Positive Recovery is an evidence-based addiction treatment approach that links the best of evidence-based treatment with the new, novel interventions that enhance well-being by cultivating its components: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievement. The main theory of Positive Recovery is this: Addiction develops when happiness is pursued ineffectively and recovery is when people pursue happiness the right way. With Positive Recovery, we lead and empower clients as they learn to fulfill their needs in more healthy ways by intervening early and normalizing use instead of using shame. We do not believe the traditional approach of treating mental illness to be anything less than noble and very respectable gains have been made using the medical-model approach in both behavioral medicine and physical medicine. Positive Recovery does not replace or demonize effective existing approaches, such as twelve-step facilitation.
