February 22, 2024
Dear Hossein,
Thank you for your latest communication. Seeing the arrival of your email always brings a smile to my face in anticipation of the latest news from you. I hope the Didehban’s week has gone well. I have received congratulations and warm regards from many members of Congress 60 in recent days. I appreciate the photos of all those serving in a Didehban role; please convey my congratulations along to each of them. I regret that circumstances prevent my presence at this annual event. Congress 60 has many unique features, including its financial independence. I have seen many addiction treatment programs change their essential character and mission under the influence of an external funding source or collapse when a single external funding source was no longer available. My own organization had a few near-death experiences during our early years when we were dependent upon one primary funding source. The financial independence of Congress 60 is one of its main pillars of strength. Another such pillar is the way that Congress 60 is organized. Its decentralization into branches and the use of a strong leadership council prevents the health and vitality of Congress 60’s reliance on a single leader. You were quite wise in lessoning dependence of Congress 60 solely on your efforts. There are many examples in the U.S. of treatment programs that were so dependent upon their founder that the organization collapsed after the founder died or became impaired by age. Your efforts to build a broad foundation of leadership for Congress 60 will ensure that it will survive and thrive far into the future. And it is good that all members are educated about how Congress 60 is organized and operates.
Thanks for sharing how women and men travelers/co-travelers are separated during Congress 60 meetings. When I first worked in the field in the 1960s men and women were universally treated in the same environments and groups. That was not an ideal environment and led to great separation of the sexes in subsequent years either through separate facilities or special group meetings for women.
My tech skills are very limited as Ehsan can attest, and I am unfamiliar with how virtual conferences are organized, but I will try to investigate this in the coming months and also consider your content suggestions and potential international speakers at such a conference. I was unaware of the conference Dr. Kelly was planning until I received the invitation to provide opening remarks for the conference after its main agenda had already been set. In the future, I will try to identify at an earlier stage potential opportunities in which the work of Congress 60 can be included.
I have been thinking a lot recently about the long-term stages of recovery and hope to do some more writing on this subject in the coming months. What have you observed regarding such stages? Are there predictable stages of recovery you have witnessed from time of first contact with Congress 60 to years of recovery stability?
Please extend my warm regards to your family and to all members of Congress 60.
Friends and Brothers Forever