However, the social model, where recovery and building recovery and social capital are central elements of service, seems to be back in vogue, recalling the ethos of earlier decades. It would be timely for social work now to take up the banner and promote itself as an important element of service delivery
Psychoactive substances have been an aspect of the human condition throughout history
and facilitator of individual recovery for drug and alcohol misusers. Although the moralists continue to view
‘Social worker showed I was not alone’
drug users as undeserving and dangerous, it is a fact that people take substances and drink alcohol for many reasons – emotional distress, peer group infl uence and a coping mechanism, to name a few. Indeed, psychoactive substances have been an aspect of the human condition throughout history. The earliest Chinese text discovered, dating back thousands of years, included accounts of people using plants to achieve a heightened state – mankind has always liked to get high. It might be diffi cult to accept, but it is true nonetheless, that no one drug is any