Stigma and Recovery

Stigmas are negative social attitudes about perceived differences between people and groups. This can be based on a range of characteristics such as appearance, behavior, beliefs, social position, and background. Stigmas can cause debilitating shame, isolation, and exclusion from necessary medical care and other forms of support. Overall, stigmas cause barriers to accessing and maintaining recovery and are difficult to dismantle.

Those of us who live with substance use and mental health challenges encounter stigmas on a daily basis. Those of us who provide mental health and substance use services and support may be stigmatized by colleagues and community members. Great effort is required to identify, address, mitigate, and reverse the impact of stigma. This is also central to developing meaningful recovery plans.

What stigmas do you, the people you work with, and the communities with which you identify face and how do you survive them? When you see someone being stigmatized, how do you and your programs respond? These are some of the many questions we can help you address in your selves, programs, agencies, and communities. We structure our training and coaching to fit your organization’s unique circumstances, including the size of your staff and where you are in your learning.