SMART Recovery: Self-Empowering, Science-Based Addiction Recovery Support

Self-Management and Recovery Training (SMART Recovery) is an international nonprofit organization that provides free, self-empowering, science-based mutual aid groups for abstaining from any substance or activity addiction. This article summarizes the development of the organization, the current status of face-to-face and online meetings, the characteristics of participants, the nature of the SMART Recovery approach to recovery (i.e., the intersection of what is self-empowering, evidence-based, and likely to be of use in a mutual aid group facilitated by a nonprofessional volunteer), the limited evidence of effectiveness currently available, and some of the prominent questions in need of investigation about SMART Recovery.