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Co-founder and Head of Growth, Patrick McGowan's

Commonly Well is growing

A healthcare innovation and behavioral health integration specialist joins Commonly Well to grow the Recovery Capital Index.Commonly Well is thrilled to announce its first hire. Patrick McGowan has joined Commonly Well as Head of Growth. Patrick will lead our efforts to grow the adoption of the Recovery Capital Index (RCI) in the behavioral health, addiction care, mental health, and recovery field.

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By David

5/19/22

Dashboard of the Recovery Capital Index showing recovery capital data and outcomes reporting

Unveiling our new Recovery Capital Index Reporting Tool

With the new RCI aggregate reporting tool, you can immediately see the collective recovery capital for your organization. Filter, focus, and export the data as you need to directly inform recovery and care plans. 

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By David

4/20/22

Three plants side by side that are just sprouting

Don’t pick the outcome, pick the outcomes framework

When an organization picks a specific outcome, it will do whatever it needs to get that outcome.In the world according to Simon Sinek, this is a finite mindset. A finite mindset can ruin a business. In healthcare — and especially addiction care — it can destroy lives.Addiction treatment would be better if it adopted an infinite mindset. 

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By David

3/31/22

Person walking on a path in a forest

Forgoing struggle

There are some struggles or suffering we do not have to endure. Addiction is one of them. There is enough suffering in the human experience, why invite more?

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By David

3/24/22

Logos of the Recovery Capital Index

What The West Wing Teaches Us about Recovery Capital

Recovery Capital is a proxy for Resilience.The more recovery capital we have, the better a person experiencing addiction will absorb and bounce back from a negative event.

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By David

3/23/22

Curved line art and the headline "Wrong Side of the Road"

Wrong Side of the Road Remarks

The following remarks were prepared to be delivered on Tuesday, November 2, 2021 at the National Press Club for the launch of Wrong Side of the Road, a new national anti-driving impaired initiative from Responsibility.org.

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By David

11/2/21

Two construction workers facing away

Safety as a conduit for solving addiction

In life and in business, errors disrupt potential and productivity. Errors can be the enemy of efficiency, especially if we do not learn from and eliminate them. Errors in life and the workplace can also result in injury and death. Humans are fallible and error prone. But, we can be very efficient and safe when we understand and apply good habit creation.Addiction is essentially a deeply trained habit. It’s a compulsive act that continues despite negative feedback.

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By David

10/25/21

Closeup of a knitted textile

The unity of all substance

Marcus Aurelius wrote that we should often meditate on the “interconnectedness and mutual interdependence of all things in the universe.”Here was a guy — a stoic philosopher and Roman emperor — writing and living in the second century and fully understanding that everything is connected.Push on one element of society or nature and another element of society and nature reacts.Aurelius says, “[A]ll things are mutually woven together and therefore have an affinity for each other — for one thing follows after another according to their tension of movement, their sympathetic stirrings, and the unity of all substance.”

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By David

10/7/21

A rubix cube

Everything is figureoutable

It has been a little while since I last wrote in this space. The reason is not for a lack of things to write about. The reason is that I have been sorting out the work of Commonly Well and the direction of the Recovery Capital Index. Starting a business and getting it out there is tough, even for seasoned veterans. Doing so in the middle of a global pandemic is doubling challenging. But, we are figuring it out. 

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By David

9/24/21

Logos of the Recovery Capital Index and Palm Beach County Florida

Why Palm Beach County Chose the Recovery Capital Index to Shift to Recovery-Oriented, Person-Centered Care

Palm Beach County Florida has been at the center of the opioid crisis for many years. In an effort to address the complex challenges of the opioid epidemic, the County initiated a comprehensive opioid response plan.With so many lives impacted by substance use disorder, County leaders and stakeholders knew they needed a more integrated and collaborative approach to care. They also recognized that outcomes data needed to be unified across all agencies, more recovery-oriented, and representing the full recovery experience.

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By David

7/8/21

Headline says "On embracing the power of the placebo effect"

On embracing the power of the placebo effect

Care for addiction and the recovery supports that follow need more alchemy. More magic.What would happen if a little more creativity was applied? What if we better understood and more effectively applied psychological or placebo effects to attain desired outcomes?

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By David

7/8/21

A hand coming out of the water holding a lit sparkler

16 years of magic

Today marks 16 years since having my last alcoholic drink. 16 years sober — I suppose. I used to do harder drugs but stopped using those maybe 17 years ago. I frankly don’t remember the day. The last day I drank was quite unremarkable. In fact, no one around me knew that I was actually violating probation by drinking. My mind was not made up yet.

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By David

7/3/21