Welcome to our next Weekly Bulletin. If you would like us to include something on our weekly news, please get in touch by emailing [email protected].
Global Survey
Thank you to everyone who completed the global survey that we released a few months ago. For completing the survey, individuals who were happy to be contacted were added to a draw to win a prize, an Amazon Gift Voucher. Everyone has been contacted but we’ve not received a reply. If you could check if you emails, specially your Spam/Junk boxes for an email from Alison Beck, you have won a prize!
Who affiliates with SMART Recovery? – Research Report
Dr Kelly at Harvard (https://www.recoveryanswers.org/team/john-f-kelly-ph-d/) published his research report about SMART Recovery on 8 October 2023, titled “Who affiliates with SMART recovery? A comparison of individuals attending SMART recovery, alcoholics anonymous, both, or neither”.
The research consists of 361 participants with alcohol use disorder in the US. Individuals were recruited from the community and self-selected into one of the 4 categories: (1) SMART Recovery (“SMART-only”; n = 75); (2) Alcoholics Anonymous (“AA-only”; n = 73); (3) Both SMART and AA (“Both”; n = 53); and (4) Neither SMART nor AA (“Neither”; n = 160). The groups were compared on demographics, clinical history, treatment and recovery support service use, and indices of functioning and well-being.
Results: Compared to study participants choosing AA-only or Both, SMART-only participants were more likely to be White, married, have higher income and more education, be full-time employed, and evince a pattern of lower clinical severity characterized by less lifetime and recent treatment and recovery support services usage, lower alcohol use intensity and fewer consequences, and less legal involvement. Alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptom levels, lifetime psychiatric diagnoses, psychiatric distress, and functioning were similar across Mutual Help Organisations (MHO)-engaged groups.
Conclusion: SMART Recovery appears to attract individuals with greater psychosocial stability and economic advantage and less severe histories of alcohol-related impairment and legal involvement. Findings suggest that certain aspects specific to the SMART Recovery group approach, format, and/or contents may appeal to individuals exhibiting this type of profile. As such, SMART appears to provide an additional resource that expands the repertoire of options for individuals with AUD who seek recovery.
Here is the research report: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/acer.15164
Hope you find this interesting!
Practice Plus Group
Danny Howell and the rest of the Co-ordinators have been very busy delivering bespoke Inside Out training for a company called Practice Plus Group who deliver psycho-social interventions in prisons. We have trained up 57 of their staff and are looking forward to a great new partnership together. Congratulations to everyone who has completed their training.
Veterans Module
The Veterans Training module is complete and work is underway to develop the partnership guidance, supporting resources and the go to market plan. The SMART Veterans Programme will be commissionable by organisations who support Veterans by November.
Bridlington SMART Recovery Meeting
The time for this meeting has now changed venue and also day/time. For information on this meeting, please see here.