Recovery-Oriented Systems of Care

Course overview

Course Description: This course is based upon material published by the journal Alcohol Research Current Reviews and is available as an open-access article. This paper provides a perspective on the recent concept of recovery-oriented systems of care with respect to its origins in the past and its status in the present, prior to considering directions in which such systems might move in the future. Although influential in practice, this concept has yet to be evaluated empirically and has not been the object of a review. Recovery-oriented systems of care emerged from the efforts of persons with mental health and/or substance use disorders who advocated for services to go beyond the reduction of symptoms and substance use to promote a life in the community. Subsequent efforts were made to delineate the nature and principles of such services and those required of a system of such care. Coincident with the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration dropping reference to behavioral health in its revised definition of recovery, confusions and limitations began to emerge. Recovery appeared to refer more to a process of self-actualization for which an individual is responsible than to a process of healing from the effects of a behavioral health condition and associated stigma. In response, some systems are aiming to address social determinants of behavioral health conditions that transcend the scope of the individual and to develop a citizenship-oriented approach to promote community inclusion. This course on recovery-oriented systems of care is designed for nurses, social workers, professional counselors, psychologists, administrators, and substance abuse counselors who do clinical work. In addition, this course is appropriate for beginning, intermediate, and advanced level practitioners who work with substance use disorders. This is not a clinically oriented course, but rather a review of intervention from a systemic perspective. Authors: Davidson, Rowe, DiLeo, BellamyandDelphin-Rittmn. Learning Objectives: This course will provide the practitioner with detailed information about recovery-oriented systems of care. Specifically, a professional will: Recognize the historical formation and implementation of recovery-oriented systems of care. Identify areas where progress has been made in reducing the stigma associated with recovery, substance use disorder and mental illness. Describe the stages of recovery and ongoing recovery support mechanisms. Citation: Davidson, L., Rowe, M., DiLeo, P., Bellamy, C., & Delphin-Rittmon, M. (2021). Recovery-oriented systems of care: A perspective on the past, present, and future. Alcohol research: current reviews, 41(1).