From gilbertocintron.com >For decades, the goal in addiction treatment has been clear: help people get clean, stabilize their lives, and sustain recovery. And for many, that goal has been achieved. But now we are facing a new reality. A growing number of individuals who entered recovery in the 1980s and 1990s are aging into their 60s, 70s, […]
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From gilbertocintron.com Social work has historically balanced commitments to both individual care and collective reform. Over the last century, the field’s integration into health and behavioral-health systems has emphasized clinical treatment over social reform. This article argues for reclaiming macro-level systems innovation as central to contemporary social work. Drawing from the field’s historical foundations and…
From gilbertocintron.com For decades, social and healthcare systems have been designed to respond to crises. Substance use. Hospitalization. Instability. When these events occur, systems activate. Services appear. Interventions are deployed. But what happens when SUD recovery works? What happens when someone lives 20, 30, even 40 years in recovery — and begins to age? This…
From gilbertocintron.com When Recovery Succeeds, but Systems Disappear Most systems are designed to respond to problems. A crisis emerges. A response is activated. An outcome is achieved. Then the system moves on. In recovery services, this structure is everywhere. Programs are designed for entry. Services focus on stabilization. Support is strongest at the beginning. But…
From gilbertocintron.com For decades, the conversation around addiction has focused on one phase: active substance use. When recovery is discussed, it is often framed as a short-term outcome rather than a lifelong process. But what happens after recovery is achieved—and sustained for decades? A growing number of individuals are now entering older adulthood after years,…
From gilbertocintron.com Aging in place has become one of the most widely promoted ideas in aging policy. The concept is simple: remaining at home as one grows older is associated with independence, comfort, and continuity. For many, this holds true. But the model assumes something that is not always present—stability. For individuals aging in recovery,…
From gilbertocintron.com Over the past several decades, thousands of individuals have achieved something once considered unlikely—long-term recovery from substance use disorders. Many have sustained that recovery for 10, 20, and even 30 years. Today, they are entering older adulthood. Yet despite this success, there is a problem: no system was built for what comes next….
