Recovery, Work, and Reflections
Writing and public work shaped by lived experience in recovery
Recovery Review articles by Bill Stauffer
Recovery Review is a community of recovery-oriented experts on addiction and addiction recovery that was founded by Jason Schwartz of Michigan. The background of contributions who live across the US and the UK include public policy, research, physician health programs, methadone maintenance, collegiate recovery, urban crisis services, hospital-based mental health and substance use disorder services, and teaching at undergraduate and graduate levels. I began contributing to Recovery Review in November of 2019.
2026
01 2026 Will We Ever Move Beyond an Acute Crisis Orientation? The Absence of Recovery Research and Emerging Drugs
02 2026 Public Interest or Industry Interest: the Economics and Politics of Minimizing Alcohol Harm
03 2026 Moving Beyond Macro Level Dysfunctional Dynamics – Supporting Addiction Recovery Efforts in America
04 2026 Authenticity and Actualization: Stronger Through Our Brokenness, Together
05 2026 An Interview with Caroline Beidler - The Future of Family Recovery as a Coproduced Collaborative Process of Resiliency: The Frontiers of Recovery Research Interview Series
06 2026 Current list of interviews on the first national meeting of the New Recovery Advocacy Movement in Saint Paul MN with key leaders, recovery leaders in Government and the Frontiers of Recovery Research interview series as of March 1st, 2026
07 2026 Perfecting Addictive Drug Delivery Systems for Children – The Puff Muff William Stauffer
08 2026 Towards a Recovery Bill of Responsibilities: Stewardship of the Recovery Commons – William Stauffer
09 2026 Recovery Centered Research Requires Accepted Definitions of Recovery - An Interview with Justin Bell, the Frontiers of Recovery Research Interview Series
10 2026 Is the California Recovery Pathway of Benefit or Bane?
11 2026 Ripples of Resiliency – Fifty Years Since Operation Understanding
12 2026 Beyond Low Expectations of Languishing to the Probability of Flourishing in Addiction Recovery
13 2026 Emerging From the Shadows, Beyond Existing into Mattering and Belonging, Developing the Science of Flourishing in Addiction Recovery – William Stauffer & Dr David Best
2025
01 Addiction Treatment and the Multiple Echoes of History—Lessons to Heed
02 Macro Level Moral Injury Within the Sud Care System—Our Unaddressed Imperative
03 Low Expectations Yield Low Rates of Recovery From Addiction
04 Recovery Capitalists and the Industries of Dependency
05 Revisiting the Work of William White: The Historical Essence of Addiction Counseling (2004)
06 Revisiting the Work of William White: A Commitment to Ethical Action (1994)
07 Recovery Languaging: Moving From Normalizing Healing to Normalizing Use and Pathology
08 Codependency, a Helpful Concept Turned Toxic: A Lesson From Our Own History
09 Revisiting the Work of William White: Sick Systems in Treatment Interview with John DuCane 1989
10 Revisiting William White: A History of Contempt: Countertransference and the Dangers of Service Integration
11 Revisiting William White: We Need More Recovery Custodians and Fewer Recovery Rock Stars (2020)
12 Considering the Facets of Whites Laws of Recovery Dynamics
13 Revisiting Support for Long term Recovery and the Reversed Tragedy of the Commons
14 Building Bridges Between Islands of Healing – Revised from Jan 2022
15 The Arc of Recovery Movement History Ultimately Bends Towards Expansion – William Stauffer & Dr David Best
16 Constricted Ways of Knowing and the Loss of Recovery as a Focus of Our Institutions
17 Tobacco Recovery in the Addiction Recovery Space: Time for Action!
18 C-CHIME: Seeing the connected forest through the individual trees - A cascade model of building recovery capital through community and connections – Dr David Best, Bill Stauffer June 2025
