National Empowerment Center – The center organizes and develops consumer-run organizations, and helps individuals and groups develop the knowledge and ability to transform the mental health service system toward a more recovery-oriented and consumer- and family-driven approach.
Recovery Connection – This website has resources to support people in recovery such as support groups, phone apps, and sober home living resources.
SAMHSA Recovery Guide (2012) – This 8-page booklet has a definition of recovery, the four major dimensions that support a life in recovery, and the 10 guiding principles.
SAMHSA established the Recovery Support Strategic Initiative, which describes all of the different aspects to recovery – not only treatment, but housing, employment, education, and social supports.
Szalavitz, M. (2012, Aug 17). Mind Reading: Treating addiction: A top doc explains why kind love beats tough love. As the article describes, Dr. Gabor Mate is renowned in Canada for his work in treating people with the worst addictions at Vancouver’s controversial Insite facility, which provides users with clean needles, medical support and a safe space to inject drugs. In Mate’s book In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction, which was a No. 1 bestseller in Canada, he advocates for the compassionate treatment of addiction, a position that has become more popular.
Center for the Study of Social Policy – CSSP promotes public policies that strengthen families and protect and lift children from poverty; mobilizes a national network to promote optimal development of young children and to prevent child abuse; and provides tools and resources so community leaders, schools and other health and human service agencies can help parents secure jobs and achieve economic stability and ensure that young children are healthy and succeed in school.
Hermann H et al. (2011, May). What is resilience? The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, v. 56(5).
Resilence Trumps ACEs The Children’s Resilience Initiative™ (CRI) is a community response to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE), which are significant childhood traumas that result in actual changes in brain development that affect a person’s physical and emotional health throughout life. This site offers 42 ways to build resilience and strengthen families.
SAMHSA’s Partners for Recovery Initiative, Resilience Annotated Bibliography. (2013, March). This paper includes a review of the research related to resiliency, and risk and protective factors of mental and substance use disorders, that have been published in peer-reviewed journals and government publications since 2000.
Strengthening Families is a research-informed approach to increase family strengths, enhance child development and reduce the likelihood of child abuse and neglect. It is based on engaging families, programs and communities in building protective factors.
