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The programme, conducted over a 12-week period, involves teaching people in a collaborative group environment necessary skills to support long-term recovery. For example, participants learn acceptance-based strategies and mindfulness practices that reduce...

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...

I was deeply saddened to hear from Cormac Russell of the recent passing of John McKnight, co-Founder of The ABCD Institute (DePaul University, Chicago, USA) and quite possibly the most recognised community developer in the world. The work of John and his colleagues on Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) has been...

Wulf talks about being involved with North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC) in taking eight members on a trek that involved climbing the 15 peaks in Snowdonia that are over 3,000 feet—27 hours of non-stop walking including two nights on the mountain! He points out that groups like NWRC take more risks...

These arguments are strongly supported by seminal research by Michael Chandler and Christopher Lalonde with over 200 Indigenous communities in British Columbia, Canada. They observed that whilst some Indigenous communities had suicide rates nearly 800 times the national average, others had no suicides at all.

There is a strong Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) component, to help people understand their thoughts, behaviours, cravings, and the role of environmental cues. They have a good deal of education around mental health, as addiction and mental health go very much...

When Wendy reached what she considered was her rock bottom, a time of absolute agony, she reached out for help. She didn’t go to treatment, and attributes her recovery to mutual aid. As her sobriety continued, her mental health improved incrementally.

Huseyin describes there being ten or so practitioners in the room... in effect all they were doing was operating the timetable. There were things they could do that would help not just their clients, but also themselves... many of the practitioners were thinking of leaving, despite only...

My first talk, 'My Journey From Brain Chemicals to Human Connection' mentions my career as a neuroscientist and then highlights what I learnt and the people who inspired me whilst I have since worked in the addiction recovery field, where I Iaunched the grassroots initiative Wired In.

‘Belonging and being loved are core to the human experience. We are a social species. We are meant to be in community, emotionally, socially and physically interconnected with others. If you look at the fundamental organisation and functioning of the human body, including the brain you will see that so much of...'

We covered a good deal of ground in the discussion including: how the four of us have come to be in the room together; our  individual connections with recovery; a far-reaching discussion on the nature of recovery and how it works, in particular with reference to Eternal...

'Change does not merely imply stopping use, but redefining one's entire life. It is not just about escaping addiction, but escaping the context that makes addiction meaningful, and catching up with the demands of an institutional life that they may have little or no...'

In her conversation with Wulf, Rhoda points out that when you ask people what worked most for them, they say, 'Someone  listened to me. They truly heard me and understood me.' Rhoda goes on to say: 'There are general universal things that we need to do to respond well to...'

Please check out the following short film about the 2024 Recovery Walk NI (Northern Ireland) which took place on Saturday, 28 September, a Walk organised by ARC Fitness and their local partners. I was so moved by what I viewed! Please also check out the photos from Derry Now...

I was thrilled to hear that on 1 July this year, Wendy Dossett received a Lifetime Achievement Award in the category of Recovery Researcher from Deirdre Boyd of DBRecovery at the UKESAD Conference at the Chelsea Harbour Hotel. The wording on the certificate reads...