Transformation of the Culture of Recovery in America
Tuesday, October 18, 2011; 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm
For almost three centuries, people recovering from severe alcohol and other drug problems have found ways to help each other initiate and sustain their recovery journeys. Today, recovering people, their families, and visionary professionals have responded to the stigma, criminalization, and lack of appropriate medical care associated with severe alcohol and other drug problems by creating an unprecedented growth in new structures of recovery support. This presentation will explore recent recovery community building activities and the influence they will exert on the future of addiction treatment and recovery in America.
Handouts and other goodies:
Related reading suggestions:
- Please click here for articles, papers and books by William White.
Video
About the presenter:
William L. (“Bill”) White, Senior Research Consultant at Chestnut Health Systems, graduated magna cum laude from Eureka College and obtained a Master’s Degree in Psychology / Addiction Studies from Goddard College.
He has worked full time in the addiction treatment field since 1969 as a streetworker (indigenous outreach worker and community organizer), counselor, clinical director, administrator, and research associate. His early employers include the Illinois Department of Mental Health, several local addiction treatment and mental health agencies, the Illinois Dangerous Drugs Commission, and the Midwest training center of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. He was one of the founding staff members of Ligththouse (Chestnut Health Systems, 1973) and, following positions in Chicago and Washington D.C., returned in 1986 to start Chestnut’s research and training division. He has provided training and consultation in 45 states and in Asia and Europe. A visible fixture on the addictions summer school and conference keynote/workshop circuit for more than two decades, Bill recently refocused his professional activity on recovery-focused consultations and professional writing.
Bill has authored or co-authored more than 300 articles, monographs, research reports and book chapters as well as 16 books. His articles have been published in such peer-reviewed journals as Addiction, Addiction Research and Theory, Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, Contemporary Drug Problems, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Drug and Alcohol Review, Employee Assistance Quarterly, IN SESSION: Journal of Clinical Psychology, International Journal of Self Help and Self Care, Journal of Addictive Diseases, Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research, Journal of Child Maltreatment, Journal of Drug Issues, Journal of Groups in Addiction and Recovery, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, Journal of Teaching in the Addictions, Perspectives: The Journal of the American Probation and Parole Association, Offender Substance Abuse Report, Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, and Substance Use and Misuse. Bill has also written extensively for the many professional trade journals to reach those working on the front lines of addiction treatment, including Addiction Professional, Behavioral Healthcare, Behavioral Health Management, Counselor (more than 50 articles), EAP Digest, and Student Assistance Journal.
Bill’s book, Slaying the Dragon – The History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America,received the McGovern Family Foundation Award for the best book on addiction recovery. Bill has also authored or co-authored books/monographs detailing the histories of the New York State Inebriate Asylum, National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD), National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers, and the history of recovery among Native American tribal communities. His other books focus on such diverse subjects as promoting organizational health of addiction treatment institutions, ethical issues in addiction counseling, American cultures of addiction and recovery, management of drug surges (oxycontin, methamphetamine), and the Chicago model of AIDS case management. He has also co-authored books to coach future generations of addiction counselors in the arts of professional training and writing.
Bill has been a visible recovery advocate. He is the past-chair of Recovery Communities United and has served as a volunteer consultant to Faces and Voices of Recovery since its inception in 2001. He has worked with recovery advocacy organizations all over the United States and has keynoted several recovery summits, including the historic St. Paul Recovery Summit in 2001. Bill’s widely read papers on recovery advocacy were published by the Johnson Institute in the book Let’s Go Make Some History: Chronicles of the New Addiction Recovery Advocacy Movement. He has also served on the board of the Betty Ford Institute, the International Advisory Board of SMART Recovery, the Scientific Advisory Board of Phoenix House, the board of Wellbriety for Prisons, Inc., the Advisory Council of the Association of Recovery Schools, and the editorial boards of Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly,Counselor and Student Assistance Journal.
Bill has also been involved in a number of major public education efforts. He was featured in the Bill Moyers’ PBS special Close To Home: Addiction in America and Showtime’s documentary Smoking, Drinking and Drugging in the 20th Century and served as a consultant to the 2007 HBO special Addiction.
Bill’s sustained contributions to the field have been acknowledged by awards from the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, NAADAC: The Association of Addiction Professionals, the American Society of Addiction Medicine, and the Native American Wellbriety Movement.
Bill spends his leisure time reading (mysteries/thrillers), tending his bamboo garden, searching out new restaurants in Southwest Florida with his wife Rita, and anticipating visits with his children Alisha and Troy.
