Problematic drug and alcohol use has a profound impact on society. From the personal and social harms to the financial costs of drug-related crime and medical treatment, this is a burden that is increasingly hard to bear not only economically, but morally and socially. Moreover it is one that may increase as we enter a period of economic hardship. There is a constant need for new insights, and new approaches to help people address the problems associated with drug and alcohol use, and to do so sustainably and frugally given the current financial conditions.

The RSA’s Whole Person Recovery Project aims to understand in a holistic way how problematic drug and alcohol users become trapped in cycles of addiction, what helps or hinders their journey to recovery, and how their recovery can be sustained. We do so not merely to contribute some fresh insight into this complex and important problem, although this is clearly important, but to make the insight a catalyst for users themselves, and members of their communities, to foster recovery through their collective social effort and innovation.