John Kelly
Dr Kelly is the Elizabeth R Spallin Associate Professor of Psychiatry in Addiction Medicine at Harvard Medical School, the founder and Director of the Recovery Research Institute at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the Program Director of the Addiction Recovery Management Service (ARMS) and the Associate Director of the Center for Addiction Medicine at MGH. Dr Kelly is a former President of the American Psychological Association (APA) Society of Addiction Psychology, a distinguished Fellow of the APA, and a Diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology. He has served as a consultant to US federal agencies and non-Federal institutions, and foreign governments. His clinical and research work has focused on enhancing the effectiveness of addiction treatment and recovery support services, stigma reduction, and addiction and criminal justice.
New Kid on the Block: The rationale, growth, and preliminary evidence for U.S. Recovery Community Centers
Professional treatment and non-professional mutual-help organizations (MHOs) play important roles in mitigating addiction relapse risk. More recently, a third tier of recovery support services has emerged in the United States that are neither treatment nor MHO that encompass an all-inclusive flexible approach combining professionals and volunteers. The most prominent of these is Recovery Community Centers (RCCs). RCC’s goal is to provide an attractive central recovery hub facilitating the accrual of “recovery capital” by providing a variety of services (e.g., recovery coaching; medication assisted treatment [MAT] support, employment/educational linkages). Despite their growth, little is known formally about their structure, function, and potential benefits. This talk describes the rationale and preliminary findings from the first systematic study of RCCs in the United States. Findings, overall, support the intended rationale for the growth of these entities. Application to UK settings will be discussed.