Color-Blind Bootstraps: Advancing an Intersectional Framework for Fostering Recovery

12-step programs and other similar public-access drug and alcohol recovery programs focus on the key issue of substance misuse. These programs, however, often ignore systemic inequities, individual identity markers, and related health factors like co-occurring morbidities. In this essay, I reflect on my own experiences to examine the complex entanglement of bootstrap mentalities and redemption narratives. These narratives coalesce to ignore, deny, and hide systemic disparities in a process of color-blind addictions recovery. I argue for an intersectional understanding of substance misuse recovery that considers multiple historically marginalized identities. I invite readers to join me in reimagining the possibilities for inclusive recovery communities that move beyond an individual's choices and address the systemic adversities that often lead individuals toward paths of addiction.