WE ARE NOT IN THE TREATMENT BUSINESS; WE ARE IN THE RECOVERY BUSINESS!
There is a new movement afoot that is causing us to think about how we define our work.
For years we have considered ourselves as being in the treatment business…..and to support that we developed new and better treatment modalities to reach more clients with more complex diagnoses….and all of this was governed by rules and regulations that seemed to grow more and more burdensome.
Along the way we lost sight of the client who, all too often, became just a number or demographic designation, instead of the focus of our attention. Is it any wonder that the attrition rate for substance abuse counselors increased during this time? What started out as a field of para-professionals who themselves were in recovery had morphed over time to a field of well-trained professionals with more scientific knowledge than their predecessors but less personal exposure/experience with recovery. With the increasing focus on forms, charts, notes etc…and not on clients, a mass exodus began to occur.
Recovery Management is a new movement that seeks to merge the best of the old and the new, with a focus on the recovery of the individual. Everything we do, from intervention to assessment to development of a recovery plan (as opposed to a treatment plan) to treatment (outpatient or inpatient, but as a part of a recovery plan and not an end unto itself) to post-treatment recovery support services—everything is done with a focus on the client finding a new life in recovery (perhaps different definitions of what that might look like and paths to get there). It incorporates the use of “recovery coaches” to help facilitate recovery services (this is not case management but a whole new emphasis on helping willing clients be successful in their recovery).
You can read about recovery management in the attached monographs:
William White, MA Senior Research Consultant Chestnut Health Systems
Compiled by Michael T. Flaherty, PhD
William White, MA, Ernest Kurtz, PhD