Published May 18, 2026 | Version v1
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The Structural Architecture of Relational Recovery: An Empirical Blueprint for Non-Carceral, Community-Led Support Networks

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Contemporary institutional psychiatry relies on carceral containment, individual pathologization, and continuous psychopharmacological receptor alteration to manage acute psychological and somatic distress. While this model achieves short-term behavioral modification, long-term longitudinal data demonstrates high rates of functional attrition, neurocognitive decline, and social alienation. This paper establishes an empirical, operational blueprint for an alternative paradigm: the non-carceral, community-led relational recovery network. Rooted in an open-system epistemology, we present the structural architecture of the "Hometree" model—a decentralized network of residential, research-oriented sanctuaries designed to facilitate genuine somatic stabilization and functional normalization. Synthesizing data from polyvagal neurobiology, heart rate variability (HRV) metrics, and the person-in-environment (PIE) social work paradigm, we demonstrate that stabilizing severe psychological distress requires the systematic cultivation of relational co-regulation and material safety rather than clinical surveillance. We outline the concrete mathematical, economic, and logistical coordinates necessary to operate these networks independently of commercial managed-care structures, providing a scalable map for community-financed collective preservation.

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The_Structural_Architecture_of_Relational_Recovery__An_Empirical_Blueprint_for_Non_Carceral__Community_Led_Support_Networks.pdf

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