the Crow nation through an era of utter cultural devastation. In the wake of cataclysmic loss—mass slaughter of the buffalo, epidemic disease, and White intrusion into Crow hunting grounds, all amidst the larger physical and cultural assault on Native tribes, Plenty Coups faced the question of how the Crow people could go on without the values and traditions that had made life meaningful throughout their tribal history. Plenty Coups drew upon an apocalyptic dream to lead the Crow nation into a completely unknown and questionable future. His dream suggested that the Crow would have a future only by emulating the Chickadee figure of Crow mythology whose distinguishing trait was the ability to listen and learn from others. According to Lear, it was this focused capacity to observe, listen, and learn that allowed construction of a new and meaningful life for the Crow people.

Addiction tests our capacity for suffering and our fear that life has no meaning beyond pain and insatiable desire. For many at the brink of extinction—the exhaustion of our personal history and the near-complete destruction of all that we had been and hoped to be, a life without drugs and a life in recovery seemed completely inconceivable. Only a radical form of hope—a hope powerful enough to challenge the formidable objective evidence of a hopeless future—could propel us through the early days and weeks of recovery. That transition often required death of the old self to form the ashes from which a new self can rise. Radical hope, as opposed to false optimism or outright delusion, provided the courage to let go of the past, the momentum to step forward, and the endurance to fully commit to this turbulent journey of personal resurrection. What made this hope radical was its leap into a future beyond one’s capacity to see and understand.

Recovery tests our capacity for healing and forces us to face the fear that a life without our elixir will be filled only with nothingness. Facing that fear requires radical hope bolstered only by the knowledge that others have made this journey before us. Like the Chickadee figure in Crow mythology, what will guide us is the ability to observe, listen, and learn as we move forward into this unknown world of recovery. Through others who have made this journey, we can learn the words, ideas, rituals, and relationships that guide the reconstruction of personal character, personal identity, and daily lifestyle. Some will draw on hidden resources within the self while others draw on powers beyond the self, but rarely is the journey of recovery made in isolation.

The Chickadee figure suggests a “middle ground” between two worlds where one can, through the acts of listening and learning, forge a new way of thinking and being. Various cultures of recovery may provide such a middle ground. Within such a milieu we can construct a new story of our lives—one describing what life was like before one’s metamorphosis, and what life is like now (who and what we are becoming). Central to that new way of life is commitment to a lifelong process of character reconstruction based on a new set of ideals (e.g., honesty, humility, gratitude, forgiveness, tolerance, harmony, and service). Recovery moves beyond removing intoxicants from one’s life to changing one’s identity at a most fundamental level. Embracing the need to do both may be possible only in the presence of radical hope.

Lear suggests that when the Crow people were at their lowest point of impotent grief and rage as a nation, what they most needed was a new poet who could reinterpret Crow beliefs of the past to forge “vibrant new ways for the Crow to live and to be.” Plenty Coups served this role and in doing so opened a path of radical hope for the future. The lowest points of addiction provide similar opportunities, and the collective stories forged across secular, spiritual, and religious pathways of recovery provide both the radical hope and the building blocks through which new ways to live and be become possible.

So what advise does this offer the person at the doorway to recovery? Welcome and embrace radical hope no matter how imperfect its messenger and emulate the Chickadee virtues of observing, listening, and learning from the successes and failures of those around you. As experienced by so many who have gone before you, radical hope can enable your survival and open new ways of living and being.

Post Date April 5, 2019 by Bill White

Bill White-THE ROLE OF RECOVERY COMMUNITIES IN CULTURAL HEALING-November 9, 2018

Ironically, it is at the margins of society that one discovers the moral center. –Van Jones

In a bleeding world, where are the sources of communal healing? When our connecting fabric is shredding under the assault of hateful rhetoric, where do we find common ground—settings where people speak with each other and not at and over each other? How can we escape the spell of political pimps of all persuasions creating and exploiting divisions for personal aggrandizement and ideological gain?

These are questions being asked by people of conscience from diverse political, economic, religious, and cultural backgrounds. As Van Jones suggests, the sources that could help us get re-centered could come from unexpected quarters. Is it possible that people in addiction recovery and diverse communities of recovery could serve as a force for cultural and cross-cultural healing?

A reasonable response might well be, “What could people whose past lives have been ravaged by addiction have to offer on issues of such great import?” It is not the lessons from addiction that might offer a balm for our cultural wounds, though addiction can be an astute if unforgiving teacher; it is rather what has been collectively learned within the recovery from addiction that holds solutions of potentially larger value to our country and beyond.

Individuals, communities, and whole cultures are always in a process of self-correction from extremes that threaten their existence. Addiction recovery is itself such a correction process. What is needed culturally when ideologically extremes prevail is a vanguard of people who purposefully infuse into the culture critically needed and missing ingredients. People in recovery and communities of recovery may be uniquely poised to provide such missing ingredients.

