Chicago, Illinois. It’s famous for deep-dish pizza, the ill-fated (until very recently) Chicago Cubs, being the home of former US President Barack Obama, and, of course, the site of 2019’s SMART Recovery International Strategy Workshop.
Although SMART Recovery Australia is very much in its fledgling stage, SMART Recovery USA – the original SMART Recovery organisation – this year celebrates its 25th anniversary. Coinciding with this silver jubilee was the SMART Recovery International Strategy Workshop, taking place in the windy city itself.
SMART Recovery Australia’s Executive Director, Ryan McGlaughlin, alongside Jennifer Johannesen from the SRAU board, represented SMART Recovery Australia at this international meeting of minds. The conference discussed aspects of SMART Recovery, covering topics as broad and varied as Lake Michigan, including lived experience, practice, policy, research, macro and micro.
Highlights of the conference included a presentation by Dr John Kelly, entitled 50 years of Addiction Research and Policy: The Shifting Paradigm Towards Long-term Recovery Management. Dr Kelly is a member of the SMART Recovery Australia Research Advisory Committee who currently holds a Professorship in Addiction Medicine at Harvard University.
Dr Carlos DiClemente delivered a presentation asking the question “Are Relapse and Recycling Necessary for Addictive Behavior”, a presentation on the shifting paradigm towards the management of long term recovery. This was followed by the premiere of Authentics, a short film on SMART Recovery produced by director and actor Daniel Stine and Rising Act Films.
Attendees also heard the lived experience SMART story of NFL player, DeSean Duncan, which you can check out at the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1EALhoIshw
