William L White is one of the foremost writers on the History of “recovery” from the 1730s up until the present day and the advent of the new recovery movement (in the US). The first two of ten short videos looks at the early history of mutual groups leading up to the founding of AA and beyond.

It is fascinating to see how certain types of treatment and views about addiction appear to have a cyclical nature, coming in and out of fashion at different times in history.

Listen here to White’s authoritative accounts of the formative years of recovery movements up until the present day formation of “recovery communities” which reduce the stigma of addiction by being up front and visible as recovering people. In reducing this stigma they may help many more addicts and alcoholics start recovery as stigma around this chronic illness appears to impede many in seeking initial treatment and recovery.    As one person has mentioned, why let others define us by our silence?

The future of recovery? There are up to 25 million recovering person in the US alone, should we not be shouting about this from the roof tops?

We will look at these recovery communities and the nature of recovery itself in our next few blogs.

Although we may be in recovery it does not mean we are aware of the fuller picture of recovery.

William White is a leading expert in trends in recovery and will be our guide over the next few days also.