This document discusses advocacy for addiction recovery in 3 main areas: reducing stigma, criminal justice reform, and improving access to treatment. It provides tips for effective advocacy such as determining goals, making messages personal, focusing on recovery not addiction, and knowing your audience. Suggestions are made to avoid defining recovery or using stigmatizing language. Examples of advocacy events are given, such as The Day the Silence Ends rally and Hill Day visits to Congress. National advocacy organizations and additional resources are also listed.

1. Advocacy

2. Many Reason to Advocate
Reduce the stigma associated with addiction
Criminal justice and policy reform
Share stories of hope to individuals struggling
Improve access to treatment and support services
Enhance personal recovery
What do you feel needs to be shared?

3. Advocacy Steps

4. Tips to Sharing
Determine your goal for sharing: develop key points​
Make it personal, lead with positivity​
Talk about recovery, not addiction​
Know how to alter your message in different situations​
Pivot away from questions you are not comfortable with
Example Intro: "I'm in long term recovery which means to me...“
Know your audience
Use colorful language, anecdotes, and speak in lay man terms
Be brief

5. Suggestion for Do Not’s
Define recovery
Use negative, labeling language such as addict/alcoholic
Spend too much time describing your specific pathway to maintain recovery
Discredit any pathway to recovery
Lie: just say you are not comfortable answering or you do not know the correct
answer
Get into arguments, confront, threaten or beg

6. Advocacy and Anonymity
“So let us hasten to work
alongside those projects of
promise to hasten the
recovery of millions who have
not yet found their way out.
These varied labors do not
need our special
endorsement; they need only
a helping hand, when, as
individuals, we can possibly
give it”
-Bill W. Many faces 1 Voice

7. 5 Ways to Advocate to Elected Officials

8. The Day The Silence Ends
Over 25,000 in attendance
joined together to show
support for individuals in
recovery and celebrate the
possibility of hope. This
celebratory event featured
musical artists, actors,
politicians, and more,
encouraging the country to
speak up and speak out
about the need for policy
reform.

9. Hill Day 10.05.15
Facing Addiction coordinated Hill
Day to encourage those in
recovery and their allies to speak
to their elected officials regarding
current public policy.
NRAP and CASAT visited several
Congressmen to express their
interest in CARA and several other
policies/programs.

10. Foundations for Recovery
hosted the first Recovery
Advocacy Day in Carson
City in 2019. Advocates
had the opportunity to
speak to elected officials
on the upcoming bills that
were important to them.

11. National Organizations
◦Faces and Voices
◦Young People in Recovery
◦Facing Addiction
◦Hazelden Betty Ford
◦To Write Love on Her Arms
◦Recovery Advocacy Project

12. Additional Resources
oRecovery Advocacy Toolkit
oAdvocacy with Anonymity
oRegistering to vote Nevada