Recovery Management and African Americans: A Report from the Field

Abstract

The existence of numerous ethnic and racial disparities suggests that African Americans and other people of color are particularly ill served by the prevailing acute-care approaches to addiction treatment. This article (1) explores recovery management as an alternative framework for providing effective addiction treatment for African Americans; (2) illustrates the implementation of this approach by presenting examples from the Amistad Village Project, a culturally competent and recovery-oriented treatment program for African American men and women that was piloted and studied in New Haven, Connecticut; and (3) articulates the service recipient's perspective on the critical elements of effective substance use disorder treatment for African American individuals.

KEYWORDS:

• Addiction
• substance use disorders
• recovery management
• cultural competence
• African American
• chronic care

Notes

The research reported in this article was supported by the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHSA) and by the Office of Multicultural Affairs at the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. Opinions stated in the article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of SAMHSA. The authors would like to express their appreciation to all of the clients who took part in the Amistad Village Project. In addition, the authors would like to acknowledge the staff at Hill Health Center and the Multicultural Ambulatory Addiction Services, in New Haven, Connecticut, whose commitment and hard work made this project a success including Heather Pullen, Stella Ntate, Ron Phillips, Anthony Williams, Richard Spears, Raymond Dolphin, Ethel Bethea, Archie Moore, Kristin Bonilla, Sue Feldman, and Richard Maltz.