Skip to main content

Advertisement

Springer Nature is making SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 research free. View research | View latest news | Sign up for updates

The Recovery Agenda: The Shared Role of Peers and Professionals

Public Health Reviews volume 35, Article number: 4 (2013) Cite this article

  • 1156 Accesses

  • 9 Citations

Abstract

The alcohol and other drug (AOD) problems arena is extending its organizing center from knowledge drawn from the study of addiction-related pathologies and clinical and social interventions to knowledge drawn from the lived experience of long-term addiction recovery. A distinctive element within this shift is the increased use of non-clinical, peer recovery support services as an adjunct or alternative to specialized, professionally directed addiction treatment. This paper reviews the context of this shift, notes the evolution from competing to integrated service models, and outlines a decade of experience integrating peer recovery support services within the City of Philadelphia’s behavioral healthcare system. Integrated models of peer-professional addiction recovery support have the potential of capitalizing on the respective strengths of clinical and environmental interventions into severe AOD problems.

References

  1. 1.

    Clark HW. Recovery as an organizing concept. In: White, WL. Perspectives on Systems Transformation: How Visionary Leaders are Shifting Addiction Treatment toward a Recovery-Oriented System of Care. Chicago (IL): Great Lakes Addiction Technology Transfer Center; 2007. p.7–21.

  2. 2.

    White WL. Recovery: old wine, flavor of the month or new organizing paradigm? Subst Use Misuse. 2008;43:1987–2000.

  3. 3.

    Berridge V. The rise, fall, and revival of recovery in drug policy. Lancet. 2012; 379:22–3.

  4. 4.

    Wardle I. Five years of recovery: December 2005 to December 2010—from challenge to orthodoxy. Drugs: Education, Prevention Policy. 2012;19:294–8.

  5. 5.

    Krentzman AR. Review of the application of positive psychology to substance use, addiction, and recovery research. Psychol Addict Behav. 2013;27:151–65.

  6. 6.

    Ronel N, Elisha E. A different perspective: introducing positive criminology. Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol. 2011;56:305–25.

  7. 7.

    Humphreys K. Circles of Recovery: Self-Help Organizations for Addictions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2004.

  8. 8.

    White WL. The new recovery advocacy movement in America. Addiction. 2007;102:696–703.

  9. 9.

    White WL, Kelly JF, Roth JD. New addiction recovery support institutions: mobilizing support beyond professional addiction treatment and recovery mutual aid. J Groups Addict Recover. 2012;7:297–313.

  10. 10.

    Dennis ML, Scott CK. Managing addiction as a chronic condition. Addict Sci Clin Pract. 2007;4:45–55.

  11. 11.

    McLellan AT, Lewis DC, O’Brien CP, Kleber HD. Drug dependence, a chronic medical illness: implications for treatment, insurance, and outcomes evaluation. JAMA. 2000;284:1689–95.

  12. 12.

    Kelly JF, White WL. Addiction Recovery Management: Theory, Science and Practice. New York (NY): Springer Science; 2011.

  13. 13.

    White WL. Recovery management and recovery-oriented systems of care: scientific rationale and promising practices. Pittsburgh (PA): Northeast Addiction Technology Transfer Center, Great Lakes Addiction Technology Transfer Center, Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health & Mental Retardation Services; 2008.

  14. 14.

    Buck JA. The looming expansion and transformation of public substance abuse treatment under the Affordable Care Act. Health Aff. 2011;30:1402–10.

  15. 15.

    Davidson L, White W. The concept of recovery as an organizing principle for integrating mental health and addiction services. J Behav Health Serv Res. 2007;34:109–20.

  16. 16.

    Gagne CA, White W, Anthony WA. Recovery: a common vision for the fields of mental health and addictions. Psychiatr Rehabil J. 2007;32:32–7.

  17. 17.

    Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT). National Summit on Recovery: conference report. DHHS Publication No. (SMA) 07-4276. Rockville (MD): Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; 2007.

  18. 18.

    Betty Ford Institute Consensus Panel. What is recovery? A working definition from the Betty Ford Institute. J Subst Abuse Treat. 2007;33:221–8.

  19. 19.

    Scottish Government. The road to recovery: a new approach to tackling Scotland’s drug problem. Edinburgh: Scottish Government; 2008.

  20. 20.

