Generation Found: Young People and the Recovery Revolution

In a 2009, I co-authored a paper entitled The Recovery Revolution: Will it include children, adolescents, and transition age youth? At that time, a new recovery advocacy movement was maturing, new recovery support institutions were spreading exponentially, and efforts were underway to extend acute care models of addiction treatment to models of sustained recovery management. But there remained a critical question on the extent to which these developments would affect services for children, adolescents, and young adults as well as the roles these groups would play within these recovery movements. In the years since, Young People in Recovery (founded in 2012) has emerged as a leading recovery advocacy organization, and innovative approaches to the delivery of recovery support services for young people are spreading. One of the pockets of such innovation is in Houston, Texas, where people across generations and across systems of care have come together to shape a unique approach to recovery support services.

Pioneering filmmaker Greg Williams, Director of the groundbreaking film The Anonymous People, has co-created a new film, Generation Found, that tells the Houston story, with an emphasis on the role recovery-based education and alternative peer groups can play in the recovery process among young people and their families. The film Generation Found masterfully portrays the story of a youth-focused recovery revolution that could profoundly reshape the future of addiction, addiction treatment, and addiction recovery in the United States. This landmark film will serve as a dynamic catalyst for community education and mobilization. Organizing recovery support systems within high schools and collegiate communities is one of the most important developments within America's response to alcohol and other drug problems among adolescents and young adults. Generation Found beautifully conveys how such systems of support are transforming one American community.

Screenings of Generation Found have been hosted across the country, but many people have not yet had access to these screenings. The film has just been released for general distribution and is available for order at www.generationfoundfilm.com. I commend this film to everyone concerned about the future of young people in America.