According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), between 40-60% of individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) experience relapse. Despite awareness of SUD as a chronic condition, the thought of relapse can feel understandably frightening. However, relapse does not have to be a guaranteed future for you. There are several factors within your life that can contribute to the risk of relapse. Thus, understanding recovery capital can be vital in giving you the knowledge and tools you need to prevent relapse and lead a courageous life in recovery. With support in recovery, you can continue to build on your recovery capital throughout your life.
At Driftwood Recovery, we believe the tools you need to thrive are supported by engagement in the community and services of your alumni family. Engagement in the recovery community can be vital to recovery capital and maintaining recovery as it supports various elements of wellness. Thus, going to and participating in meetings, sober events, and service opportunities can help you heal as a whole person. In your alumni family, you can find renewed strength in your accountability, passion, and connection with yourself and others.
We believe everyone deserves access to the support tools needed to live a meaningful and satisfying life. Recovery should never end in relapse because you lack the support you need to thrive. With the support of alumni, you can dismantle barriers and expand your recovery capital to sustain recovery. Yet, you may still have questions about what recovery capital is. How can recovery capital support your sustained recovery?
What Is Recovery Capital?
Recovery capital is invaluable to healing in treatment and maintaining recovery post-treatment. As noted in Addiction, recovery capital is formed from an ecological model that refers to all the internal and external resources an individual can access to support their recovery. More specifically, recovery capital is defined as the set of resources and capacities that enable you to grow and flourish. At its core, recovery capital looks towards all the strengths at your disposal to thrive in recovery. Further, as stated in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, recovery capital typically encompasses five domains.
While some frameworks may only include four domains, each domain focuses on supporting understanding of how factors inside and outside of you impact your recovery. The five domains of recovery capital include human, social, financial, cultural, and community capital. Each domain plays an important role in understanding the factors that influence the well-being of individuals. Moreover, the value of the five domains of recovery capital can be particularly valuable in understanding the domains that impact underserved groups in recovery. With more knowledge of recovery capital, you can explore how each domain benefits sustained recovery.
Positives of Different Types of Capital in Recovery
Through recovery capital, support services work to meet you where you are on your recovery journey. To truly meet you where you are, support must encompass and address your existence within the larger contextual environment of your life. Listed below are the different domains of recovery capital and their importance in your recovery:
- Human or personal capital: Personal characteristics that enable goal achievement
- Health and healthcare
- Your abilities, skills, and knowledge
- Problem-solving skills
- Interpersonal skills
- Education and credentials
- Self-esteem
- A sense of meaning and purpose in life
- Social capital: Resources available through relationships
- Ties with family and friends
- Supportive peer network
- Availability of recovery-related social events
- Financial capital: Material resources
- Safe housing
- Stable income
- Employment
- Reliable transportation
- Cultural capital: The behavior, norms, and attitudes that arise from your cultural group membership(s)
- Healthy family dynamics
- Sensitive and responsive support resources for marginalized groups
- Support resources for different faiths
- Community capital: The community treatment resources, attitudes, and policies related to recovery
- Quality professional guidance, treatment, and post-treatment
- Access to assisted living
- Peer-led support meetings
- Recovery high schools, colleges, and housing
- Employee assistance programs
- Recovery community organizations
Recovery capital can highlight the elements of each domain that can help facilitate recovery. Each element of recovery capital helps increase your support system to sustain recovery. In addition, recovery capital also showcases how the lack of certain elements can impede recovery. Thus, looking at negative recovery capital can be as valuable to recovery as the resources you do have.
Understanding the Impact of Negative Recovery Capital
Negative recovery capital reflects the various barriers that can impede sustained recovery. Listed below are some examples of negative recovery capital that can exist in the domains of recovery capital:
- Sensitive to peer pressure
- Poor coping skills
- Substance abusing network
- Rejection from family
- No social network
- Unemployment
- Homelessness
- SUD and mental health stigma
- Poor transitional support
- Inpatient to outpatient care
The barriers to building your recovery capital can feel daunting. However, overcoming the barriers to recovery is made possible through the recognition and management of negative recovery capital.
How to Overcome Barriers to Recovery Capital
Dealing with employment and housing challenges or ending substance-entangled relationships in recovery can be painful. However, the removal of those barriers helps fill in the gaps and accelerates the growth of recovery capital. One of the paramount factors that can contribute to overcoming barriers in multiple domains is connection. Through connection found in mutual support social networks comes a sense of hope and belief that recovery is possible. With the hope and belief found in connection, you can build key skills and find meaning and purpose in your life to heal.
Finding Sustained Healing in Alumni at Driftwood Recovery
Active engagement in alumni to foster lasting connections is an invaluable part of sustaining recovery. Through connection and access to other resources, you can find the support, encouragement, and accountability you need to thrive. Therefore, at Driftwood Recovery, we are dedicated to providing the community support and accountability you need to sustain recovery and transition into a meaningful role in your life. We are invested in working together to uphold the compassion and growth found in mutual support.
Engagement with alumni is valuable for building recovery capital and maintaining recovery. However, there are countless negative recovery capital barriers that try to impede recovery. Whether you experience challenges with employment and housing or repairing relationships in recovery, closing those capital gaps is possible. With access to a recovery community built on mutual support, you can find the hope and self-belief you need to sustain recovery. Through a strong alumni family, you find support in peers and other resources to find employment, housing, and make meaningful sober connections. Therefore, at Driftwood Recovery, we are dedicated to providing a vibrant alumni community for your recovery. Call us at (512) 759-8330 to learn how you can start growing your recovery capital.