Gratitude Friday - 6 13 2025 – Retreat of Hope and Purpose

“Hope is never the loudest voice-it's the quiet hum beneath despair, the fragile thread we follow when the world seems intent on unraveling.” ― Justice Aaron Fowler

I recently had the opportunity to spend time learning and in fellowship with some people in my field from around the county. It was a small gathering in North Carolina. One of the reasons I had been really looking forward to was to spend time with some wonderful people who deep passion for the work of helping people with addiction and a sense of camaraderie. It was worth the 8-hour drive on Memorial Day to be a part of this group. I presented on the William Whites Frontiers of Recovery Research paper. I learned a lot about other topics in my field not just through the presentations but also the opportunity for deep dialogue.

I came away with training credits for keeping the letters behind my name active, but much more than that.

First and foremost, I was able to do something that is increasingly rare. I had the opportunity to both learn and spend down-time with people I respect and have spontaneous interchange of ideas. This is far too fleeting in our era. Most interaction in our space and beyond is on the interweb via zoom or related technology. Such communication is limited in a myriad of ways. While convenient, the medium fails to leave room for the kind of interaction that is needed right now, not just in my field, but just about everywhere.

From my perspective, we are at a cusp of retrograde in respect to a focus on recovery in America. It seems inevitable that we are taking a great leap backward, programs are closing and funding evaporating. Professionally, I recently wrote a piece for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Weekly titled It Costs More to Kill Us Than to Help Us Get Back on Our Feet: Investing in Recovery is Cheaper and Yields Dividends. It sums up the scenario we are facing. The clarion call is to shift even further back into barebones care. Sadly, it will not be without consequence.

In good economic times, few people get even the minimum effective dose of care. For imagery I would suggest that the kind of care we are further moving towards would be analogous of throwing a float ring towards a drowning person from a vessel under full steam as it passes by the outcast in the middle of a vast, raging sea. In the best of times, we do a bit better than that but not much. I get it, addiction is the most stigmatized condition in the world according to the world health organization, I am not sure where leprosy ranks but people like me are seen as even less worthy. We spent millions of dollars on fringe issues but far too little on actually getting people decent lengths of care at the proper intensity with a goal of long term sustained recovery. Window dressing to make our systems feel good. But I digress, and this is a gratitude post.

What I am grateful for is that despite the challenges that people face doing this work, and those challenges are legion, dedicated people like the ones I was able to spend time with do it anyway. There is nothing in the paragraphs above that the amazing people I spent time with in North Carolina did not know when they decided to commit themselves to the cause anyway. There are many others like us everywhere. It makes our shared cause even more special in my eyes. We are under no illusion that our work is easy or popular, but we carry on anyway. We do so because our cause is vitally important and just.

I learned a lot at the retreat. One of things I am thinking about today is how there are so many issues like this one in which what is required is thoughtful, open and unrushed discussion across the gamut from the good, the bad and the ugly. There is fleetingly little of that, instead there are thin veneers of talking points with loud messaging that fail to address all the nuances of the challenges we face. Of course, such things rarely succeed. We need depth in our dialogues across a myriad of complex issues, and one cannot get that without being open and investing time in exploring and understanding.

I am grateful that I had a chance to spend time with such a thoughtful and dedicated group as I did a few weeks back in North Carolina. I came away with a renewed sense that I am part of something greater than myself. What could be better than that!

What are you grateful for today?