Who & What

This site launched in January of 2018 in the hopes that it would fulfill a need for consolidated and collected resources that are accurate and informative for people in recovery, working in the field of recovery, and those pursuing recovery for themselves. Since then the site has had thousands of visitors – many of whom have subscribed to the newsletter.

The site is used by social workers, recovery coaches, clinical and medical staff, people in recovery, those seeking recovery, as well as their families and friends.

Over the course of the site’s relatively short existence there have been a variety of questions and comments from people about the site, it’s content, purpose, history, etc. I will try to address these issues here and continue to update this page as time goes on.

History: In December of 2017 I accepted my current position as a “Peer Support Specialist,” AKA “Recovery Coach,” AKA “Peer Recovery Coach.” I had been working part time in that capacity in addition to a short-lived stint at a local detox and rehab, which I left due to what I will say were philosophical differences.

During my orientation the manuals and training materials referred to “Resource Binders” which I think most of us might easily skim past, subconsciously accepting the term as a relic from material that was written during the pre-palm-sized-super-computer-cell-phone 19th Century and not updated, or that it was short hand to say, “You’re going to need to have a ton of information on hand when you’re doing this job.” Surely they couldn’t actually be suggesting that we carry giant three ring binders crammed with reams of paper around with us? In my case, that’s exactly how it was interpreted and precisely what I was told to do. I was handed a ½ inch binder and told to “google” some resources, print them out, and put them in the binder.

Once I recovered from nearly having had a stroke at the prospect of compiling a binder I plotted my next move. That weekend I acquired this URL as well as the corresponding .COM address and started to research and collect the information you see on the site.

In reality, the site was born in a small percentage by my having been a reporter and the son of a scientist and by a much larger percentage of my being a smart ass: “How’s  this for a binder!” I was, after all, raised by a scientist and a school teacher who taught me that there's no such thing as too much information -- and that it better be good. I'm not sure where the attitude came from.

Who are you? Professionally, I’ve worked in the hotel/restaurant business in different parts of the world, worked as a newspaper reporter and journalist, spent several years in the tech world as a writer and support specialist and I've started a few small businesses. Of greater relevance to this particular site, I am a person in long term recovery and currently employed as a Peer Support Specialist on the North Shore of Massachusetts.

Who Funds This Site? No one. People ask this question because they want to understand the motives and who stands to gain from the information on the site. Who’s forking over the dough to turn a profit? There are no ads on the site. Nor are their any recommendations for specific treatment facilities or organizations.

Technically, I fund the site. I’ve been offered reimbursement, advertisements, and even the sale of the site – all of which I’ve refused in order to maintain the freedom and hopefully (with your help) the integrity of the site.

How Can I Participate and Collaborate? I though you never ask. That’s the whole idea of the site. I had initially started to contact organizations, institutions, and facilities to let them know about the site. I knew, as is the case in most fields, that each of those organizations had their own respective silos of information. The idea was to get those silos to start consolidating their information with the other silos of information into one place and build a large repository of information. Unfortunately, human nature leans towards self-preservation and protectionism making it difficult for people to share or give up hard earned research, so I sat and waited for a period of time until I essentially got tired of waiting. But I digress.

To answer your question: Send me information and websites and articles you think others could benefit from. Write and submit blog posts about your experience, recovery, and opinions. Be a guest on the upcoming and soon to be announced podcast. Let me know if something is missing from the site or if there’s something on it that shouldn’t be. Erroneous and misleading information helps no one. There is a caveat however (there’s always a caveat). If you send me a suggestion for the site, such as, “Why don’t you have more information for alcoholic iguanas” or “this entire site should be accessible to people who speak Esperanto,” be prepared to roll up your sleeves. While I’d personally love for this site to be available and helpful to everyone, I only have so much expertise.

This site has reached thousands of visitors already and the newsletter goes out nearly every week to professionals in the field of recovery, medicine, and human services. If you have something that needs to be seen, announced, or read contact me and let me know.  In addition, sign up for the newsletter and spread the word.

Much of the information on this site, with the exception of the blog, is unoriginal and for the most part sourced from somewhere else. In most cases, we've tried to give credit where credit is due. If we missed something, it wasn't intentional, so please let us know so that we can correct it.  

Want to help? Contact us. We're always looking for good information.