At the end of June I wrote in my blog that I was going to take a month’s break, so that I could focus on a book about recovery I am writing and to spend a little more time ‘being’ rather than ‘doing’. I came back exhausted from my five-week UK trip in April/May visiting peer-led addiction recovery communities, and my family and friends. After plugging away for a number of weeks on my return to Perth, Western Australia, I realised I needed a break.
My trip involved visits to recovery communities in Wales—Eternal Media in Wrexham and North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC) in Bangor—England (BAC O’Connor in Burton-on-Trent) and Northern Ireland (ARC Fitness in Derry/Londonderry). I gave a total of nine talks and spent a good deal of time conversing with staff and other members of the community who were on their recovery journey. I had the most wonderful of times.
The exhaustion was not just from all that I was doing whilst in the UK. I used up a great deal of emotional ‘energy’ from all that I saw in those recovery communities and by the way that I was treated in each community. In fact, I was humbled by the way people responded to my visits. And I was so inspired by all what was going in these places of healing. This was what I had dreamed of all those years ago when I was running our Wired In grassroots initiative.
I was so inspired by these visits that I decided I needed to write a book on addiction recovery that included sections focused on these particular recovery communities and the people involved in their development. One major theme I’m working on is centred around the idea of ‘Transforming Pain Into Power’, through not only helping others find recovery, but also having a positive impact on the wider community. So in this period away from uploading content on Recovery Voices I’ve been busy working up this idea, interviewing people, and writing parts of the book. Quite a challenge, I can tell you.
I’ve also taken the opportunity to watch the Olympic Games from Paris. I love a variety of sports, in particular athletics and track cycling, and have a number of sporting heroes. I’ve been glued to the the TV for long periods in the morning, catching up on what happened overnight. We are six hours ahead of Paris. You could hear my cheering around the house! As a result of this ‘Olympic’ activity, I’ve taken longer off from our Recovery Voices project than I had originally planned.
Anyway, I’ll be talking with my RV colleague Wulf Livingston on Thursday and we will make some plans about the next stages of our project. I’ll also start posting regularly on our blog again, probably three times a week.
I’ll finish this post by asking you a favour. Please tell your friends about our website and ask them to do the same. It’s very important that as many people as possible get to hear about the amazing recovery communities that exist in the UK (and further afield). We just write about some of these communities, but there are others doing great work. There is much we can learn from what they are all doing. And please remember, the voices of recovering people are inspirational and have much to teach us.
It’s nice to be back. Thank you for reading this post. PS. I love my spin bike sessions (and spin community) at my gym here in Perth. In relation to the above photo, I forgot to take my shorts when I visited ARC Fitness in Derry/Londonderry.