864-385-7757 | FAVOR Helpline: 864-430-1802

Advocacy Agenda

“By our silence, we let others define us.”

There is a long tradition in the US of health and patient advocacy organizations springing up at the national and local level to provide invaluable services and support to individuals and families affected by chronic health conditions, such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. FAVOR follows in this tradition and is part of a national recovery advocacy movement whose vision is to provide people affected by substance use disorders with access to the support they need to achieve and maintain long-term recovery.

FAVOR advocates for recovery by rallying the community and putting a positive face on recovery. By organizing and mobilizing the recovery community to speak out about the reality of long-term recovery, we can remove barriers to recovery and eliminate the stigma associated with substance use disorders.

Advocacy Agenda

We are moms and dads, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, and friends of people regaining their health and lives through freedom from substance use disorder (SUD). By organizing and speaking out together, we support and give hope to individuals who are still struggling with SUD and to those who have found the power of long-term recovery. Join us!

The Board of Directors of FAVOR Upstate supports the following advocacy issues:

•    Transforming the ineffective acute care model of current substance use disorder treatment into the recovery management model.
•    Integrating the treatment of substance use disorder and mental illness into the healthcare system.
•    Reversing discrimination against people living with substance use disorder in all parts of society, including the recovery community.

You can also access our country’s national recovery advocacy organizations for more information:

Faces and Voices of Recovery
facesandvoicesofrecovery.org

Addiction Policy Council
addictionpolicy.org

Partnership to End Addication
drugfree.org

Recovery Bill of Rights

The Recovery Bill of Rights is a statement of the principle that all Americans have a right to recover from substance use disorder to alcohol and other drugs.

Know Your Rights

This Know your Rights brochure details people’s rights under federal laws that protect against discrimination in employment and job training, housing, government services and programs, education, healthcare, and other public accommodations.

Advocacy with Anonymity

This brochure outlines how we can stand up for our RIGHTS while honoring the ANONYMITY tradition of our TWELVE-STEP groups.

Messaging Training

OSHP test picSubstance use disorder can feel hopeless. However, hearts and minds start to change when magnificent stories of recovery are shared on the steps of the state house, in the grocery store aisles, or after Sunday school class. Stigma and discrimination crumble in the face of these stories of hope and courage.

Members of the recovery advocacy movement have found a way to describe and talk about recovery so that people who are not part of the recovery community understand what we mean when we use the word “recovery.” One of the important findings from our research is that the general public believes that the word “recovery” means that someone is trying to stop using alcohol and drugs but has not achieved abstinence. So we use the term “long-term recovery” and give concrete examples from our lives to talk about stability and mention the length of time that a person has been abstinent. To learn more, check out Our Stories Have Power.