Being better than well at the University of Birmingham

Ongoing recovery from addiction often happens outside of formal "treatment" settings. Collegiate recovery programs (CRPs) have existed in higher education institutions in the United States since the 1980s as part of vital "recovery ready ecosystems" (Ashford et al., 2020) for those with educational aspirations. Aspiration often begins with inspiration and Europeans are now beginning their own journeys with CRPs. In this narrative piece, I use my own lived experience of addiction and recovery through a life course that highlights mechanisms of change that are entwined with academia. This life course narrative maps well on to extant literature on recovery capital and illuminates some of the stigma-based boundaries that still stand in the way of progress in this field. The hope is that this narrative piece will inspire aspirations for both individuals and organizations thinking about setting up CRPs in Europe, and further a field, and also inspire people in recovery to consider education as an aspiration for their continued growth and healing.