    United Kingdom Drug Policy Commission. A consensus definition of recovery. 2008. Available from URL: http://www.ukdpc.org.uk/resources/A%20Vision%20of%20Recovery.pdf (Accessed 24 June 2010).

  21. 21.

    Kirk T. Connecticut’s journey to a statewide recovery-oriented health-care system: Strategies, successes and challenges. In: Kelly JF, White WL, (editors). Addiction Recovery Management: Theory, Science and Practice. New York (NY): Springer Science; 2011. p.209–34.

  22. 22.

    Laudet A, Flaherty M, Langer D. Building the science of recovery. Pittsburgh (PA): Institute for Research, Education and Training and Northeast Addiction Technology Transfer Center; 2009.

  23. 23.

    Hunt N. Recovery and harm reduction: time for a shared, development-oriented, programmatic approach? In: Pates R, Riley D, (editors). Harm Reduction in Substance Use and High-Risk Behaviors. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell; 2012.

  24. 24.

    Kellogg SH. On “gradualism” and the building of the harm reduction—abstinence continuum. J Subst Abuse Treat. 2003;25:241–7.

  25. 25.

    White WL, Mojer-Torres L. Recovery-oriented methadone maintenance. Chicago (IL): Great Lakes Addiction Technology Transfer Center, Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Mental Retardation Services and Northeast Addiction Technology Transfer Center; 2010.

  26. 26.

    Kaplan L. The role of recovery support services in recovery-oriented systems of care. DHHS Publication No. (SMA) 08-4315. Rockville (MD): Center for Substance Abuse Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; 2008.

  27. 27.

    Laudet AB, Humphreys K. Promoting recovery in an evolving policy context: what do we know and what do we need to know about recovery support services? J Subst Abuse Treat. 2013;45:126–33.

  28. 28.

    White WL. Peer-based addiction recovery support: history, theory, practice, and scientific evaluation. Chicago (IL): Great Lakes Addiction Technology Transfer Center and Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services; 2009.

  29. 29.

    White WL. Slaying the dragon: the history of addiction treatment and recovery in America. Bloomington (IL): Chestnut Health Systems, 1998.

  30. 30.

    Kaplan L, Nugent C, Baker M, Clark HW, Veysey BM. Introduction: the Recovery Community Services Program. Alcohol Treat Q. 2010;28:244–55.

  31. 31.

    Brownstein JN, Bone LR, Dennison C, Hill MN, Kim M, Levine DM. Community health workers as interventionists in the prevention and control of heart disease and stroke. Am J Prev Med. 2005;29:128–33.

  32. 32.

    Mowbray CT, Moxley DP, Jasper CA, Howell LL. Consumers as Providers in Psychiatric Rehabilitation. Columbia (MD): International Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitation Services (IAPSRS); 1997.

  33. 33.

    Ryan J, Choi S, Hong JS, Hernandez P, Larrison CR. Recovery coaches and substance exposed births: an experiment in child welfare. Child Abuse Negl. 2008;32:1072–9.

  34. 34.

    Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. What are peer recovery support services? HHS Publication No. (SMA) 09-4454. Rockville (MD): Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2009.

  35. 35.

    Borkman T. Experiential knowledge: a new concept for the analysis of self-help groups. Soc Serv Rev. 1976;50:445–56.

  36. 36.

    Jackson SW. The wounded healer. Bull Hist Med. 2001;75:1–36.

  37. 37.

    Riessman F. The “helper” therapy principle. Soc Work. 1965;April:27–32.

  38. 38.

    Valentine P. Peer-based recovery support services within a recovery community organization: the CCAR experience. In: Kelly JF, White WL, (editors). Addiction Recovery Management: Theory, Science and Practice. New York (NY): Springer Science; 2011. p.259–80.

  39. 39.

    White W, Humphreys K, Bourgeois M, Chiapella P, Evans A, et al. The status and future of addiction recovery support services in the United States: report of the BFI/UCLA Consensus Conference on Recovery Support Services; 2013.

  40. 40.

    Achara-Abrahams I, Evans AC, Ortiz J, Lopez Villegaz D, O’Dell J, et al. Recovery management and African Americans: a report from the field. Alcohol Treat Q. 2012;30:263–92.

  41. 41.

    Evans AC, Achara I, Lamb R, White W. Ethnic-specific support systems as a method for sustaining long-term addiction recovery. J Groups Addict Recover. 2012;7:171–88.

  42. 42.