Narcissism, with all its ornaments of self-righteousness, arrogance, and self-aggrandizement, has become the new religion—a selfie culture gone mad. We now have leaders who champion these defects of character as a source of pride and purported strength. This worship of self when elevated to a cultural level fuels fervent nationalist movements that claim superiority, build walls of isolation, and deny the interconnectedness and interdependence of all people and nations. People who have been addicted know something of this religion, its sources, and its solutions. The addicted person’s world progressively shrinks in anguish to the person-drug relationship—a radical disordering of personal priorities and a progressive disconnection from others.

Many valuable lessons can be found in the process of escaping such self-entrapment. It takes a village to heal the wounded—and we have all been wounded; healing and wholeness require resources and relationships beyond the self and beyond closed social silos. Personal survival hinges on a greater social unity and common purpose; what we share in common is far more important than our superficial differences. We can achieve together what we have been unable to achieve alone. Distortions of reality, projection of blame, and scapegoating can be diminished by acceptance of our brokenness—our Not-Godness, acceptance of our common humanity, and the assertion of personal responsibility. Amends can be made for past sins of omission and commission. Personal and collective excesses can give way to greater balance and harmony—from competition and conflict to compassion and care. Self-absorption can be diminished through open acknowledgement of one’s imperfection. The masks of grandiosity can be shed and replaced by genuine humility. Bitterness and resentment can give way to forgiveness and gratitude. Preoccupations with power and control (and the resulting close-mindedness and aggression) can give way to tolerance, mutual identification, and service to others. Anguished self-absorption can give way to connection to community, shared joy, and laughter. Settings can be created where people actually listen to one another without interruption or condemnation. Those are among the lessons of recovery.

Excesses within our current cultural life suggest deep wounds—wounds crying for a collective and sustained healing process. As our culture seeks self-correction, communities of recovery can offer healing ingredients as we as a people seek a new moral center. For those in recovery who have concealed these gifts within the rooms, perhaps it is time to reach out and touch someone.

Post Date November 9, 2018 by Bill White

Bill White-YOUR RECOVERY QUOTIENT? TOWARD RECOVERY FLUENCY-October 19, 2018

In 2012, I experimented with the creation of a recovery knowledge exam (See What is Your Recovery Quotient? Toward Recovery-focused Education of Addiction Professionals and Recovery Support Specialists). The 100-item test was intended to illustrate the training emphasis on drug trends, psychopharmacology, and addiction-related pathologies in marked contrast to the scant attention paid to the prevalence, pathways, styles, and stages of long-term addiction recovery. (For details on such limited attention, click HERE)
We live in a world where people experiencing significant alcohol and other drug (AOD) problems call upon diverse iconic historical and contemporary figures, catalytic ideas, words, slogans, metaphors, and quite varied identity and story styles to resolve these problems. The challenge for addiction treatment and recovery community organizations and their service providers is to create environments and service menus within which all of these organizing motifs and languages are available. Achieving such broad recovery fluency among addiction treatment and recovery support specialists requires mastery of the history of addiction recovery and a basic understanding of what is being learned about recovery through rigorous scientific studies.

For addiction professionals and recovery support specialists, this calls for basic fluency in the language of secular, spiritual, and religious pathways of recovery and their related mutual aid societies; knowledgeable about assisted and unassisted styles of problem resolution; and knowledge of a broad spectrum of prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery support technologies. Embracing such a menu is predicated on the belief that people use diverse ways to avoid and escape AOD problems and that such success is enhanced through informed choice and respectful guidance.

So exactly what would such fluency mean at its most practical level? Which of the following statements would you support?

*Educational media within addiction treatment and recovery support programs should be available in multiple languages, particularly the most prominent languages within a program’s geographical catchment area.

*Organizations providing addiction treatment and non-clinical recovery support services, regardless of their primary orientation (secular, spiritual, or religious; abstinence-based or pharmacotherapy-focused; etc.), should provide everyone screened and served with information on alternative approaches.

*Organizations providing addiction treatment and non-clinical recovery support services should shift from stand-alone, single-modality/philosophy service organizations to multimodality service centers offering a broad menu of evidence-based, experience-informed services.

*Any person being served by an addiction treatment or recovery support organization who fails to respond via measurable positive effects or who experiences clinical deterioration during the course of service should be informed of alternative approaches and assertively linked to such services.

*People in recovery working in professional or peer service roles and people who are academically credentialed without experiential knowledge of recovery should be provided orientation and training on and exposure to alternative pathways of recovery and how to present treatment and recovery support options in an objective manner.

*Addiction treatment and recovery support specialists should have a working knowledge of the history, organization, primary mechanisms of change, core literature, meeting and communication rituals, and assertive referral procedures for the major recovery mutual aid organizations and other indigenous recovery support institutions.

*Addiction professionals and recovery support specialists should be knowledgeable about local ethnic/cultural communities and indigenous healing roles and healing practices that may be engaged as sources of recovery support.

If you would like to assess your recovery quotient and fluency, click HERE. I look forward to updating this test in the future to incorporate recent historical developments and recovery research published since 2012.

We have learned so much about addiction-related pathologies and the mechanics of biopsychosocial stabilization (acute treatment); it is past time we learned about the prevalence, pathways, and processes through which individuals and families resolve such problems and the diverse communities in which such healing occurs.

Post Date October 19, 2018 by Bill White