Treatment Innovations for Special Populations in the Recovery Community

Abstract

As we continue to grow as a journal that is dedicated to providing a scholarly venue for the recovery community, we are pleased to announce that the Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery (JGAR) is transitioning to ScholarOne for online manuscript submission. The review process will now be streamlined through the ScholarOne website, which will expedite the review of articles. We have been grateful to the JGAR community for the large number of articles submitted to our journal and know that this innovation will further facilitate the scholarly exchange of ideas in our recovery community. The collection of articles in this issue highlights treatment innovations and practice considerations for special populations within the recovery community. We are invited to consider how physical access intersects with emotional affiliation in mutual aid groups; how stigma and biases within the recovery community toward methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) populations may restrict full participation in mutual aid groups postdischarge; how recovery community attachment may promote wisdom and spiritual growth; how multiple support group affiliations may support adolescent recovery; how behavioral health interventions can be designed to address substance use reduction simultaneously with sexual health promotion; and how eating disorders, characterized by similar behavioral signatures as substance addiction, can be treated effectively with integrated, holistic treatment models. Brideau and Csiernik’s paper, “How Open Is the Meeting? Attending AA in a Wheelchair,” invites readers to consider access to mutual aid groups for populations with limited physical mobility. Through presentation of a first-person narrative account of attending an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting in a wheelchair, visible and invisible barriers to inclusiveness are illuminated. The authors offer an important examination of the intersection between emotional and physical space that can facilitate or impede the opportunity for new members to develop community affiliations and make use of mutual aid group support. White and colleagues in their article, “Participation in Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous and Abstinence Outcomes of 322 Methadone Maintenance Patients,” also look at the use of mutual aid support groups for special populations in recovery by examining MMT patient participation in Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and AA. Their study revealed high rates of participation in both NA and AA, and the majority of