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Spaces of sobriety/sites of power: Examining social model alcohol recovery programs as therapeutic landscapes

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  • Wilton, Robert
  • DeVerteuil, Geoffrey

Abstract

While there has been interest in geographical variations in alcohol use and their implications for health, similar attention has not been given to geographies of alcohol treatment and recovery. This paper is concerned with exploring these geographies of alcohol recovery and treatment. Specifically, the paper uses the therapeutic landscape concept coupled with Foucault's concept of governmentality to frame a qualitative case study of a 'social model' recovery community in San Pedro, California. Analysis of the programs operating in San Pedro consisting of observation and interviews, demonstrates the complexity and contradictory character of such recovery landscapes. In particular, the governmentality perspective suggests that spaces created for alcohol recovery and support can be simultaneously understood as sites designed to govern the health-related conduct of individuals. Within programs, clients were provided with support and encouragement from staff and peers, but these same relations also made possible surveillance and the governing of daily routines. In the neighbourhood, program staff intervened to create 'healthy' spaces but these interventions also shaped the conduct of local residents and contributed to the spatial regulation of problem groups. While a focus on governmentality does not preclude recognition of the positive effects associated with therapeutic landscapes, it does provide an opportunity for further consideration of the complexities underlying such environments

Suggested Citation

  • Wilton, Robert & DeVerteuil, Geoffrey, 2006. "Spaces of sobriety/sites of power: Examining social model alcohol recovery programs as therapeutic landscapes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 649-661, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:63:y:2006:i:3:p:649-661
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. English, Jennifer & Wilson, Kathi & Keller-Olaman, Sue, 2008. "Health, healing and recovery: Therapeutic landscapes and the everyday lives of breast cancer survivors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 68-78, July.
    3. Evans, Joshua D. & Crooks, Valorie A. & Kingsbury, Paul T., 2009. "Theoretical injections: On the therapeutic aesthetics of medical spaces," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(5), pages 716-721, September.
    4. Jeffries, Jayne M., 2018. "Negotiating acquired spinal conditions: Recovery with/in bodily materiality and fluids," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 61-69.
    5. Taheri, Shima & Ghasemi Sichani, Maryam & Shabani, Amirhosein, 2021. "Evaluating the literature of therapeutic landscapes with an emphasis on the search for the dimensions of health: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    6. Elizabeth Stone, 2017. "Is There “Hope for Every Addicted American”? The New U.S. War on Drugs," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-20, December.
    7. Proudfoot, Jesse, 2019. "Traumatic landscapes: Two geographies of addiction," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 194-201.

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