About the Project

Recovery Voices, developed by David Clark and Wulf Livingston, captures conversations about what works in supporting recovery from addiction, and in the development of peer-led recovery communities, from a range of individuals with lived experience, as well as friends of recovery.

We highlight common messages and learnings that come from these conversations, providing a resource for people working with, and supporting, recovery and recovery communities.

We celebrate the lives and successes of recovering people and recovery communities, and in doing so enhance the visibility of recovery and highlight what can be achieved.

We encourage the development of new peer-led recovery communities and their interaction with other initiatives.

Blogs


4th October 2026

My Visit to ARC Fitness in Derry

I then conducted a dozen more detailed interviews with these and other team members (and a person who had been attending the Family Support Group) whilst I was in Derry. I'll conduct further interviews on Zoom once I return to Australia, write these stories up, and develop...
27th September 2026

My North Wales Visit, Part 2

My main talk included describing some of the elements that facilitate recovery at NWRC, using quotes from people who had attended Penrhyn House. Such elements include hope, safety, belonging, connection, relationships, reciprocity, choice, opportunity, and story.
20th September 2026

My North Wales Visit, Part 1

On Friday morning, I attended the Service of Remembrance and Hope at St Deiniol's Cathedral in Bangor, a service 'In memory for those who have died,  and as a symbol of hope for everyone affected by addiction.' The Welcome and Opening Address were...

People


22nd June 2024

Marcus Fair, Part 2

I was fascinated by Marcus's transition from heroin addict to filmmaker. I loved his film Flipped It!, which was about addiction and how people turn it around and find recovery. He used both the police and people who had been in trouble with the police in making the film. I am so impressed by what has been achieved by Eternal Media...
21st September 2023

James Deakin, Part 3

James Deakin covers a range of topics relating to the functioning of North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC). These topics included NWRC trying to create as many recovery pathways as possible, involving various mutual aid groups holding meetings at NWRC's Penrhyn House; the power of 'the group' in helping individuals...
15th September 2023

Dr. David McCartney

Dr. David McCartney, Founder of Lothians and Edinburgh Abstinence Programme (LEAP), talks about the development of his drinking problem whilst working as a GP in an inner-city practice in Scotland. He describes an unsuccessful attempt at sobriety, which involved a medical approach focused on prescribing. In crisis, he...

A RECOVERY COMMUNITY PROVIDES:

Hope
Understanding
A sense of belonging
Acceptance and support
Engagement in meaningful activities
Opportunity to give back to others

A RECOVERING PERSON:

Gains a stronger motivation to change
Possesses an enhanced self-esteem
Becomes an empowered citizen
Overcomes stigma (shame)
Finds a sense of purpose
Acquires a new identity

Communities


10th August 2023

Towards Recovery

Towards Recovery offers a Recovery Cafe in Henley-on-Thames, as well as an online Recovery Cafe, where people recovering from addiction, can get support and encouragement. It aims to help people connect with others, re-connect with themselves and the world around them, and make sustainable changes to create a life of...
10th August 2023

North Wales Recovery Communities

North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC) comprises a number of communities, including a residential rehab at Penrhyn House, Growing for Change, with its gardens and allotments, and Bwyd Da Bangor (Good Food Bangor), a community cafe/restaurant that provides the best food on the High Street. Penrhyn House offers space for various...
10th August 2023

Eternal Media

Eternal Media is a media production social enterprise and charity, located in Wrexham, that makes high impact documentary films. Their professional, award-winning producers empower and mentor volunteer film crews, which comprise people who are rebuilding their lives and are recovering from addiction and/or an involvement in...

Stories


6th October 2024

Developing ARC Fitness: Gary Rutherford

Gary realised he now had to do a lot of work on himself. For example, he wasn’t a confident public speaker. He decided to create a ‘Thought for the Day’ video every day, which has resulted in over 300+ short films on YouTube that are focused on various aspects relating to recovery.
12th September 2023

Recovery, Connection & Hope: David McCartney

After seeing an advert in the British Medical Journal, David phoned the Sick Doctors Trust Helpline. He talked to a doctor in recovery who told his personal story. ‘His story connected with me in a way the tablets hadn’t.’ David had found hope. He also heard for the first time the idea...
6th October 2024

Government & Recovery: Tim Leighton

The Conservatives developed the first drug strategy, Tackling Drugs to Build a Better Britain, which became an attack on drug-related crime. In the following years, drug problems were treated more as a criminal justice issue, rather than a health issue. People began to be placed on opioid substitution (often methadone) treatment...

