Considering that my opinions aren’t the only valid opinions is a painful daily process.

At the beginning of my work in the inpatient substance use disorder treatment world, it was an everyday occurrence to see others centers as not just competition but as the enemy and as offering treatment inferior to the treatment that my center had to offer.

My shift away from this thinking began when a respected co-worker introduced the idea of finding treatment options that better fit the person rather than fitting a person into a system because there is bed space.

This person-centered idea seemed revolutionary and revelatory because it was at the core of what I had chosen as my path in recovery yet, I was still projecting my beliefs upon others.

When I entered the world of Recovery Community Organizations, nonprofits and other support organizations I had some pre-conceived notion that it was going to be all love, hope and sharing.

The realization that this was not going to be the case came with the introduction of the word concepts of silo, siloed, siloing and silos as a description of the insular organizational behavior I was seeing and experiencing.

I truly have found the love and hope that was expected but tinged with the unexpected accompaniment of the siloed sentiment of “we do it better”.

We seem to be able to come together on many points but the competition of who is better seems to be wedging us away from the collective goal of love, hope and healing…can’t we all do it better?

My thoughts as adapted from the following:

http://youngpeopleinrecovery.org/2018/07/recovery-advocacy-movement-will-fail-plea/

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jenna-brownson/cant-we-all-just-get-alon_3_b_10150704.html

Will Allphin, Foundation for Recovery