Expanding recovery infrastructure, resources, and readiness in Iowa and beyond
The Challenge
Recovery from an ecological disaster, economic downturn, or substance use disorder is, at its core, a community-level phenomenon. The success of a recovery journey depends heavily on whether one's community has the infrastructure to support it: peer support meetings, recovery community organizations, housing, employment assistance, mental health services, and tailored treatment. Iowa, like many states, had significant gaps in that infrastructure and lacked the research capacity to even document them.
Our Approach
Since 2020, my team has partnered with the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Substance Use to build a statewide recovery science program from the ground up. We began with a national qualitative study, interviewing nearly 30 recovery community leaders across the country, and a comprehensive literature review on the current state of recovery science. From those foundations, we built a sustained research and technical assistance program that supports community-based organizations across the state.
Our work is distinguished by its dual focus on rigorous research that informs state policy and programming and direct-to-community tools that put resources in the hands of people in recovery and the organizations that serve them. Recovery-Iowa.org is the flagship product of this effort. It’s a living, science-based platform that connects Iowans with peer support meetings, recovery coaches, community resources, harm reduction services, and educational content.
Featured Work
- Recovery Data Center (RDC): a proposed centralized data platform to support statewide recovery program evaluation
- Recovery-Iowa.org: a statewide recovery resource platform serving Iowans with peer support finders, recovery readiness assessments for every Iowa county, science-based recovery tips, and voices of recovery stories
- Recovery Readiness Assessments: customized profiles for nearly 300 Iowa communities, identifying recovery-rich neighborhoods and gaps in infrastructure investment
- National recovery conference co-hosted in Des Moines (August 2023), funded by SAMHSA, with 250 attendees from 24 states
- Technical assistance to state treatment and prevention providers, recovery community centers, the Iowa Community Action Association, and the Opioid Response Network on recovery housing data infrastructure
- Podcast series, research briefs, quick-read reports, and video content translating recovery science for practitioners and people in recovery
Funding & Partners
SAMHSA State Opioid Response grants (SOR3, SOR4, and SOR5), Iowa Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Substance Use, Iowa Department of Public Health, Rural Opioid Technical Assistance Regional Center.