Assoc Professor David Patton

Queer recovery capital

Dr David Patton is an associate professor in criminology at the University of Derby, a researcher, writer and keynote speaker. His work focuses on creating a different way forward, one that avoids either fighting systems head‑on or submitting to them through compliance. Through initiatives such as New Central Media Publishing, his work changes how people are seen and heard, supporting lived experience authors to become published writers, speakers, and contributors to wider conversations about justice, recovery, and society, including presenting at the United Nations, in Parliament and HMPPS and the Department of Health.

He is a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy with over 25 years of experience in higher education.  He is an international keynote speaker and has presented at the United Nations on several occasions. His current research includes international collaborations with the World Federation of Therapeutic Communities and partners across Latin America and Africa. His broader academic and community work seeks to transform systems of recovery and justice into spaces of healing, inclusion, and hope.

David sees things differently. His work begins with a simple observation: when systems fail people, they shape what people believe is possible,  both for themselves and in the eyes of the professionals working in those systems. David works with organisations, systems, and professionals to rethink the logics that dominate their work and to reflect on the unintended harms those logics can produce. He also works with experts by experience to understand how these same logics can silence, sanitise, and silo their participation and voice.

Inspired by standing at the margins and seeing people and systems from that perspective, David’s work has led to four edited books, 51 paid and published lived experience authors, and the training of more than 150 people in recovery as researchers, contributing to a global atlas of what works in addiction recovery. David’s work is about creating spaces where a different future quietly begins to take shape, then spreads.

PRESENTATION DETAILS

Queer Recovery Capital: Regenerating sources of support and healing

Explore Queer Recovery Capital, an innovative framework that extends the concept of recovery capital (personal, social, and community resources supporting long-term recovery from addiction) to address the unique experiences of LGBTQ+ people. Drawing on lived experience narratives and participatory research, examine how queer communities regenerate sources of support and healing by building affirming identities, relational networks, and creative spaces that challenge heteronormative recovery systems. Gain insights into decolonial, inclusive approaches that centre authenticity, belonging and collective transformation in recovery pathways.

Learning objectives

At the end of this presentation, delegates will be able to:

  • Define and differentiate Queer Recovery Capital from traditional recovery capital models, identifying how LGBTQ+ identities and experiences shape personal, social, and community resources for healing and sustained recovery
  • Recognise barriers and generative opportunities in mainstream recovery systems for queer individuals, and affirming strategies
  • Apply key principles from queer recovery capital to professional practice, policy or community initiatives in addiction recovery.

 

Recent Publications:

 Patton, D. (2026) ‘The Generative Culture of Recovery: the intersection of coloniality, utopian visioning and generative justice’, in McNeill, F., Corcoran, M. & Weaver, B. (eds.) Generative Justice: Beyond Crime and Punishment. Bristol: Bristol University Press.

Patton, D, & Day, E (2025) ‘Lived Experience Recovery Organisations: Epicentres for personal change and collective transformation’, New Central Media.
Best, D; Collinson, B; Patton, D (2025) ‘Community Recovery Capital and How it Contributes to Building Recovery Capital at the Individual Level’; The Recovery Capital Handbook; Bristol University Press.

Patton, D, Brierley, A & Wheatley, M (2025) ‘Recovery Capital Pathways Through Prison’ , New Central Media.

Patton, D & Nisic, M (2025) ‘Women’s Recovery Capital Pathways’, New Central Media.

Nisic, M., Best, D., Patton, D., Ford, T., & Heine, S. (2025). What constitutes a women’s recovery from addiction? Examining lived experiences and recovery capital of women from diverse European backgrounds. Addiction Research & Theory, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2024.2446861