Extras

22nd September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 22nd September 2023
Categories

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...
Do you like it?
Read more
22nd September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 22nd September 2023
Categories

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…’
Do you like it?
Read more
22nd September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 22nd September 2023
Categories

‘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.”'
Do you like it?
Read more
22nd September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 22nd September 2023
Categories

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...
Do you like it?
Read more
22nd September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 22nd September 2023
Categories

Three Things to Know About Mental Health and Trauma

‘Human beings are human beings. We don’t change our minds because a bunch of scientists publish a set of recommendations and issue them.... Those don’t change public opinion. What changes people are the storytellers in our society.'
Do you like it?
Read more
21st September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 21st September 2023
Categories

Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD), Part 2

'In every community, there are connectors: people who value relationships more than single issues and care about community building more than problem solving. Often in the art of finding connectors, it helps to remember it takes one to know one, so once you’ve...'
Do you like it?
Read more
21st September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 21st September 2023
Categories

Michael’s Recovery Story: ‘The Power of Empathy and Compassion’

I needed to interact with other people and I believe that this is a key element of recovery. Connecting with people and engaging in meaningful activities, interacting with others and communicating. I’d love to see more recovery-related activities in my hometown...
Do you like it?
Read more
21st September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 21st September 2023
Categories

Senior Australian of the Year 2021: Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann

‘Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann (AO) is an Aboriginal Elder from Nauiyu (Daly River), where she served for many years as the principal of the local Catholic primary school. She is a renowned artist, writer, activist and public speaker, a remarkable spirit-filled woman known for her reflections on Dadirri (inner deep listening and...
Do you like it?
Read more
21st September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 21st September 2023
Categories

Untangling the Elements Involved in Addiction Treatment

We concluded that treatment needs to involve a socially engaging environment with multifaceted activities in which clients can learn, implement new skills, and receive feedback from a variety of sources (practitioners, peers, others in recovery, and family members), in order to...
Do you like it?
Read more
21st September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 21st September 2023
Categories

Safety and Reciprocity in Mental Health: Bessel van der Kolk

'Social support is not the same as merely being in the presence of others. The critical issue is reciprocity: being truly heard and seen by the people around us, feeling that we are held in someone else’s mind and heart. For our physiology to to calm down, heal and...'
Do you like it?
Read more
20th September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 20th September 2023
Categories

Aboriginal healing practices for loss and trauma: Bruce Perry

These Aboriginal healing practices are repetitive, rhythmic, relevant, relational, respectful, and rewarding; they are experiences known to be effective in altering neural systems involved in the stress response in both animals models and humans. The remarkable resonance of these practices with the neurobiology of trauma is not unexpected.
Do you like it?
Read more
20th September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 20th September 2023
Categories

Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD), Part 1

'Everyone has a gift (they are born with), a skill (they have learned and practiced, and could potentially share/teach), and a passion (that they act on) that they can contribute to the wellbeing of their community. Social movements grow stronger...'
Do you like it?
Read more
20th September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 20th September 2023
Categories

Kevan’s Recovery Story: ‘He’s a Loser and Will Never Be Any Good’

So, I started a support group for people with alcohol problems in my own home. I often used to meet people that I had been in treatment with out and about, and eventually I started to say, ‘Come down to my place Tuesday night.’ Within a month, I had six people...
Do you like it?
Read more
20th September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 20th September 2023
Categories

Cocaine: The Experience of Using and Quitting

The researchers were ‘pleasantly surprised’ by the relative ease with which so many cocaine users managed to quit. Their strategies were in general fairly commonsensical social avoidance strategies designed simply to put distance between themselves and the drug.
Do you like it?
Read more
20th September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 20th September 2023
Categories

Fulfilling Trauma’s Hidden Promise: James Gordon

Dr Gordon briefly refers to several topics, but the main focus of his talk is on the Center’s work in Gaza. He starts by describing how he is sitting in Shigeo, a Gaza suburb bombed out during the war with Israel, with a group of eight children who have lost their fathers. He’s working with the children in a healing circle group.
Do you like it?
Read more
12345