Bob Curley, in his July 10th article about the President's proposed Access to Recovery program, presents a view of addiction recovery that is centered in treatment. The article presents views that are skeptical of community or faith based paths to recovery, inasmuch as these recovery assets are presented as not conforming to traditional treatment outcome measures.

It is as if treatment is the goal of all this activity. As Curley notes, the Senate appropriations committee that recently declined to fund the initial request for funds for this program conceded that "there are many paths to treatment". Recovery advocates see treatment as one path to recovery.

Thirty years ago, treatment was begun as an add-on to recovery, but as treatment grew and became more professionalized, it began to define recovery as a part of itself. There has been some trepidation among treatment advocates concerning the possible lack of certification of providers in a more broad-based recovery access plan. Specifically, faith-based providers of recovery support services may not have credentialed counselors, or community-based recovery support services may be relying on peer service providers who are non-professional.

The community-based recovery support service provider will make every effort to remain as non-professional as possible. In the move to remain non-medicalized, community organizations are carefully assessing what peers can provide and what must be professionally administered. In this effort, community-based providers are solving problems such as ethical considerations for peers. These services are a community effort by the recovery community.

Recovery support services are services aimed at removing barriers and opening natural pathways to addiction recovery. Such services include transitional housing, recovery homes, day care to increase access to support meetings, sobriety-conducive employment, educational access, financial planning, sober fellowship, as well as traditionally defined treatment services. The overall goals are to remove barriers to recovery and to create positive space, or sober sanctuary, where recovery can grow.

In a recovery centric view, treatment is one path to recovery from addiction and so might be a mental health service, a homeless shelter, a company employee assistance program or a church. There is no doubt that treatment works. There are many in the recovery community who can attest to this fact. There is also no doubt that spiritual experience works. There are many who can say that fellowship, family involvement, life skills and support during early recovery are effective in facilitating long term recovery from addiction.

The recovery community in El Paso, Texas will benefit from the President's program. We support Access to Recovery. Let's look past the entrenched interests of the medical hierarchy or anyone's antipathy towards the President or towards vouchers. Political considerations aside, recovery from alcohol or drug addiction should be encouraged to flower wherever Providence plants it.

Ben Bass is Project Director of the Recovery Alliance of El Paso, Texas.