Alison Jones Webb - Recovery Allies: How to Support Addiction Recovery and Build Recovery-Friendly Communities

Given the unrelenting and increasing burden of disease, disability, and premature mortality caused by addiction, Alison Jones Webb highlights an undeniable social realitythat if were serious about addressing the addiction crisis, we need to get on the same page, unite, and work together to stand any real chance of making a meaningful and lasting difference. Webb has done a great service at a time of national crisis through expansive review and her articulate, easily digestible summary of the new science of addiction recovery. This book should inspire and empower policy makers and the public alike to become allies in recovery.

John F. Kelly, PhD, ABPP, Elizabeth R. Spallin Professor of Psychiatry in Addiction Medicine at Harvard Medical School and founder and director of the Recovery Research Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital

This is the resource I will be pointing everyone to when they ask how they can help someone with substance use disorder. The right response is always educate yourself!and this book helps people do just that. Alison Jones Webb compassionately articulates a complex, complicated topic and provides actionable steps that anyone can do. Nonclinical language makes the book very accessible, as the author carefully unravels some of the causes and conditions around trauma and mental health with personal stories, expanding the perspective of what recovery looks like. Webb shines a bright light on the many benefits offered by the recovery community. Im excited to share this book with our readers.

Carolyn Delaney, founder and publisher of Journey magazine and person in long-term recovery

Finally, a book with solutions to our national addiction epidemicI hope allies and decision makers pay close attention! Simply a wonderful book, a godsend. One of the best books of its kind Ive ever read.

John Shinholser, president of The McShin Foundation and person in long-term recovery

Alison Jones Webb has made an excellent contribution to the growing literature on addiction recovery. Recovery Allies is based on strong research evidence and a wonderfully diverse set of interviews with many key figures in the recovery research and practice field. This book is clear and concise and makes a compelling addition to our understanding of the key role communities and social networks play in the complex pathways to addiction recovery.

David Best, PhD, professor of criminology at the University of Derby and author of Pathways to Recovery and Desistance

If you know of a loved one, friend, coworker, or neighborreally any human beingstruggling with substance use disorder but dont know how to help them, this book will explain how to be an ally and give the support that might just save a life. I wish I had had the knowledge contained in this book during my law enforcement career and when I realized my daughter was struggling with an opioid use disorder. It would have changed my approach and made a positive difference.

Bob MacKenzie, chief of police, Kennebunk, Maine, and affected family member

This is an important book, one that I could have used when trying to support my nephews ongoing struggle with opioid addiction. Tragically, we lost him to an overdose in 2018. This wonderful, well-researched book comes too late for our family, but I have great hope that it will help many others avoid this terrible and avoidable outcome.

Lisa Hallee, JD, CPCC (Certified Professional Co-Active Coach) and affected family member

Alison Jones Webb courageously tackles the root causes of substance use disorder, including trauma and mental health, and thoughtfully explores the barriers encountered by those in recovery, most especially shame and stigma. She provides readers with practical and authentic approaches to creating a recovery-friendly community. This book is an essential read for those serving and interacting with individuals in recovery and for those who want to make a difference in their communities.

Dr. Alane OConnor, DNP, clinical advisor at MaineMOM (Maine Maternal Opioid Misuse)

Copyright 2022 by Alison Jones Webb. All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the written permission of the publisher. For information contact North Atlantic Books.

Figure 1-4, Stages of Change and Related Treatment and Recovery Support Services adapted with permission from the Recovery Research Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital.

Recovery Capital Scale reprinted with permission from William L. White.

Published by

North Atlantic Books
Huichin, unceded Ohlone land
aka Berkeley, California
Cover art turtleteeth via Shutterstock.com
Cover design by Mimi Bark
Book design by Happenstance Type-O-Rama

Recovery Allies: How to Support Addiction Recovery and Build Recovery-Friendly Communities is sponsored and published by North Atlantic Books, an educational nonprofit based in the unceded Ohlone land Huichin (aka Berkeley, CA) that collaborates with partners to develop cross-cultural perspectives; nurture holistic views of art, science, the humanities, and healing; and seed personal and global transformation by publishing work on the relationship of body, spirit, and nature.

MEDICAL DISCLAIMER: The following information is intended for general information purposes only. Individuals should always see their health care provider before administering any suggestions made in this book. Any application of the material set forth in the following pages is at the readers discretion and is their sole responsibility.

North Atlantic Books publications are distributed to the US trade and internationally by Penguin Random House Publisher Services. For further information, visit our website at www.northatlanticbooks.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Webb, Alison Jones, author.
Title: Recovery allies : how to support addiction recovery and build
recovery-friendly communities / Alison Jones Webb.
Description: Berkeley, California : North Atlantic Books, [2022] | Includes
bibliographical references and index. | Summary: A practical, hopeful,
and research-based guide for supporting loved ones through addiction and
recoveryProvided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022013832 (print) | LCCN 2022013833 (ebook) | ISBN
9781623175887 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781623175894 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: AddictsRehabilitation. | Recovering addictsServices
for.
Classification: LCC HV4998 .W43 2022 (print) | LCC HV4998 (ebook) | DDC
362.29dc23/eng/20220404
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022013832
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022013833

For Jim

I wrote Recovery Allies mostly in isolation in 202122 in Portland, Maine, and Charlottesville, Virginia, while the country was in a state of major upheaval. The relentless, deadly spread of COVID-19. The Black Lives Matter response to police violence. Political unrest resulting from the storming of the U.S. Capitol. An unprecedented surge in opioid overdose deaths. Calls on the left to defund the police and end the war on drugs and on the right to upend our democracy. Even with this backdrop, I felt confident envisioning a world where we all participate in creating our future together and writing about hope and social change in our communities. Thats because, beyond all the data and research I had acquired, Id seen enough true transformations in people to know that there is always