From Lived Experience to the Written Word: Reconstructing Practical Knowledge in the Early Modern World

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refer people from emergency departments into specialist treatment after a non-fatal overdose and offer continued support and harm reduction interventions like naloxone (Ashford and others, 2019) Recovery has a positive effect on individual people and those closest to them. It also has a positive impact on society. A UK survey of addiction recovery experiences found this includes reduced pressures on health, social and justice services and improved productivity (Best and others, 2015). Recovery is not only about stopping problematic behaviour, it’s also about wellbeing and making a positive contribution to society. For example, the survey found that people in recovery are twice as likely to volunteer as other members of the public. The dotted lines around each circle signify that it should be easy for a person to access any of these specialist services at any time, and that the services should work together to support people to access other specialist and non-specialist alcohol and drug services that would benefit them. How specialist and non-specialist services work together to deliver recovery-oriented care Peer-led initiatives help people to develop a new identity, social network and life, offering an alternative to problem alcohol and drug use. Agile and innovative

personal capital: examples of this include safe and secure accommodation, physical and mental health and wellbeing, and opportunities to develop skills and experience such as employment, training and educationSome RSS are delivered by treatment providers, some by lived experience recovery organisations ( LEROs), and some by a combination of both. See section 7 below for more about LEROs. Brief interventions delivered by peers have been shown to support treatment and recovery outcomes (Bernstein and others, 2005). Research also suggests that a single peer-delivered brief intervention can: In the centre where all 3 circles intersect, we list the interventions delivered by all 3 service types. These are: authenticity of voice: this means that RCOs exist to represent the recovery community. This includes actively involving all members of the recovery community FAVOR UK runs an ARCO with a network of RCO members in the UK and has developed a toolkit to support people setting up RCOs. The UK ARCO identifies the core principles of an RCO as follows.

Lived experience initiatives and recovery support services ( RSS) support people in recovery and their families and benefit the wider community. They offer practical and emotional support to meet a person’s needs and build on their strengths. People’s experiences of problem alcohol and drug use and recovery are personal and complex, so people’s recovery journeys and definitions of recovery differ. Definitions of recovery have traditionally included abstinence as a necessary condition (Witkiewitz and others, 2020). Research and contemporary definitions identify 2 core aspects of recovery (Kelly and Hoeppner, 2014). These are: This relationship between treatment and recovery services will often blur the boundaries of operation. For example, there will be times when a treatment worker will carry out significant recovery support work as part of a person’s treatment and recovery care plan and that person has no wish to engage with RSS. Similarly, RSS and lived experience initiatives can play a vital role in providing harm reduction services to vulnerable people who are not accessing treatment. There are pathways to recovery that do not involve treatment services at all. The distinct and shared roles of specialist services in delivering recovery-oriented care Humphreys K. Circles of recovery: Self-help organizations for addictions. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Reference

Best D, Albertson K, Irving J, Lightowlers C, Mama-Rudd A and Chaggar A. The UK Life in Recovery Survey 2015: the first national UK survey of addiction recovery experiences (accessed: 18 June 2023). Sheffield Hallam University, 2015. The lived experience leaders who co-developed this guidance describe peer-led initiatives as having the following features. Led by and for people with lived experience Peer support roles not only benefit the person receiving support but also the person providing it (Du Plessis and others, 2019). This is a foundational principle in the 12-step fellowship model, in which people acting as sponsors not only help others with their recovery, but in doing so strengthen their own recovery. The benefits for people in peer support roles can include: build on the strengths and resilience of individuals, families, recovery communities and the wider community National Drug Treatment Monitoring System business definitions for core data set Q define the recovery support interventions provided while someone is in treatment as:

The diagram provides a simple description of each service type’s core function in delivering recovery-oriented care, as follows: Some recent peer support research has focused on harm reduction, widening access to opioid substitution treatment and digital innovations. This has been largely driven by the opioid crisis in North America and the need to find effective ways to reduce harm and prevent death. This research has focused on peer support roles that: RSS primarily support people to sustain their recovery in the community long term. These services help people to build on their strengths including the gains made in treatment if they have accessed it. This includes support to deepen their connection to recovery communities and wider community. social capital: examples of this include peer support, and family, friends, social networks and opportunities that support recovery The traditional distinction between disciplines of the mind and disciplines of the body had been codified in the medieval education system. Moxon’s geometry and astronomy were counted among the seven liberal arts. They belonged to the quadrivium, the more advanced arts that followed the trivium. But the separation of spheres wasn’t without its detractors. As Anya Burgon has suggested, Alan of Lille, a scholar at Chartres in the 12th century, employed a vivid allegory in his Anticlaudianus to endorse an older, apprenticeship-style education system, as opposed to the professionalisation of disciplines he witnessed at the new universities. Alan imagines the liberal arts personified as mechanics, undertaking the very practical process of building a chariot for Wisdom to prepare her for immortality. First come the sisters of the trivium: Grammar, who makes the wooden axle beam; Logic, who makes the iron axle; and Rhetoric, who enhances the natural materials of the axle by adorning it with precious gems, causing it to flash and glitter as it spins. They work with great exertion, bending the raw materials to their will. Then, the sisters of the quadrivium (Arithmetic and Music, alongside Geometry and Astronomy) make the wheels. For these more advanced personifications, the process is less arduous. When their work is complete, Wisdom ascends and five horses representing sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch draw the chariot to the very edge of the firmament. But here they can go no further. To proceed, Wisdom is compelled to cast her chariot aside and continue to heaven alone.Research has identified ongoing support including positive connections and engagement with peers as particularly important in early recovery (Best and others, 2017). Factors influencing recovery While LERO models differ, the principles underpinning these peer-led initiatives are shared. The growth of LEROs and recovery communities in the UK has seen cross-sector networks forming. These networks and organisations have identified the shared principles underpinning LEROs. FAVOR UK: principles of recovery community organisations Since peer-led initiatives are likely to have multiple funding streams including contracts, grants and donations, they have more autonomy than other service providers. Their independence and autonomy are vital to their ability to respond, evolve and advocate effectively. Take an asset-based community development approach The quality and quantity of recovery capital that a person is able to gain is vital to them promoting and sustaining recovery. Recovery support at different stages accountability to the recovery community: RCOs are usually independent, not-for-profit organisations working with treatment providers and other organisations, but retaining independent governance structures