The Potential of Recovery Capital
The addictions field is now overflowing with references to ‘recovery’ with service providers and workers increasingly designated as ‘recovery-focused’, although in many areas there is confusion as to what that may mean in practice and what 
needs to change. There is an increasing awareness that people do recover, but we have limited knowledge or science of what enables this to happen or at what point in the recovery journey. There is also the recognition that recovery is something that is grounded in the community and that it is a transition that can occur without professional input, and where professional input is involved, the extent of its role is far from clear. We are also increasingly confident that recovery is contagious and that it is a powerful force not only in transforming the lives of individuals blighted by addiction but in impacting on their families and communities as well. Researchers and clinicians have devised the construct of ‘recovery capital’ to refer to the sum of resources necessary to initiate and sustain recovery from substance use. The focus of this short paper is to outline the overall concept of recovery capital and to discuss the impact that the accumulation of individual success has on groups and communities.
This paper is the first in a series that will shape our understanding of the advancing ‘Recovery Movement’ and will inform the RSA Recovery Capital Project in Peterborough. In this first paper, Dr David Best and Dr Alexandre Laudet seek to define recovery capital to capture its flavour and principles, and to look at the intrinsically social forces that are at play in shaping change and in growing the communities of recovery.
Download The Potential of Recovery Capital PDF 141KB
needs to change. There is an increasing awareness that people do recover, but we have limited knowledge or science of what enables this to happen or at what point in the recovery journey. There is also the recognition that recovery is something that is grounded in the community and that it is a transition that can occur without professional input, and where professional input is involved, the extent of its role is far from clear. We are also increasingly confident that recovery is contagious and that it is a powerful force not only in transforming the lives of individuals blighted by addiction but in impacting on their families and communities as well. Researchers and clinicians have devised the construct of ‘recovery capital’ to refer to the sum of resources necessary to initiate and sustain recovery from substance use. The focus of this short paper is to outline the overall concept of recovery capital and to discuss the impact that the accumulation of individual success has on groups and communities. This paper is the first in a series that will shape our understanding of the advancing ‘Recovery Movement’ and will inform the RSA Recovery Capital Project in Peterborough. In this first paper, Dr David Best and Dr Alexandre Laudet seek to define recovery capital to capture its flavour and principles, and to look at the intrinsically social forces that are at play in shaping change and in growing the communities of recovery.
Download The Potential of Recovery Capital PDF 141KB
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