Helping the Christian community become a safe and helpful place for people in recovery

More from: The Work of the People.

The World Health Organization recently released an update of it’s study of global risk factors for premature death and disability. The size of the bar in the chart below indicates the percent of the total global burden of disease (GBD) associated with a particular risk factor. (Click to enlarge image)

Note two important facts about this data:

1) Two of the top three global causes of premature death and disability involve addiction. Nicotine addiction represents somewhere between 6% and 7% of the Global Burden of Disease and alcohol consumption is responsible for somewhere between 5% and 6% of the GBD.

2) The GBD contribution from ‘Drug Use’ (opiates, marijuana, amphetamines, cocaine etc) is much smaller than that of nicotine or alcohol, contributing roughly 1% to the GBD.

Collectively the consumption of addictive substances represents roughly 13 or 14% of the total premature death and disability on the planet. That makes it a big problem, not a small problem.

All the details here: Stephen Lim et.al., A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990—2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. The Lancet, Volume 380, Issue 9859, Pages 2224 – 2260, 15 December 2012

Several people who have heard my lecture on making amends in EV532 (Recovery Ministry in the Local Church) have asked for a copy…so I decided to put the video here. This class is offered online every year during the Fall quarter and I hope this video will give prospective students some hint of what the class is like. . .except, of course, you don’t have the benefit of the online discussion forums to accompany the lecture which is the most important part of any online course. Hope you find this to be helpful.

This video is about 45 minutes long. . .so you probably will need to plan some time for it.

The video is here(opens in a new window): Making Amends

My thanks to Teresa McBean, executive director of the National Association for Christian Recovery for drawing my attention to a recent attempt to define “recovery” by a group of behavioral health professionals at the request of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Here is their suggestion:

Recovery is a process of change whereby individuals work to improve their own health and wellness and to live a meaningful life in a community of their choice while striving to achieve their full potential. [source]

Before I offer a critique of this approach to defining recovery, it is important to remember two things. Read more »