Recovering to Recovery Among Adolescent Youth

This chapter provides an overview of selected factors related to adolescents recovering from substance use, a framework for thinking about recovering, a critical overview of definitions of adolescent recovery, and factors that can support recovering. Recovering is an active and ongoing engagement in change over time rather than an endpoint and relapse is a part of the recovering process. However, specific recovering definitions and outcomes (e.g., abstinence, personal growth, wellness) for adolescents have not been established. This reflects that lack of research on adolescents more broadly, as well as the broader focus on treatment outcomes rather than long-term recovering outcomes. Recovering supports include recovery community centers, sober living environments, education, transportation, and life-skills development. Recovering support groups and self-help groups are promising practices, but additional data is needed to rise to the level of evidence based. Gender contributes to the risks and resiliencies that impact recovering outcomes, although the effects are complex and variable. As such, recovering supports which are not gender-responsive do not work. For recovering adolescent females, strength-based, trauma-informed recovery support is often indicated. More adolescent-centered research is essential to better understand the unmet needs of recovering adolescent and identify evidence-based recovering supports. Such research needs to be grounded in the experiences of adolescents and validated with instrumentation designed for adolescents.