Many ppl who find success in coercive settings leave w/ a bootstrap mentality b/c they learn saying 'yes' + 'buying in' can make their lives easier. So let's be sure to scrutinize the systems that create those settings, not the ppl who internalize the rules to survive them. 1/

A good friend reminded me recently: "when institutions have failed you or punished you your entire life, of course you fall back on your own resources and recommend people like you do the same." This bang on. 2/

For me, there's a critical difference b/n neoliberal framings of recovery (which deny the impact of power and privilege) and one's personal belief that "I got healthier because I worked at it, and the system barely helped me." The former is rarely true and latter usually is. 3/

We will forever have ppl emerge from adxn tx settings w/ the idea that they succeeded b/c they "really wanted it." And yes, it's a limited perspective, but can you really blame them? The worry I have is that our systems fail so badly we've made that statement true. 4/

We know that the treatment industrial complex doesn't actively push a structural understanding of adxn or recovery, so we can't be too shocked when folks (who've been through the social services ringer) come out sounding like conservatives, rather than activists. 5/

It doesn't have to be this way, but it's on script. Recovery populism or neoliberalism is a natural extension of the capitalist and carceral origins of mainstream adxn treatment. 6/

All to say, recovery bootstrap 'arrogance' is likely rooted in trauma and/or lessons learned from failed systems. In which case, it's worthy of our compassion and labor, not derision. (End).