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We Stand On The Shoulders of Giants
While the modern recovery movement can be traced back to that fateful day in 1935 when Bill Wilson met Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio and the two went on to create Alcoholics Anonymous, it’s only within recent years that a dynamic, visible and vocal grassroots recovery advocacy movement has sprung up throughout the nation.
The founding of Alcoholics Anonymous marks the beginning of what has come to be called the Modern Recovery Movement; a movement that has made (and continues to make) recovery from mental health and substance use disorder both attainable and sustainable for millions of individuals and their loved ones.
At its core, the movement champions the idea that individuals with mental health conditions and substance use disorders can heal, actively participate in their own care, and lead meaningful lives in their communities.
Finding Our Voices
Today's recovery movement also developed in reaction to certain aspects of how the clinical system had come to approach the treatment of substance use and mental health disorders [1].
Clinical treatment typically:
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Focused on individuals in treatment, rather than the individuals plus their family members and community.
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Delivered episodic treatment ending with discharge, without a provision for ongoing support.
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Relied on professionals as the decision makers, often excluding the individuals in treatment.
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Emphasized fixing people's problems instead of building their strengths.
Other drivers of the recovery movement included the criminalization of addiction and the ongoing stigmatization of people with substance use–related problems.
In response, the 1990s saw new grassroots entities called recovery community organizations (RCOs) spring up around the country to enable people in recovery, and their families and allies, to come together to engage in recovery advocacy and to support each other in their recovery journeys. A national recovery summit convened in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2001 brought together representatives of these organizations and national recovery advocacy organizations, who forged what became a national movement to elevate recovery as a focus of treatment, research, public awareness, and institution building. The summit also saw the launch of a new organization, Faces & Voices of Recovery, to represent the RCOs and people in recovery generally [2].
SAMHSA provided significant support to the developing movement by helping fund RCOs and the 2001 summit. In 2005, SAMHSA convened the National Summit on Recovery to reach consensus on the Definition of "Recovery", The Guiding Principles of Recovery, the 4 Domains of Recovery and elements of recovery-oriented systems of care (ROSCs). The summit had as its overarching goal promoting better integration of recovery into policy, services, and systems of care for people in or seeking recovery.[3]
New institutions—such as Recovery Community Centers (RCCs), recovery cafés, and collegiate recovery programs, described elsewhere in TIP 65, especially Chapter 4—have come out of the recovery movement, as has a new type of service for people in or seeking recovery: Peer Support Services (PSS). The movement has become even more inclusive of families and different cultural approaches, and it focuses on developing systems of care and communities that support recovery.
Reference:
Counseling Approaches To Promote Recovery From Problematic Substance Use and Related Issues [Internet].
Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series, No. 65.
Rockville (MD): Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US); 2023.
Idaho Advocates, State Fight Opioid Addiction
Michele McTiernan-Gleason, left, director of recovery wellness for Connect the Pieces in Boise and singer Jerry Fee represented Idaho at the White House for the Fed Up! Rally in October. Samuel Genovese Courtesy of Samuel Genovese
Read more at: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/article47687260.html#storylink=cpy
New ‘peer-based’ Boise Substance Abuse and Mental Health Center to open June 25
Peer Wellness Center, a volunteer-based nonprofit recovery community center, will open June 25 at 963 S. Orchard St. It is one of four recovery community centers scheduled to open in Idaho this year with startup funding from a Millennium Fund grant through the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and the Idaho Association of Counties. Peer Wellness Center received $123,000 in startup grant funds, according to...
Read more at: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/business/article40864458.html#storylink=cpy
Idaho's First Recovery Rally
September 18, 2015 - Idaho State Capitol Building
Learn more about recovery community organizations (RCOs):
FAVOR - NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR RECOVERY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS
RECOVERY IDAHO - IDAHO'S ORIGINAL RECOVERY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION
The NEW Recovery Advocacy Movement
(NRAM)
Definition - The New Recovery Advocacy Movement (NRAM) is a social movement led by people in addiction recovery and their allies aimed at altering public and professional attitudes toward addiction recovery, promulgating recovery-focused policies and programs, and supporting efforts to break intergenerational cycles of addiction and related problems.
Movement Goals - The founding goals of the new recovery advocacy movement were to:
1) portray alcoholism and addictions as problems for which there are viable and varied recovery solutions,
2) provide “living proof” of the diversity of those recovery solutions,
3) counter any actions that dehumanize, objectify, and demonize those with or recovering from AOD problems,
4) enhance the variety, availability, and quality of local/regional treatment and recovery support services, and
5) remove environmental barriers to recovery by promoting laws and social policies that reduce Accidental Overdose Deaths (AOD) problems and support long-term individual and family recovery.
The core and evolving messages
of the NRAM include the following:
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Addiction recovery is a living reality for individuals, families, and communities.
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There are many (religious, spiritual, secular) pathways to recovery, and ALL are cause for celebration.
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Recovery flourishes in supportive communities.
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Recovery is a voluntary process.
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Recovering and recovered people are part of the solution: recovery gives back what addiction has taken from individuals, families, and communities.
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Recovery is contagious and can be spread in local communities by increasing the density of recovery carriers and expanding recovery landscapes (physical, psychological, social, and cultural spaces) supportive of addiction recovery.
Your voice matters! Faces & Voices of Recovery urges everyone in the recovery community—people in recovery, recovery organizations, and support providers—to share your input on federal addiction and mental health policy. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is seeking public comments to shape the Great American Recovery Initiative. Submit your feedback by July 5, 2026, and help ensure our voices are heard in policymaking!
Read the RFI: https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2026-11602
Send comments to: REPORTSCLEARANCEOFFICER@ahrq.hhs.gov
(subject: ‘Great American Recovery’)