2019 William L. White Distinguished Lifetime Achievement

The William L. White Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award honors the tremendous contributions made to the recovery advocacy movement, in honor of William L. White, renowned recovery historian and author.

William L. White is an Emeritus Senior Research Consultant at Chestnut Health Systems / Lighthouse Institute. He has authored or co-authored more than 400 articles, monographs, research reports and book chapters and 20 books. His 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 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.” Bill’s widely read papers on recovery advocacy have been published by the Johnson Institute in a book entitled Let’s Go Make Some History: Chronicles of the New Addiction Recovery Advocacy Movement.

Bill has been a visible recovery advocate 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. 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.