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9th October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 9th October 2023
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David Clark on Towards Recovery’s ‘Journeys’ Podcast

After researching biological mechanisms underlying addiction for many years, I spent time with practitioners and clients at a treatment agency in Swansea, WGCADA, where I learnt a good deal about the nature of recovery and the elements that facilitate treatment.
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9th October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 9th October 2023
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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.
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6th October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 6th October 2023
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Until the Lion Learns To Write: Huseyin Djemil

Huseyin mentions the proverb, 'Until the lion learns to write, all the stories will be from the hunters' perspective.' He emphasises that the present sorts of video and the recovery-related content on the Recovery Voices website are the lion learning to write.
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5th October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 5th October 2023
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Nature of Recovery, Part 2

Marcus Fair, Founder of of Eternal Media, emphasises that he was a very busy addict. When someone like him gets into recovery, they are thinking, ‘How I am going to fill those 24 hours? If you can’t remember what you used to do, or you were a kid when you got onto drugs, and you have no outside interests… now what?’
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4th October 2023
Author: Wulf Livingston Posted: 4th October 2023
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A Service of Remembrance and Hope – Celebrating Living and Lived Experience

On Friday 29th September, North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC) held their first full service of remembrance and hope. We gathered in Saint Deiniol’s Cathedral, Bangor, and expressed gratitude for being alive and kicking; and regret and sorrow for those...
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3rd October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 3rd October 2023
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Latest Stories Posts Focus on Wulf Livingston

I just wanted to let you know that I have posted three Story posts today, all of which focus on my Recovery Voices colleague Wulf Livingston. These posts follow on in the vein of our 15 earlier posts, in this moving from Wulf's early drug and alcohol use, through to his early and...
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3rd October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 3rd October 2023
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Seeding Recovery in North Wales: Wulf Livingston

Wulf points out that all this activity reached a threshold of community that has led to the positive things that exist in North Wales today. He says there are about 20-30 like-minded people spread across North Wales, many of whom have been around a long time. They all know...
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3rd October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 3rd October 2023
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Learning From Lifeline: Wulf Livingston

A number of aspects related to the ethos of Lifeline, and the way the charity operated, impacted on Wulf in a positive way. A number of the staff had ‘lived experience’ of drug-taking and some were on methadone scripts. Staff were in control of the amount of time they spent with the people they were helping, and they saw these people in...
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3rd October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 3rd October 2023
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Hedonistic Drink & Drug Use: Wulf Livingston

I first met my Recovery Voices colleague Wulf Livingston in 2000 when Becky Hancock and I were conducting the Drug and Alcohol Treatment Fund (DATF) evaluation in Wales. The local evaluator for North Wales, Anni Stonebridge, used to organise our meetings when...
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2nd October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 2nd October 2023
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Our First Week: Recovery Voices

Our new website, Recovery Voices, is officially one week old. I thought I'd give you an initial update in this blog post. First of all though, I'd like to thank all of you who have visited the website and those who have signed up as Followers of our Recovery Voices Facebook page—which we will be using to inform you of new content posted...
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22nd September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 22nd September 2023
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Natalie’s Recovery Story: ‘I Didn’t Plan To Be An Addict’

You have to realise my state of thinking prior to that first group meeting in the treatment agency. Once I had become addicted to heroin, I did not see that there was any alternative to the life I was living. I didn’t know anyone who had overcome heroin addiction. I had never heard...
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22nd September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 22nd September 2023
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My Trip to Nauiyu, Daly River, 2015

'Dadirri is inner, deep listening and quiet, still awareness… When I experience dadirri, I am made whole again. I can sit on the riverbank or walk through the trees; even if someone close to me has passed away, I can find my peace in this silent awareness. There is no need of words. A big part of dadirri is listening…’
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22nd September 2023
Author: Wulf Livingston & David Clark Posted: 22nd September 2023
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Marcus Fair

Marcus Fair, Founder of Eternal Media, describes his descent into an addiction to heroin and crack cocaine that lasted 25 years. His last visit to prison saved his life and helped him conceive the idea of Eternal Media, based on the 'Now What?, which makes high impact documentary films and is an inspiring recovery...
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22nd September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 22nd September 2023
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‘The Connected Community’ by Cormac Russell and John McKnight

'These community stories of much to teach us about getting better at being human together. The late South African theologian Bishop Desmond Tutu popularised the term Ubuntu, which means “a person is a person through other people”, or “I am because we are.”'
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22nd September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 22nd September 2023
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Factors That Facilitate Addiction Recovery

Recovery is something done by the person with the substance use problem, not by a treatment practitioner or anyone else. Professional treatment or engagement in mutual aid groups may facilitate recovery, but they do so by catalysing and supporting natural processes of...
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