The Prevention Leaders Podcast
Lived Experience, Earned Resilience, and the Real Power of Prevention
11 min
Listen on SpotifySummary
In this solo episode, Dave explores the connection between prevention and recovery. He discusses how lived experience and earned resilience serve as crucial prevention tools, aiming to challenge addiction stigma, change public narratives, and empower individuals to build meaningful lives.
Key takeaways
- Understand why recovery stories should be valued and why this perspective needs to change.
- Learn about the scientific basis for recovery as an effective prevention tool.
- Discover the five shared pillars between prevention and recovery.
- Explore strategies to reframe the stories we tell ourselves and others.
Show notes
After a short break, Dave is back, fresh from speaking at the 68th Commission on Narcotic Drugs at the United Nations in Vienna. Inspired by that global conversation with Shane Varcoe from the Dalgarno Institute, this solo episode dives deep into the overlap between prevention and recovery.
Dave explores why lived experience and earned resilience are essential prevention tools and how we can challenge the stigma around addiction, shift public narratives, and help people build lives they don’t want to escape from.
🔑 In This Episode:
• Why recovery stories are often dismissed, and why that needs to change
• The science behind recovery as a powerful prevention tool
• Dave’s personal journey from structure and control to healing and purpose
• The 5 shared pillars between prevention and recovery
• How to rewrite the stories we tell ourselves, and each other
💬 Featured Quote:
“You don’t just prevent something, you create something better.”
📌 Resources Mentioned:
• Learn more about the Dalgarno Institute: https://www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au
• Connect with Dave: https://www.daveclosson.com
📣 Stay Connected:
If this episode resonates, share it with a colleague or friend in prevention or recovery, and don’t forget to hit Follow so you never miss a new conversation. Prevention is better together.
More episodes from The Prevention Leaders Podcast
October 7, 202658 min
How SAFE Project Is Strengthening What Protects Us
This episode features Ronna Yablonski and Adam Swift from SAFE Project, who discuss the organization's comprehensive approach to substance misuse prevention. They emphasize that prevention is an ongoing, daily effort that involves individuals, families, and communities. The conversation highlights how SAFE Project strengthens protective factors before, during, and after a crisis, particularly for veterans.
ListenAugust 12, 202647 min
Culture Is Prevention: Protective Factors, Belonging, and Strength-Based Prevention with Barbara Bessette
This episode of The Prevention Leaders Podcast features Dave Closson and Barbara Bessette, an enrolled member of the Chippewa-Cree Tribe Rocky Boy. They explore how reconnecting with culture, identity, belonging, and community can be a powerful substance misuse prevention strategy. Bessette shares her insights on approaching prevention through an Indigenous lens, emphasizing protective factors and moving beyond deficit-based narratives.
ListenJuly 2, 20261 hr 3 min
Fall, Feel, Rise: Hope Tour, Fourth Wave Foundation, and the Practice of Resilience
This episode, a collaboration with the Unnecessary Harm podcast, explores resilience with the architects of World Resiliency Week 2026, Adam Woods and Sneha Patiyathal. They discuss the critical practice of resilience in diverse cultural contexts, focusing on community-rooted and relationship-centered prevention work for young people. The conversation highlights on-the-ground efforts in schools and communities across Australia and India.
ListenJune 24, 202651 min
The Pulse of Resilience: Why Falling, Feeling, and Rising Matters
This special multicast episode, originally recorded with the Dalgarno Institute for their podcast Unnecessary Harm, explores the 2026 World Resiliency Week campaign theme, "The Pulse of Resilience: Fall, Feel, Rise." Guests Dave Closson and Jen Schneeman discuss resilience as a rhythm rather than a destination, drawing on diverse fields such as trauma recovery and prevention science. They offer a hopeful conversation about navigating adversity and building stronger individuals and communities.
ListenYour people are waiting.
Join a private community built only for prevention professionals. Look around, meet your people, and choose your membership when you're ready.