A Meaningful Moment for Recovery Storytelling
There are moments when you pause and realize that something built quietly, organically, and collectively over many years has reached further than you ever imagined.
I recently had the honor of attending the launch party at Northeastern University for Dani Snyder-Young’s new book, Sticking Stigma: Performance, Affect, and the Movement of Social Norms.
It was a deeply meaningful experience, not simply because our Recovery Storytelling intervention is featured in an entire chapter, but because it represented something much larger: recognition for the many people who have courageously shared their stories over the years.
From Community Workshops to Academic Research
Dani and I first worked together in 2019-2020, when she conducted research on Recovery Storytelling through Northeastern University.
At the time, I don’t think any of us could have imagined where that collaboration would lead.
Recovery Storytelling has always been a peer-led, community-based, and deeply human process.
Over the last nine years, it has been shaped by countless individuals who walked into our workshops carrying enormous challenges and chose to share their stories with honesty, vulnerability, and bravery.
Together, we built something rooted in connection, dignity, and community. At its core is the belief that storytelling can change how people see themselves and how society sees them.
To see that work now honored through Dani’s research, and documented in a published book, is incredibly moving.
The Dedication That Left Me Speechless
But the moment that truly humbled me came when Dani showed me the dedication page.
The dedication simply reads: “For Meghann and Alisa.”
Dani shared that this body of work, and the research that became this book, would not exist without the conversations and collaborations we shared.
She explained that our work together introduced her to the relationship between stigma, art, and performance, and inspired her to further explore how activist performance projects can redistribute social power and challenge the systems that reinforce stigma in society.
That kind of acknowledgment is difficult to put into words. When you spend years doing community-based work, you rarely stop to think about how far its impact might travel. To hear that these conversations and collaborations helped shape an entire body of academic research was incredibly humbling.
Hearing that nearly brought me to the floor.
Celebrating the Broader Impact
One of the most rewarding parts of this journey has been watching the ripple effects of this work continue to expand into new spaces, disciplines, and communities.
It was also incredibly meaningful to see my dear friend and MPG team member, Elizabeth Addison, recognized in the book as well, with her musical This is Treatment receiving an entire chapter.
Moments like these reinforce how powerful creative and community-centered approaches can be when addressing stigma, recovery, and social change.
I’m deeply grateful to Dani for seeing us, seeing this work, and understanding its impact.
I also want to extend equal gratitude to Dr. Alisa Lincoln, Director of Northeastern University’s Institute for Health Equity and Social Justice Research, who has long championed both Dani’s work and ours.
Why Partnerships Like These Matter
Partnerships like these help bridge the gap between grassroots community work and academic research. They bring lived experience into spaces where systems and policies are shaped.
Most importantly, they help get meaningful, human-centered interventions into the hands of the communities that need them most.
Too often, community work and academic research operate separately from one another. What made this collaboration special was the way it honored both lived experience and rigorous inquiry equally. That combination creates opportunities for interventions like Recovery Storytelling to reach more communities and create lasting change.
My hope is that this chapter, literally and figuratively, helps Recovery Storytelling reach even more people.
Stories Have Power
When people are given the space to tell them safely, honestly, and publicly, stigma begins to lose its grip. That has always been the heart of Recovery Storytelling, and it is why this recognition feels so meaningful.
My hope is that this chapter helps introduce Recovery Storytelling to even more communities, practitioners, researchers, and advocates who are searching for ways to create connection, reduce stigma, and empower people through shared experience.