As COVID restrictions extended from 2020 to 2021, organizations offering addiction treatment were forced to continue to adapt to these new circumstances. Three groups, Community Catalyst, Faces & Voices of Recovery and the American Society of Addiction Medicine, joined forces to find out what adaptations were most important to the individuals they were serving. Of course, surveys done as part of this project showed that continued access to care ranked high among these groups.

It is commendable that the project’s takeaway from their surveys included the following: Prioritize research on what treatments and services are most effective in helping patients achieve the results they prioritize—for example, investigate what treatment approaches most increase quality of life. By keeping an open mind about treatments and services, this project may improve access to a variety of treatment approaches.

Faces & Voices of Recovery partnered with Community Catalysts and the American Society of Addiction Medicine to identify the results of treatment and recovery services most important to individuals with substance use challenges or in recovery and learn whether those priorities change during COVID-19. They jointly published this report on their findings.