Please Note: The Council on Chemical Abuse is not affiliated with Clean One Clean All (COCA) Recovery Houses in Reading, although they share the same acronym.
Stigma Reduction: A Media Toolkit
The Council on Chemical Abuse has developed a Stigma Reduction Media Toolkit to guide journalists and communications professionals in presenting information related to addiction while avoiding stigmatizing language, concepts, and images.
The toolkit includes info about:
Person-first language: Words like “addict” and “alcoholic” are stigmatizing because they define the person by the disease. The toolkit contains recommended words/terms.
The disease of addiction: The American Society of Addiction Medicine defines addiction as “a treatable, chronic medical disease involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment, and an individual’s life experiences.”
Family impact: When interviewing a family member, privacy and vulnerability must be respected.
Reducing stigma: Articles that focus on recovery, use positive or neutral images and include information about addiction as a treatable condition help reduce stigma.
Respecting people’s comfort levels: Speaking about recovery is a personal choice.
