Let Love In!: Phil Valentine

June 12, 2023 by

A huge congratulations to Phil Valentine of Connecticut Community of Addiction Recovery (CCAR), who recently received a Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award from Faces & Voices of Recovery (FAVOR) in the US.

Here is a beautifully made short film on Instagram of Phil. In relation to Phil’s acceptance speech, the post reads: ‘This speech, filled with poise and humility, sheds light on how deserving Phil is of this award.’

Phil’s parting words in his speech: ‘Recovery is love. Letting love in and the ability to love and care for others. So my parting words to all of you: Let love in. Self-care is letting love in. If your soul is a well of love, how full is your well.’

A simply amazing man! Such a deeply moving film!!

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Bill White on Stigma and the Recovery Advocacy Movement

March 8, 2023 by

Here is a powerful 2014 film clip on the Faces & Voices of Recovery Vimeo channel from leading addiction recovery advocate Bill White about stigma and how we can tackle the problem.

‘Almost everyone in America know someone in recovery. The problem historically is that they did not know they were in recovery which means that they can continue to maintain incredible stereotypes about who are the people who develop alcohol and other drug problems in this country and who are the people who recover and don’t recover.

There are a lot of issues about stigma that I cannot educate you out of. I can give you all the facts. I can read all the books to you. I can show you documentaries but nothing is going to change that embedded prejudice until you encounter personally someone in recovery who means something to you and hear their story.’

William (Bill) White is Emeritus Senior Research Consultant, Chestnut Health Systems. He has served as a volunteer consultant to Faces & Voices of Recovery since its founding. He has a Master’s degree in Addiction Studies and has worked in the addictions field since 1969. He has authored or coauthored more than 350 articles and monographs and fifteen books including Slaying the Dragon: The History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America and Let’s Go Make Some History: Chronicles of the New Addiction Recovery Advocacy Movement. Check out an online library of his writings at williamwhitepapers.com. Faces & Voices of Recovery, 2014. [5’44”]

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ManyFaces1Voice: William Cope Moyers

November 20, 2013 by

images‘I was invited to give a presentation at the Rotary club in downtown St Paul, where I got up there and started my talk and was telling them all about the statistics of alcoholism. I saw people like just dropping off, you know, checking their watches and people sneaking out the back door and I was losing them.

So I just decided if I was going to hold this audience and take advantage of this unique opportunity to speak at a Rotary club, I better grab them. So I literally threw the speech to the side of the podium there and said, “I am an alcoholic and an addict and I’m talking today about people like me.”

And I told them my Story, not my 12-step Story but my Story of addiction, my Story of recovery and the multiple treatments I’d had. And I had them! That was the day that I realised that the real power is in the Personal Story.’

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‘Building the science of recovery – what I have learned goes far beyond our studies (Part 1)’ by Alexandre Laudet

June 11, 2013 by

IMG_3049Hi, I’m Alexandre. I’m an addiction recovery scientist. I’m not in recovery.

Seeking to do science on recovery, rather than addiction, has been a liability with the National Institute of Health (NIH), American scientists’ primary source of research funding. Not being in recovery has cost me points in many sectors of the recovery community.

Most often, I feel professionally ignored at best, by colleagues who do so-called ‘real’ research – on treatment, medication or vaccine development, or (the pinnacle of research stardom), the brain …

Yet, I can’t seem to want to do anything else. I am hooked on trying to build a science of recovery. Why am I doing this?

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