    Moore S, Coyhis D. The multicultural wellbriety peer recovery support program: two decades of community-based experience. Alcohol Treat Q. 2010;28:273–92.

  43. 43.

    Veysey BN, Grasmere J, Andersen R. Supporting peer recovery in rural New England: the RECOVER Project, Franklin County, MA. Alcohol Treat Q. 2010;28:306–25.

  44. 44.

    Klein AA, Slaymaker VJ, Dugosh KL, McKay JR. Computerized continuing care support for alcohol and drug dependence: a preliminary analysis of usage and outcomes. J Subst Abuse Treat. 2012;37:435–42.

  45. 45.

    Cleveland HH, Harris KS, Baker AK, Herbert R, Dean LR. Characteristics of a collegiate recovery community: maintaining recovery in an abstinence-hostile environment. J Subst Abuse Treat. 2007;33:13–23.

  46. 46.

    Jason LA, Mericle AA, Polcin DL, White WL, the National Association of Recovery Residences. A primer on recovery residences in the United States. Atlanta (GA): National Association of Recovery Residences; 2012.

  47. 47.

    Dennis ML, Scott CK. Four-year outcomes from the Early Re-Intervention (ERI) experiment using Recovery Management Checkups (RMCs). Drug Alcohol Depend. 2012;121:10–17.

  48. 48.

    Galanter M, Castaneda R, Salamon I. Institutional self-help therapy for alcoholism: clinical outcome. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 1987;11:424–9

  49. 49.

    Humphreys K, Moos R. Can encouraging substance abuse patients to participate in self-help groups reduce demand for health care? A quasi-experimental study. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2001;25:711–16.

  50. 50.

    Krupski A, Campbell K, Joesch JM, Lucenko BA, Roy-Byrne P. Impact of access to recovery services on alcohol/drug treatment outcomes. J Subst Abuse Treat. 2009;37:435–42.

  51. 51.

    Achara-Abrahams I, Evans AC, King JK. Recovery-focused behavioral health systems transformation: a framework for change and lessons learned from Philadelphia. In: Kelly JF, White WL, (editors). Addiction Recovery Management: Theory, Science and Practice. New York (NY): Springer Science; 2011. p.187–208.

  52. 52.

    Leonard EC. The treatment of Philadelphia inebriates. Am J Addict. 1997;6:1–10.

  53. 53.

    The Net Consumer Council, Evans AC, Lamb RC, Mendelovich S, Schultz CJ, White WL. The role of clients in a recovery-oriented system of addiction treatment: the birth and evolution of the NET Consumer Council. Philadelphia (PA): Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Mental Retardation Services; 2007.

  54. 54.

    McSherry T. The recovery-focused transformation of addiction treatment: an interview with Terence McSherry. 2012. Available from URL: http://www.williamwhitepapers.com/pr/2012%20Terence%20McSherry%20Interview.pdf (Accessed 9 July 2013).

  55. 55.

    Evans AC, Lamb R, White WL. The community as patient: recovery-focused community mobilization in Philadelphia, 2005–2012. Alcohol Treat Q. in press.

  56. 56.

    Ilgen MA, Moos R. Deterioration following alcohol use disorder treatment in Project MATCH. J Stud Alcohol. 2005;66:517–25.

  57. 57.

    White WL, Kleber HD. Preventing harm in the name of help: a guide for addiction professionals. Counselor. 2008;9:10–17.

  58. 58.

    White W, The PRO-ACT Ethics Workgroup, with legal discussion by Popovits R. & Donohue B. Ethical guidelines for the delivery of peer-based recovery support services. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Mental Retardation Services; 2007.

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Chestnut Health Systems, 3329 Sunset Key Circle, # 203, Punta Gorda, FL, 33955, USA
    • William L. White MA
  2. Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental disAbility Services, Philadelphia, PA, USA
    • Arthur C. Evans Jr. PhD
Authors
  1. Search for William L. White MA in:
  2. Search for Arthur C. Evans Jr. PhD in:

Corresponding author

Correspondence to William L. White MA.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

White, W.L., Evans, A.C. The Recovery Agenda: The Shared Role of Peers and Professionals. Public Health Rev 35, 4 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03391703

Download citation

Key Words

  • Addiction
  • recovery management
  • recovery-oriented systems of care
  • recovery support services
  • recovery community institutions

Public Health Reviews

ISSN: 2107-6952

Contact us