Themes


15th September 2023

Stigma

Our interviewees talk about various aspects relating to the stigmatisation of people who have had a past drug or alcohol problem.  David McCartney describes the negative reactions of a doctor who was assessing him as part of the process of determining whether he was eligible to receive benefits after he had come out of a treatment...
13th September 2023

Trauma and Addiction

James Deakin says: ‘For the vast majority of us it [addiction] is self-management of an underlying condition, it’s self-medication, or it’s just using any drink or drug to move away from a set of feeling[s] for a period of time.’ Addiction is often a symptom of a psychological problem, such as the impact of trauma. When people arrive at Penrhyn House, the residential part of North...
9th October 2023

Giving Back, Part 2

James Deakin emphasises that people with addiction problems cause a large cost to society, so it’s important that when they’re getting well they give something back. As he started to help others, he realised that there was so much value to giving back, and to be recognised as a positive, upstanding member of the community.

Extras


21st September 2023

Senior Australian of the Year 2021: Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann

‘Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann (AO) is an Aboriginal Elder from Nauiyu (Daly River), where she served for many years as the principal of the local Catholic primary school. She is a renowned artist, writer, activist and public speaker, a remarkable spirit-filled woman known for her reflections on Dadirri (inner deep listening and...
16th September 2023

‘Healing is in Our Stories’ by Deron Drumm RIP

'The beautiful people that I am so grateful to know have found meaning in despair and have found the strength and courage to seek out their current life path. There is no question that they are stronger and more compassionate people because of their experiences.'
13th September 2023

Sapphire’s Recovery Story: ‘It Should All Be About the Person’

They believed that I didn’t need the same dose of methadone as I wasn’t now using illicit or unprescribed drugs, ignoring the fact that it was because of this dose of methadone that I was able to abstain from other drugs and alcohol. Their logic seemed to be...

About us


Testimonials


  • David’s work across many decades has laid the groundwork for words and practices that today trip off the tongue, such as ‘recovery movement’ and ‘cultural trauma’. The Recovery Voices website brings his insights from the field into one home. It also invites us to the meal table within that house. He and his collaborator Wulf Livingston rightly reserve a special seat for the people and communities whose stories we must hear into full expression to move towards genuine reconciliation. Thank you, David, for your continued groundbreaking work and the wholehearted way you convene us into the heartland of an alternative future. Cormac Russell, Author of Rekindling Democracy and Co-author of The Connected Community.

  • I’m glad that this new website has been launched—it’ll help people share their experience of what it means to be human and help remind them of the simplicity of the recovery journey to wholeness. Congratulations to my friends David, Wulf, and colleagues—their dedication to helping others navigate their humanness is something I’ve long admired. Wynford Ellis Owen, Former CEO at Living Room Cardiff, Wales
  • Congratulations on the new website! Bill White (Addiction Recovery Advocate, Historian and Researcher)
  • The new resource Recovery Voices digs into the lives and experiences of people who, in recovery themselves, spend time with others seeking, or in, recovery from addictions. In identifying themes, it draws out the rich diversity of experiences, showing how there is no single 'grand narrative' of recovery, no single 'recipe', just lots of people living out their own authentic lives in ways that they greatly prefer. The site represents a tonne of voluntary work from David Clark in Australia and Wulf Livingston in Wales. Their collaboration in itself shows how recovery seeds in, and spreads from, the spaces between people in relationships. Professor Wendy Dossett, University of Chester, England
  • I’ve been learning from David’s websites for over 20 years now, and his new Recovery Voices initiative with Wulf Livingston has added a new dimension to my experiences. I love the films and through them I am ‘meeting’ new people, discovering exciting recovery community initiatives, and learning even more about recovery and related matters. It’s a little university… and it’s only just begun! Michael Scott, Australia (45 years in recovery from alcohol addiction, 40 years as a drug and alcohol treatment practitioner)