19 The Tragic & Predictable Known Unknown Challenges of Medetomidine and Xylazine
20 The Tragic & Predictable Known Unknown Challenges of Medetomidine and Xylazine
21 Revisiting William White: Can Recovering People Drink?
A Historical Footnote with Current World Relevance – William Stauffer
22 On Mattering & Belonging in Addiction Recovery, Older Adults and Beyond – William Stauffer
23 Expanding the Culture of Recovery – William Stauffer
24 Cultural Coproduction in Recovery Science: A Conversation with Mark Sanders
The Frontiers of R5covery Research Interview Series – William Stauffer
25 Social Transmission of Recovery as a Helix of Connectivity, not a Service Checklist: A Conversation with Dr David Best The Frontiers of Recovery Research Interview Series – William Stauffer
26 Definitions and Measurement of Recovery, Where We Have Come from and Where We Need to Go - Jason Schwartz Frontiers of Recovery Research Interview Series Interview – William Stauffer
27 Gratitude Friday – 9 5 25 National Recovery Month and the Giants Whose Shoulders We Stand On
28 History Repeating – the “Opioid” Epidemic Supplanting the Recovery Movement:
Pathology Over Resiliency and Healing
29 Long Term Recovery – the Policy Opportunities of Demand Reduction to Strengthen Our Nation
30 Counselor Magazine: Listening to Echoes of Our Own History
31 Gatekeeping Out the Recovering Workforce: Repeating History
32 The Social Model of Recovery: Where the Change Happens
William Stauffer, LSW, PMAC, PECS & Enid Osborne, PhD, MPH, MSW
33 Recovery Management Nestled in a Recovery Grounded System of Care – an Interview with Dr Michael Flaherty Frontiers of Recovery Research Interview Series – William Stauffer
34 The Coproduction of a Recovery Evidence Base on the Frontiers of Future Recovery Research Frontiers of Recovery Research Series – William White Interview with Bill Stauffer
35 Gratitude and Addiction Recovery: Validating Experiential Ways of Knowing - William Stauffer
36 Fostering Recovery Community: Mutual Support with Broad Societal Benefit – William Stauffer
37 Beyond the Rat Race – Resilient Society in the Age of Alienation – William Stauffer
2024
01 Coopted and Colonized: Lessons From the Washingtonian Movement
02 Parallels on Burnout and Buffering Across Healthcare & SUD Care Systems
03 From Fordrunken to SUD: A Reflection on Shifting Labels and Stigma
04 Alcohol—Our Normalized Drug of Destruction
05 Valuing the Forest and Not Just the Individual Trees
06 Drug Use, Human Freedom, and the Question of Harm to Society
07 The First Lady of Recovery Advocacy Stamp Reveal, April 5th, 2024
08 Addiction & Recovery Capitalist—Hustlers Hawking Drugs, Hucksters Selling Recovery
09 Loss of Institutional Knowledge—a Critical Tipping Point in the SUD Workforce Crisis
10 William White’s Opening Keynote to the Inaugural National Conference on Addiction Recovery Science: Presenting the Words of One of Our Most Respected Recovery Thought Leaders at This Historic Gathering
11 The Keel of the New Recovery Advocacy Movement—Our Steering Concepts
12 Building a Recovery Community of Barn Raisers
13 We Keep Pressing the “Easy” Button, and It Still Is Not Working
14 A Recovery Disoriented System of Care
15 Revisiting the Algorithm of SUD Care Discrimination
16 Ways of Knowing and Our AOD Treatment & Recovery Workforce
17 Swimming in the River Lethe: Immersion in the Un-Mindfulness of Our Own History
18 Preserving and Building on Our Knowledge: The Vanishing Role of Special Libraries (B. Stauffer, W. White)
19 The Recovery We See—Healing Across the Spectrum of SUDs
20 Bias Against Recovery in PA Cannabis Certification Program
21 The Devolution of PRSS and the Lost Lessons of Earlier Eras
22 Standing Up for Recovery: The Example of Mercedes McCambridge
23 Overdoses in Decline: Progress on a One-Dimensional Measure
24 Standing Up for Recovery: The Example of Mercedes McCambridge
