Expanding Access to Recovery Webinar
Sustaining the National Peer Recovery Support Services Infrastructure
FREE Webinar presented by the National Recovery Institute, Center for Best Practices in Recovery Support Services
Date: Thursday, December 17, 2019
Time: 3:00 – 4:30 pm EST
Presenters:
Rebecca Bonner, Board Member, Association of Recovery Schools
John Cates, Board Chair, Association of Alternative Peer Groups
Patty McCarthy, Executive Director, Faces & Voices of Recovery
Tim Rabolt, Executive Director, Association of Recovery in Higher Education
Dave Sheridan, Executive Director, National Alliance for Recovery Residences
Over the past two decades, recovery support programs across the nation have emerged as critical components of a comprehensive and effective approach to addressing addiction and promoting long-term recovery. In this webinar, national recovery organization leaders will provide an overview of the existing networks of recovery community organizations, recovery housing, collegiate recovery programs, recovery high schools and alternative peer group programs that make up the recovery support infrastructure across the United States and what is needed to sustain it.
Expanding Access to Peer Recovery Support Services
Peer recovery support services provide the bridge between formal systems and services and community-based support networks. When provided through a Recovery Community Organization (RCO), these services can be offered prior to, during, after, and sometimes in lieu of treatment. These RCOs and peer recovery support workers provide urgently needed services. The country needs to quickly increase the number of peer recovery support workers, including those who are in MAT and recovery programs. This workforce serves a dual function; it helps develop the national peer recovery support services infrastructure, and it provides employment opportunities for people in recovery who are well-suited to make this kind of contribution. Furthermore, while the number of Collegiate Recovery Programs (CRPs) on campuses of large public universities, private higher education institutions, and community colleges have increased rapidly over the past decade, they are still the exception rather than the rule. Every higher education campus in America could potentially benefit from some type of CRP. Adolescent recovery support services are especially scarce and of tremendous value to youth, given the importance of peer networks to their social development. Recovery high schools and alternative peer group models hold great promise for meeting the needs of youth, either in active recovery or in encouraging youth to seek it, and we must encourage their increased use across the Nation.