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It is not often that someone in our field is asked by government to have one’s research form the basis of a national model and/or programme. This is what happened to Rhoda Emlyn-Jones OBE when the Welsh government set about trying to integrate all...

I had been asked by Gary Rutherford, Founder of ARC Fitness, to share some of the understanding I have formed over the last 20 years about what are Recovery Organisations, why they work, and what enables them to flourish. [Post includes a pdf of presentation slides.]

'Most clients entering a treatment environment / relationship do so with fear and ambivalence. The fear is the fear of an alien environment, the feeling of vulnerability and lack of control, and the suspicion that they are in a place where they will not be understood or accepted. The ambivalence embraces both the passionate desire to continue the drug relationship and the whimsical and desperate hope that something...

Wendy states the key message that she wants to get more widely known, including in professional and clinical circles, is the ‘diversity and creativity of  people who engage with that concept and how they interpret it.’ These people are not just sitting back and accepting...

Dr. David McCartney is asked what one word best describes the essence of recovery. 'Hope,' he replies. 'Of course, you can't prescribe hope, it doesn't come in a bottle...' Huseyin Djemil describes someone on methadone who sat amongst a group of recovering people... and asked ‘How do I get what they’ve got.’

Shame often plays an important role when a person is developing and/or has developed a drinking problem. In the first clip here, David McCartney describes how shame was part of a major epiphany in his life. He was asked by a woman if he would see her brother and talk about his drinking problem. On the way home after seeing her...

One of the seven Community Game Changers whose head is now floating on a lake in St. James's Park is Marcus Fair of Eternal Media. A huge CONGRATULATIONS to Marcus for his Award! And to all the team at Eternal Media as they have obviously contributed to the winning of this Award. Here is what the article said about Marcus.

I can't believe that I missed the 1st birthday of Recovery Voices last week. Mind you, my colleague Wulf Livingston missed the date as well. I put it down to the fact that we are both very busy, not that we are losing our marbles. So we launched Recovery Voices on 8 September 2023...

I saw everything that day, that reinforced my previous understanding of ARC Fitness as one of the great examples of what is a Recovery Community. How they are a unique blend of their people, place and passions. The sense of ARC Fitness not only as a community...

I wasn't going to post anything today, but I just couldn't resist posting a link to this amazing film, created by the ARC Fitness team, about the conference. It really captures the atmosphere at the event and each time I watch it I feel very emotional. Coldplay's song 'A Sky Full of Stars' helps create the atmosphere.

Two key features of recovery have led to the important maxim: 'I alone can do it, but I can’t do it alone.' Firstly, recovery is something that comes from the person—they do the work. Treatment practitioners don’t ‘fix’ a person, they catalyse the person’s self-healing processes.

'Instead, I learned that both the power and the possibility of change reside within me. I could make decisions that would affect my life.  But I found I could not do this alone. I needed a supportive community around me. Slowly and gradually I found people who understood. I found friends and support people who could help me hold the hope...'

Some of the kindest, strongest, empathetic and impressive people that I have met in my life have overcome addiction. They are much more than the sum of their problems. So as a society we need to stop judging people on the issues that are in their lives and that they're facing and look at it through a different lens...

The sociality of recovery provides meaning and identity. For many people, addiction attenuates their life meaning. Recovery restores meaning. Most people get meaning from relationships, from being able to give and receive, to have fun with other people, and share experiences with...

It's four months to the day that I visited ARC Fitness Recovery Community in Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland. I still think fondly of that amazing visit. In fact, I miss this vibrant city and the wonderful people I met at ARC. It's amazing how I've been so affected by my visit.