download PDF
26 Authentic vs. Astroturfed Recovery Events & Recovery Marketing
27 Once Bitten Twice Shy – the Recovery Community and the False Promise of Harmless Drugs
28 Societal Hikikomori and the Importance of Bridging Community Capital
29 John McKnight: A Voice for Vital Community – November 22, 1931 – November 2, 2024
30 An Interview With Maryanne Frangules of the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery (MOAR)
31 Hats Off to Those Who Do the Toughest Job They Will Ever Love
32 Occam’s Razor and the Industries of Addiction
2023
01 Developing Broad Consensus on How We Conceptualize the Resolution of Substance Misuse
02 Building a Recovery Affirming Care System on a Foundation More Solid Than Stigma
03 It Is Time We Seize the Opportunity To Address Sud Stigma in the U.S. Healthcare System
04 Moving Beyond a System of Care Designed to Fail Us
05 Recovery Review – Looking Beyond Crisis, Our Opportunities Are All About Connection
06 Building Bridges Between Islands of Healing – Reposted From Jan 2022
07 The Few, the Proud, the Under Resourced – Our SUD Workforce
08 Early Notes From the Post-Pandemic Addiction Tsunami
09 Simple Answers to Complex Problems
10 AI, Substance Misuse, Addiction, and the Tragedy of the Commons
11 Portraying Abstinence Recovery As Puritanical Is in the Interest of Those Who Sell Addictive Drugs
12 The Perfect Storm Is Foundering Our SUD Interventional Infrastructure
13 Seeking Common Ground in Our Understanding of Addiction
14 Where Are They Going To Heal?
15 Effective Drug Policy Must Look Beyond Life Preservers
16 Social Movements End – So How Will Ours End?
17 Antidiscrimination Language and the Hughes Act of 1970
18 Parallel Processes – Walking Our Talk Across the Behavioral Health Service System
19 The 1981 “Alcoholism – You Can Beat It” USPS Stamp Debacle: Lessons Moving Forward
20 Caring Enough To Count – How We Die From Drug Disuse and Addiction in America
21 Reflections on the Newly-Released Recovery Among Adults in the US Report From SAMHSA
22 Can We Please Stop Saying Recovery From Addiction Is Possible or Expected in America?
23 Cerebral Hypoxia & the “Opioid Epidemic”—an Elephant in the Room
24 Restoring American Community—Recovery Community as a Catalyst
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25 Every Stick Has Two Ends: A Discourse on the Consequences of Drug Use Normalization
26 Establishing a Recovery Community Bedrock of Mutual Interest To Build a Future On
27 Recovery Is _________: “Scope of Practice” Podcast With the Connecticut Certification Board
2022
01 Creating a Broad & Inclusive Recovery Plank
02 What Are We Doing Once We Keep People Alive?
03 Building Bridges Between Islands of Healing
04 No More Waiting for Godot—Let’s Follow Our Addiction Care Laws
05 Legitimacy, the Bedrock of Consensus Building
06 Life, Death, and Recovery, Right Under Our Noses
07 Towards More Compassionate Care for Not Just Another Medical Disorder
08 Spanning the Chasm Between Us
09 Headwinds for Recovery Community Self Agency
11 Loss of Institutional Knowledge: A Critical Tipping Point in the SUD Workforce Crisis
12 The Algorithm of Medical Care Discrimination
14 Are We Serving As Good Stewards in Our Collective Responsibility to the Recovery Community?
15 Pre-Addiction as a Missing Concept in Articulating the Dynamics of Healing & Recovery
16 Embracing Recovery Capital Within Our Care System to Save It
17 The Recovery We See
18 Those Who Control the Teachings of a Movement’s History Control Its Future
19 Developing Narratives of Healing to Overcome Deaths of Despair
21 Cannabis: Demon Drug or Miracle Medicinal Plant, the Dilemma of Binary Thinking
22 To Move Forward, Our Institutions Must Take a Hard Look at Their Internalized Stigma Against Us
23 Holding Space for Healing & Resiliency: What We Know and Yet Still Fail to Apply