1. WVAADC Legislative Advocacy Day January 2019
Recovery housing: essential to recovery and healthy communities
WVAADC Legislative Advocacy Day
January 2019

2. How did I get here?

3. Why are we here today?

4. USA Today January 15, 2019
Accidental opioid overdoses now the fifth leading cause of death, exceeding auto accidents for the first time.
“Any idea that this is just willpower and you ought to be able to get over it is completely contrary to what we know on the basis of strongest medical evidence,”
NIH Director Francis Collins

5. Recovery process duration
How recovery happens
Acute care (ER, detox, hospitalization,
residential treatment)
High
Service intensity
Long-term recovery:
Independent, meaningful living in the community
Low
Stabilization
Recovery process duration

6. Recovery process duration
How recovery happens
Acute care (ER, detox, hospitalization,
residential treatment)
High
Service intensity
Long-term recovery:
Independent, meaningful living in the community
Low
Stabilization
Recovery process duration

7. Recovery housing: different support levels Recovery process duration
How recovery happens
Acute care (ER, detox, hospitalization,
residential treatment)
High
Recovery housing: different support levels
Service intensity
Long-term recovery:
Independent, meaningful living in the community
Low
Stabilization
Recovery process duration

8. Continuum of Addiction Recovery/Stages of Change
Recovery Initiation & Stabilization
Pre-Recovery Engagement
Recovery Maintenance
Long-term Recovery
Adapted from William White
Pre-contemplation  Contemplation  Preparation  Action  Maintenance
Prochaska & DiClemente

9. Recovery has several dimensions
Health
Home
Recovery Support Domains
(SAMHSA)
Purpose
Community

10. Recovery Capital
In assisting people to achieve long-term recovery, it is essential to help them assess and build their Recovery Capital.
Recovery Capital is the sum of the strengths and supports – both internal and external – that are available to a person to help them initiate and sustain long-term recovery from addiction.
(Granfield and Cloud, 1999, 2004; White, 2006)

11. Creating and Reinforcing Individual Recovery Capital
Essential Ingredients for Sustained Recovery:
Safe and affordable place to live
Steady employment and job readiness
Education and vocational skills
Life and recovery skills
Health and wellness
Recovery support networks
Sense of belonging and purpose
Community and civic engagement

12. Recovery Ecologies Community Recovery Capital
Treatment Options
Jobs and Job Readiness
What this means is that at a systems level, it is meaningful to conceptualize and measure recovery capital as the sum of resources and supports available to people starting recovery journeys.
Recovery Community Center
Legal Assistance
Recovery Housing
Recovery High School
Collegiate Recovery Program
Mutual Aid
Peer Support
Health, Nutrition, & Fitness
Best & Laudet, 2013

13. Housing
Individuals with substance use disorders
Abstinence-based
Peer recovery support
Operates as a family-like community

14. Is it housing? Is it something else?
Sober living homes exist at the intersection of housing and recovery
Housing
Recovery

15. Existing capacity not always what it needs to be
Inadequate quality capacity, limited access
Many populations are poorly served
Lack of good information for consumers, public, professionals
Substandard, predatory operators
Unethical conduct, fraud
Community resistance

16. … producing predictable responses

17. Excellent recovery housing doesn’t just happen
Standards, ethics
Provider accountability
Provider support, continuing quality improvement
Training, workforce development
Integration into larger systems of care
Local voice, policy advocacy

18. …and that’s where we come in

19. NARR at a glance Discussions began 2010; Founded in 2011
National Standard and Code of Ethics
Taxonomy covering the spectrum of recovery housing nationally
Affiliate relationships in 30 states, others forming (one per state)
Training, technical assistance
Certification program implemented by state affiliate partners
Operating model for statewide recovery housing support systems
Working relationships with federal, several state agencies; cited in federal publications, legislation

20. NARR network: October 2018
30 Affiliate organizations, four being formed

21. Classification: Levels of recovery support

22. Classification: Levels of recovery support
Treatment
“Oxford House”
“Sober Living Home”
Terms vary

23. Recovery housing policy guide
A joint effort between National Council and NARR with input from other stakeholders, including Oxford House.
Provides state policymakers and advocates strategies, tools, and policy language that support the infrastructure of recovery housing, quality operating standards, and protections for people in recovery.
Highlights three main sections:
Protecting Recovery Housing
Supporting Recovery Housing in Practice
Sample Legislative Language

24. Our West Virginia partner
State support (Bureau for Behavioral Health)
SAMHSA support
They deserve your support

25. For your passion
For your advocacy
For the work you do …