Home > Conference on addiction recovery and the gap between evidence and political will.

Dillon, Lucy (2023) Conference on addiction recovery and the gap between evidence and political will. Drugnet Ireland, Issue 84, Winter 2023, pp. 15-16.

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The event ‘Addiction Recovery: The Gap between Scientific Evidence and Political Will’ was held in Trinity College Dublin on Friday, 11 November 2022. The event was hosted by Professor Jo-Hanna Ivers, an associate professor in addiction at the university. The overarching theme of the event was addiction recovery under which six presentations were made by international experts on the topic.1 These experts came from the universities of Leeds and Birmingham in the United Kingdom and Stanford and Harvard in the United States.

The Irish context

Professor Ivers introduced the event and provided the Irish context in relation to recovery. She argued that Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery (2017–2025), the current national drugs strategy, is vague in relation to recovery and how it is to be supported through the existing action plan.2 She called for more support in Ireland for approaches that build recovery capital across all areas, including health, housing, education, training, social services, and justice.

Key messages

Speakers argued for recovery to become more of a central tenet of drug policy and the profile of services and supports available to people who use drugs. To do so, they emphasised the importance of building support among policymakers and other stakeholders for recovery and the mechanisms required for recovery capital.

Underpinning the presentations was the speakers’ understanding that people who withdraw from drug use face ongoing challenges, for example, in experiencing an impaired ability to regulate for stress in the years post-withdrawal. Generally speaking, they argued that while treatment services are broadly effective in supporting people through withdrawal (e.g. through 12-week programmes), the service landscape was less well-equipped to support recovery in the longer term. They made the case for increasing support for services and supports for long-term recovery and building recovery capital. There was recurring evidence throughout the presentations that being part of a positive social network and engaging in meaningful activities (that support physical and psychological wellbeing) are key to developing and maintaining recovery. Peer support was placed at the centre of recovery.

Some speakers presented on the experience of providing recovery support for students in third-level institutions. The term ‘collegiate recovery settings’ originated in the United States and they provide supports, such as accommodation, especially for those in recovery; peer support networks; and on-site counselling. They also work to reduce the stigma that presenters argued exists in the third-level environment, by students who do not engage in the use of alcohol and other drugs.

Resources

Resources identified for those interested in recovery and its evidence base were the Recovery Research Institute in Massachusetts3 and a repository of papers by addiction and recovery expert William White.4

  1. The speakers were Professor Jo-Hanna Ivers, Trinity College Dublin; Professor John Kelly, Harvard University; Professor David Best, Leeds Trinity University; Dr Ed Day, University of Birmingham; Professor Emily Hennessy, Harvard University; Professor Keith Humphreys, Stanford University.
  2. Department of Health (2017) Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery: a health-led response to drug and alcohol use in Ireland 2017–2025. Dublin: Department of Health. https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/27603/
  3. For further details on the Recovery Research Institute, visit: https://www.recoveryanswers.org/
  4. For further details on the William White papers, visit: https://www.chestnut.org/william-white-papers/

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