This year’s conference theme focused on the role of support, connectedness and communities in promoting addiction recovery. Recovery capital entails the personal, social and community resources and assets that help individuals to initiate and maintain addiction recovery. An overly individualistic approach to recovery often predominates, disregarding the relational nature and ecological embeddedness of recovery processes. The concept of ‘recovery ready communities’ has been introduced to promote relational recovery and lived experience expertise, stimulating the establishment of alternative services, new networks and innovative methods and policies that support sustainable recovery journeys and communities. Some of these developments and recent research findings will be highlighted during this conference.