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Written by Dr. Kim Wilson, independent health economist and Dr. Sierra Castedo de Martell, Senior Researcher at The Phoenix and expert in the economic analysis of peer-recovery support services.
The full report this blog is based on can be read here.
Funders want to know what their investment buys. For nonprofits in the substance use recovery space, answering that question is hard. Measuring the economic impact of a program, such as changes in healthcare use or involvement with the criminal legal system, takes time, expertise, and funding that most organizations don’t have.
The Phoenix is no exception. We collect demographic and engagement data on members, but our picture of how members’ lives change has historically come from cross-sectional surveys that only a small, self-selected share of members complete. The organization’s Belonging & Becoming Study is designed to collect the data needed to firmly establish the organization’s impact and to be able to quantify it in economic terms in the future.
In 2023, we surveyed Phoenix members to begin understanding how they perceived their lives had changed since joining The Phoenix. The survey included the Strengths and Barriers to Recovery Scale (SABRS), a measure of recovery capital: the internal and external resources a person can draw on to start and sustain recovery.
The Phoenix version of SABRS asked members whether they had each of 33 strengths and barriers when they joined The Phoenix and whether they have them now. 73% of those who completed the SABRS items also identified as being in recovery.
Some SABRS items can be converted into economic value. So, Dr. Kim Wilson (independent economist leading the analysis and co-author of this blog), chose five that had the best economic evidence: two strengths (exercising regularly and volunteering) and three barriers (smoking tobacco, untreated mental health or emotional problems, and criminal justice system involvement).
SABRS responses from 563 people in recovery were used to estimate outcomes for the approximately 39,000 Phoenix members in recovery who participated in an in-person or livestreamed event in the community in 2025. The analysis estimated how many members gained a strength or experienced a reduction in a barrier in each area. Per-person costs from published reports and scientific articles were then applied to estimate the economic value of those changes. Where possible, conservative estimates were used, so the results may understate the value.
Every one of the five areas moved in a positive direction:
Untreated mental health or emotional problems: 34% down to 5%
Smoking tobacco: 32% down to 15%
Criminal justice system involvement: 22% down to 3%
Volunteering: 33% up to 45%
Exercising regularly: 54% up to 71%
Translated into annual societal savings (using an estimated 38,184 adults in recovery who participated in Phoenix events in 2025), that comes to:
Reduced smoking: $98.8 million
Reduced untreated mental health or emotional problems (net treatment costs): $60.8 million
Increased regular exercise: $16.6 million
Reduced criminal justice system involvement: $11.4 million
Increased volunteerism: $8 million
Total: $195.5 million per year for engaged Phoenix members in recovery
(NOTE: Figures do not sum due to rounding)
For years, The Phoenix has seen how recovery can transform a person’s life and influence the people around them. Now, this analysis offers a way to understand that impact on a broader scale, translating some of the changes members report into an estimated economic value for society.
SABRS wasn’t designed for this kind of analysis, and we’re candid about its limits in the report. It does have a real advantage, however - it’s easy for members to complete and has been widely used in the recovery field. In nonprofit settings, research has to work within real limits on time and resources. That makes a practical, easy-to-complete tool like SABRS especially valuable. This analysis made the most of the tool and the data available to begin answering a difficult question: what is the broader economic value of the changes members report?
The biggest takeaway is this. Recovery transforms the lives of individuals and their families, and beyond that, its economic value to society is enormous.
We are excited to deepen this work in the Belonging and Becoming study with new research. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to the team at researchandevaluation@thephoenix.org
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