BFI Conference Publications

The first Consensus Conference held by the Betty Ford Institute took place on September 18-20, 2006 and tackled a fundamental issue in the addiction treatment field: How is recovery defined and measured?

Sensitive questions considered at the inaugural conference included:

• What exactly is recovery?
• Is professional treatment necessary for long-term recovery to work?
• Is there a role for psychotropic and/or other medications during recovery?
• Is ongoing 12-step meeting attendance key to long-term recovery?
• How do we measure "success" vis-à-vis recovery?
• Is it possible to translate the concept of recovery into numbers?

The conference consensus and recommendations resulted in the creation of the paper, "What is Recovery? A Working Definition from the Betty Ford Institute." which was published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, October, 2007 to national and international acclaim.

Among many other positive outcomes, this resulted in eleven research grants awarded by the National Institute on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse (NIAAA) to study the phenomenon of Recovery. It also contributed to the adoption of "Recovery-oriented Systems of Care" by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) as a national goal.

In September, 2008, a "Phase II" conference was held to assess the accuracy of the conclusions of the original "Recovery Conference" and to evaluate the impact of its recommendations on the addiction treatment field.

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