David Best – författare

Addiction and Recovery in the UK captures the essence of the emerging addictions recovery movement and in particular the emerging evidence base that had been gathered around the umbrella of the Recovery Academy UK. The Recovery Academy was established with the aim of creating a forum for people in recovery, practitioners, commissioners and academics working together to describe and understand the principles of recovery as applied across the UK. Following the first annual conference, researchers who had been involved in academic research on recovery and innovative services and activities that had been evaluated were invited to outline UK initiatives. This book, the result of their contributions, is a vibrant collection of diverse theories and models, critiques and innovations, ranging from two linked papers describing the growing recovery movement in Edinburgh to a recovery walking group in Wales and a model for peer activities in the North of England. The projects are typically ‘community up’ projects whose essence has been captured within this book, and which together paint a picture of vitality and growth in the UK recovery movement.This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Groups in Addiction and Recovery.

This volume emphasizes the necessity for arts teachers to nurture the personal development of their students by expanding their artistic understanding and creativity. In aiming to provide a broader understanding for the effective teaching of the arts, the author provides powerful reasons for seeing the arts as agents of learning, understanding and development. The volume also demonstrates that whilst the arts are centrally concerned with feeling, they are as fully open to objective reasoning as any other subject discipline such as science, but the dichotomy between ‘scientism’ and ‘subjectivism’ is all-pervading in a curriculum which marginalises the teaching of the arts.

First published in 1985, Feeling and Reason in the Arts raises an important question-how can a central role for the arts, and in particular the arts in education, be justified? The arts and the artistic judgments are often expressions of individual feeling and value, and it is a common belief that this necessarily implies a subjectivism that is incompatible with the notion that artistic judgments can be rationally supported. If this belief is correct there is clearly a problem about how the arts can be justified in education.This book shows that this dilemma can be resolved only if one recognises that it is created by incoherently narrow and oversimple conceptions of rational justification and feeling. With more adequate conceptions, a sound argument can be provided for the place and value of the arts, in education, and in society more generally. Clearly these issues are of crucial practical relevance at a time when the arts are under threat. This exposition of arguments in their support is important and timely. This is an interesting work for scholars and researchers of arts and philosophy.

This volume emphasizes the necessity for arts teachers to nurture the personal development of their students by expanding their artistic understanding and creativity. In aiming to provide a broader understanding for the effective teaching of the arts, the author provides powerful reasons for seeing the arts as agents of learning, understanding and development. The volume also demonstrates that whilst the arts are centrally concerned with feeling, they are as fully open to objective reasoning as any other subject discipline such as science, but the dichotomy between ‘scientism’ and ‘subjectivism’ is all-pervading in a curriculum which marginalises the teaching of the arts.

Although there is a strong and growing literature in the two areas of desistance and addiction recovery, they have developed along parallel pathways with little systematic assessment of the empirical evidence about the co-occurrence of the relationship or how one area can learn from the other. This book aims to fill that gap by bringing together emerging literature on the relationship between offending and substance use.Instead of focusing on the active period of its onset and persistence, this book examines the mechanisms that support desistance, addiction recovery, and the common themes of reintegration and rehabilitation. With contributions from a wide range of international experts in the fields of desistance and addiction recovery, the book focuses on a strengths-based, relational and community-focused approach to long-term change in offending and drug-using populations, as well as the shared barriers to effective reintegration for both.This book will be highly informative for a wide audience, from academics and students interested in studying desistance and recovery to those working in addiction services and the criminal justice system as well as policy makers and the people undertaking their own journeys to desistance and recovery.

Although there is a strong and growing literature in the two areas of desistance and addiction recovery, they have developed along parallel pathways with little systematic assessment of the empirical evidence about the co-occurrence of the relationship or how one area can learn from the other. This book aims to fill that gap by bringing together emerging literature on the relationship between offending and substance use.Instead of focusing on the active period of its onset and persistence, this book examines the mechanisms that support desistance, addiction recovery, and the common themes of reintegration and rehabilitation. With contributions from a wide range of international experts in the fields of desistance and addiction recovery, the book focuses on a strengths-based, relational and community-focused approach to long-term change in offending and drug-using populations, as well as the shared barriers to effective reintegration for both.This book will be highly informative for a wide audience, from academics and students interested in studying desistance and recovery to those working in addiction services and the criminal justice system as well as policy makers and the people undertaking their own journeys to desistance and recovery.

