Knowledge Center

A place for trusted information, resources, and tools to inspire hope and support recovery.

4. Evidence-Based Impact

Explore the science of recovery and the evidence that offers real hope. Here, you’ll find peer-reviewed research and information that deepens understanding of this complex health condition.

Trusted Statewide and National Resources

These trusted resources provide evidence and analysis that inform effective recovery practices and measure meaningful impact.

What the Evidence Shows About Recovery

Research and emerging insights help explain how recovery works, how the brain heals, and how connection and hope support long-term recovery.

How Recovery Spreads in Communities

Recovery does not occur in isolation. Research shows that recovery spreads through relationships, shared identity, and social networks, creating pathways for hope, belonging, and sustained change. Understanding recovery as a social process helps explain why connected communities and peer support are essential to long-term recovery outcomes.

Social Transmission of Recovery as a Helix of Connectivity, Not a Service Checklist: A Conversation with Dr. David Best

The Contagion of Hope

Hope plays a powerful and measurable role in recovery. The “contagion of hope” describes how seeing recovery lived out in others increases motivation, belief, and engagement in recovery for individuals and communities alike. This perspective reframes recovery as a public health process that grows through visibility, connection, and shared purpose.

Community Recovery as a Public Health Intervention: The Contagion of Hope — David Best & S. De Alwis

Building Recovery Capital Through Connection

Recovery outcomes improve when individuals have access to supportive relationships, meaningful roles, and community resources. Research on recovery capital shows that social and community factors—such as belonging, opportunity, and empowerment—play a central role in sustaining recovery over time.

C-CHIME: Seeing the Connected Forest Through the Individual Trees — A Cascade Model of Building Recovery Capital Through Community and Connections

How the Brain Changes and Heals in Recovery

Addiction affects how the brain functions, particularly systems related to decision-making, reward, and impulse control. Ongoing research shows that with time, stability, and support, many of these brain changes can improve—helping explain why recovery is possible, but also why it takes patience and sustained care.