More Than a Job: How Employment Supports Recovery
When Ashley Neal left treatment in 2006, she was 26 years old and rebuilding her life.
She had a place to live. She had family and community around her. She had a sponsor, 12-step meetings, therapy and access to health care.
She also needed a job.
Today, Ashley is Live Tampa Bay’s chief operating officer and a Certified Recovery Peer Specialist. Looking back, she sees employment as one of the resources that helped her build stability after treatment.
But her first experiences returning to work also showed her how much an employer’s response can matter.
When Support Makes the Difference
Ashley recalls losing an early job after her recovery became known.
At least, that was her understanding of what happened.
Her experience at the next workplace was very different.
Just weeks after starting the job, Ashley told the company’s CEO about her recovery.
The CEO supported her.
Ashley stayed with the company for five years.
That difference illustrates an important concept in sustained recovery: recovery capital.
What Helps Recovery Last
Recovery capital refers to the internal and external resources a person can draw on to initiate and sustain recovery.
Faces & Voices of Recovery, drawing on the work of recovery researcher William White, describes four types of recovery capital:
Personal recovery capital includes a person’s physical and human resources. That can include health and health care, financial resources, safe housing, transportation, education, skills, self-esteem, problem-solving abilities and a sense of meaning and purpose.
Family and social recovery capital comes from supportive relationships with family, friends, partners, people in recovery and other social networks.
Community recovery capital includes the attitudes, policies, organizations and resources within a community that support recovery. Those resources can include treatment, peer support, recovery community organizations, recovery housing and employee-assistance programs.
Cultural recovery capital includes resources that connect with a person’s cultural and faith-based beliefs and traditions.
Employment can strengthen several forms of recovery capital at the same time.
A job can provide income, routine, skills and independence. It can create relationships and a sense of connection. A supportive workplace can also become part of the broader network of resources that helps someone sustain recovery.
But a workplace can have the opposite effect when stigma follows someone into the job.
When Stigma Becomes Another Barrier
Ashley believes much of that stigma comes from a lack of understanding.
“I think a lot of stigma is just based on ignorance,” she said.
For someone rebuilding stability, losing a job can affect more than a paycheck. Employment may be connected to housing, transportation, health care, relationships and the ability to meet other basic needs.
Ashley’s second employer showed how different the experience can be when someone in recovery is met with support rather than stigma.
The CEO did not become responsible for Ashley’s recovery. She simply responded to Ashley’s disclosure with support.
Ashley remained with the company for five years.
Recovery Beyond Treatment
Ashley’s experience is part of a larger conversation Live Tampa Bay is having with employers about what recovery support can look like in the workplace.
The goal is not to turn employers into treatment providers. It is to help create workplaces where people in recovery have the opportunity to work, contribute and build stable lives.
For Ashley, education is an important part of that work.
Asked what she would say today to the employer she believes let her go after learning about her recovery, Ashley’s answer was simple.
“I’d educate them.”
Because recovery does not end when treatment does. The resources surrounding someone afterward — personal, social, community and cultural — can help shape what recovery looks like over time.
For many people, employment can become an important part of that recovery capital.