Changing health-related behavior is for many people a lonely and isolating experience. Individual willpower is often not enough, particularly in addressing addictive behavior, but research increasingly points to the potential of group identity to shape behavior change and support recovery. This important collection explores the social and cognitive processes that enable people who join recovery groups to address their addictive issues. In an era of increasing concern at the long-term costs of chronic ill-health, the potential to leverage group identity to inspire resilience and recovery offers a timely and practical response.The book examines the theoretical foundations to a social identity approach in addressing behavior change across a range of contexts, including alcohol addiction, obesity and crime, while also examining topics such as the use of online forums to foster recovery. It will be essential reading for students, researchers and policy makers across health psychology and social care, as well as anyone interested in behavioral change and addiction recovery.

Changing health-related behavior is for many people a lonely and isolating experience. Individual willpower is often not enough, particularly in addressing addictive behavior, but research increasingly points to the potential of group identity to shape behavior change and support recovery. This important collection explores the social and cognitive processes that enable people who join recovery groups to address their addictive issues. In an era of increasing concern at the long-term costs of chronic ill-health, the potential to leverage group identity to inspire resilience and recovery offers a timely and practical response.The book examines the theoretical foundations to a social identity approach in addressing behavior change across a range of contexts, including alcohol addiction, obesity and crime, while also examining topics such as the use of online forums to foster recovery. It will be essential reading for students, researchers and policy makers across health psychology and social care, as well as anyone interested in behavioral change and addiction recovery.

Addiction and Recovery in the UK captures the essence of the emerging addictions recovery movement and in particular the emerging evidence base that had been gathered around the umbrella of the Recovery Academy UK. The Recovery Academy was established with the aim of creating a forum for people in recovery, practitioners, commissioners and academics working together to describe and understand the principles of recovery as applied across the UK. Following the first annual conference, researchers who had been involved in academic research on recovery and innovative services and activities that had been evaluated were invited to outline UK initiatives. This book, the result of their contributions, is a vibrant collection of diverse theories and models, critiques and innovations, ranging from two linked papers describing the growing recovery movement in Edinburgh to a recovery walking group in Wales and a model for peer activities in the North of England. The projects are typically ‘community up’ projects whose essence has been captured within this book, and which together paint a picture of vitality and growth in the UK recovery movement.This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Groups in Addiction and Recovery.

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. This is the first book that uses the latest research evidence to build guidance on community-based rehabilitation with the aim of challenging stigma and marginalisation. The case studies discussed, and a strengths-based approach, emphasize the importance of long-term recovery and the role that communities and peers play in the process. Best examines effective methods for community growth, offers sustainable ways of promoting social inclusion and puts forward a new drug strategy and a new reform policy for prisons.

This book brings together all the key evidence on recovery capital measurement and its application. It offers a clear and accessible overview of the development of the strengths-based approach in addressing behavioural health issues and quantifying and measuring recovery capital, along with the evidence base for this approach. The book sets out the proven benefits of this approach to measuring and bolstering addiction recovery, demonstrating the impact of the approach in improving the quality of services available to people at different stages of their recovery journey, making it the ‘go to’ book on this topic for researchers, policy makers, practitioners and people in recovery.

This book brings together all the key evidence on recovery capital measurement and its application. It offers a clear and accessible overview of the development of the strengths-based approach in addressing behavioural health issues and quantifying and measuring recovery capital, along with the evidence base for this approach. The book sets out the proven benefits of this approach to measuring and bolstering addiction recovery, demonstrating the impact of the approach in improving the quality of services available to people at different stages of their recovery journey, making it the ‘go to’ book on this topic for researchers, policy makers, practitioners and people in recovery.