I am fascinated by how recovery communities develop over time, and by what makes them work effectively, so that they impact positively on the lives of people who are trying to overcome addiction and related problems. Here, Gary Rutherford describes the magic that has occurred with ARC Fitness, the recovery community he founded in Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
What’s Been the Magic? [8’54”]
In response to Wulf’s question, Gary says that the team of people at ARC have contributed to the magic and success of the organisation. All but one person have been there from the start of the journey. Team members work in areas where their strength shines through. They get the fact that ARC is an evolving and emerging organisation. Gary believes that this is really helpful because they know that ARC is not always going to look this way and they know that we are all figuring this out together. People around Gary have been so instrumental in the development of ARC, and they believe in him. The culture in the organisation is so good that he would struggle to replicate the model if he were to take it somewhere else.
The Board have also been very important, as have the key people in Gary’s life. His wife Sarah is a therapist in the team, and she keeps him grounded. When he comes home after firefighting all day and then receives another e-mail about something, she’s able to navigate that really well.
Being open and honest is also very important. Gary accepts that he doesn’t have all the answers. The people of Derry and the north-west of Ireland have also been very supportive. Doors have opened that he hasn’t pushed.
Gary believes that success has come because the team have done things right. There has been the element of professionalism, the lived experience, the accountability, and the safety. Compassion and hope are key. Whilst some people accessing ARC have been lost along the way, a lot more have found recovery and are doing well in their life.
Gary points out that there was a time when ARC was trying to do everything. However, as part of their honesty and transparency, the ARC team recognised that they either do everything by half, or they do what they do really well. And that meant saying ‘no’ to things, which Gary points out was sometimes difficult. Being honest with themselves has been key.
ARC is not a Young Person’s service. It is not a crisis service, and this point is very important. They are a Tier 2 service. They may have nurses, but they are not a Tier 3 or 4 service. Gary points out that they needed to be very clear to their referral pathway partners. ‘We are a recovery service; we are not a crisis service.’ If anyone in the ARC community falls into crisis then the team does support them. They then use the same referral pathways as anyone else would, i.e. the person would be referred using health service pathways to the local crisis service. ‘It’s about knowing who you are and knowing who you’re not.’
Gary says that there is a small caveat here. ARC does some private and corporate work, because they need to pay the bills. They run employee assistance programmes and wellbeing workshops. They have the appropriate skill sets within the team to do this, and they accept that things sometimes have to be done through necessity. These activities are also done to an exceptionally high standard. Gary believes that having such high standards, which many community voluntary sector organisations have, is extremely important.
Wulf describes Marcus Fair’s organisation Eternal Media which does free recovery-related work, as well as paid commercial work for government bodies and other organisations, both of which are done to the highest of standards.
Gary points out that ARC does a lot of things with different research partners who talk about sample sizes and various other numbers in their results. However, he gets the pleasure of hearing on a daily basis of people who have run marathons since they’ve achieved recovery, or are doing triathlons, or they’ve got their kids back from care. They may be back at school, or they are working, or they are now addiction recovery coaches with a professional accreditation. They may now support other people.
‘That’s the magic. And that’s the stuff that’s really difficult for people to see. And I get the pleasure of having that around me all the time. And there’s something really nice about that. There’s something really nice to see people on their journey…. Actually, watching people. And not necessarily an easy watch sometimes. Sometimes people have to go through a lot of hardship, and a lot of challenges when they are trying to find their feet. But to see people come out of that other side is just a beautiful thing to see.’