Dear Hossein,
I am delighted to hear you and your family had wonderful holidays on the farm. We need those periods of personal and family respite and renewal.
Your reflections on AA and NA are always appreciated.
The news that Congress 60 guides are now working in other clinics in Iran is most welcome news. People in recovery used to be a strong volunteer workforce within alcoholism treatment programs in the U.S. during the 1960s and 1970s but were pushed out as the field was professionalized. Now they are being brought back into the field in a newly created role called “recovery coach.” They are serving in volunteer and paid roles in treatment programs, in prisons, in emergency rooms (to help respond to overdose admissions), and in our child welfare system. Such supports are very promising and research studies are now beginning to evaluate their influence on long-term recovery outcomes. Once again, Congress 60 is helping break new ground.
I have received communication from Mehrnoosh Inanlou and have offered to provide what guidance I can. I look forward to our collaboration and the support we can provide to this student.
There is a new subject I have been giving thought to and wonder if we might write a blog together about it. It is about leadership of recovery community organizations. Is this something that would be of interest to you in working with me on? Here are the kinds of questions I am thinking about.
1) How are the leadership demands within an RCO different than that faced by leaders of other organizations?
2) What are the most important qualities that qualify one for leadership of a recovery community organization (RCO)?
3) What are the most common pitfalls/mistakes that can undermine leadership effectiveness within an RCO?
4) What are the best strategies for leadership development and succession planning? How does the RCO leader assure a lasting legacy beyond their own lifetime?
5) How can the RCO leader manage their own character defects and sustain their own health to the benefit of self and the organization?
6) What are the pitfalls of the RCO leader interacting with outside entities, government, other NGOs, allied professions, the media?
If you share your thoughts on some of these issues, I will combine them into a draft blog for your review before I post it under both of our names.
Rita and I are doing well. I continue to write for a few hours each morning and do some sketching in the afternoon—mostly portraits sketched from interesting photos of faces I find on the Internet. When my sketching improves, I will move toward learning to paint portraits and landscapes. I find the creative process quite different than that involved in my writing. Just starting to explore art in my seventies makes me feel like a child just starting in school. My work remains quite crude as you might expect, but also quite enjoyable. It is good even at this late stage of my life to embark on new adventures in learning.
My best to your family and all members of Congress 60 as we approach the waning days of summer.
Friends and Brothers Forever,
Bill