It’s been a funny ten days since getting back to Perth. I had the usual jet lag (lying awake for hours at night), and then had an adverse reaction to my flu and Covid vaccinations (probably due to the latter) which knocked me about badly for 24 hours, accompanied by a trapped nerve in my lower back. I’m writing this post Sunday afternoon and all is good now. I’m hoping to get back to my spin bike in the gym in the morning after a short break due to the latter problems.
Time for an update on the five most viewed blog posts in May. I also realised I didn’t do the same for April, so I’ll do that as well. Firstly, the top five for May, in reverse order:
5. Simply Awesome!: Moel Eilio Walk
The scenery was simply stunning…. The conversation I had with my walking colleagues, all in recovery from addiction but Wulf, was stimulating, enjoyable, fun (lots of laughs) and inspiring. Once again, I realised that I learn more about life from people who have come through the adversity of addiction than from ‘normies’.
4. A Full Day at Penrhyn House
Wulf and I had a focus group session with NWRC members that was concerned with finding out: (1) what factors at Penrhyn House most benefit members’ recovery journeys and (2) in what way—how did these factors impact on the person? We were also concerned in whether the importance of these factors changed over time.
3. Higher Power & Powerlessness: Wendy Dossett
‘I think if you were to try and understand 12-step culture just by looking at what was written in the 1930s, you’re not going to really understand what 12-step culture is. You need contemporary ethnographic data to understand how people take up ideas, reject ideas, interpret ideas.’
2. Visiting ARC Fitness Recovery Community, Part 2
On the morning of Wednesday, 8 May, I presented two talks to an audience of around 30 people, which included the ARC Fitness team and some of the people attending their organisation’s activities, as well as invited guests from the North-West of Ireland who were working in the addiction recovery and related fields.
1. Visiting ARC Fitness Recovery Community, Part 1
I’ve detailed the roles and qualifications of the ARC team to give you a feel for the variety of skills on tap for people who access services provided by the organisation. I got a really good feeling meeting all the team members—they were incredibly passionate about what they do. They say that recovery is contagious, and I have no doubts that there is a massive recovery contagion in the ARC gym and offices. You could feel the healing ‘atmosphere’. It was really good chatting with team members and people who were accessing ARC for help on their recovery journey.
The fact that the top two blog posts are about ARC Fitness probably reflects in large part the fact that people associated with this recovery community are promoting and sharing our posts about their initiative really well. Thank you!
And the most visited blog posts for April, again in reverse order.
5. Usual Suspects: Eternal Media
We covered a good deal of ground [in our discussion for a forthcoming podcast] 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 Media and NWRC; and how recovery communities survive in the wider system of treatment and support.
4. 37th Anniversary: John Crace [posted in March, still ‘going strong’ in April]
‘Barring any last minute relapses, tomorrow will be the 37th anniversary of my getting clean. No drugs, no alcohol. I call that a result. I had no idea what I was doing really when the 30-year-old me walked through the entrance of the rehab centre on the morning of 9 March 1987.’
3. Why Recovery Communities?
Whilst in North Wales, I will be spending time in two special recovery communities, North Wales Recovery Communities (Bangor) and Eternal Media (Wrexham). I’m really excited! I’ve learnt so much about these communities by listening to Wulf’s interviews with the two community Founders, James Deakin and Marcus Fair, respectively, as well as my own interviews with these inspiring characters.
2. Retirement Announcement: Phil Valentine
‘With a mixture of sadness, anticipation, nostalgia, and pride, I announce my decision to retire as executive director of the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR), effective October 4, 2024, the day before my 65th birthday. With my recent 2nd cancer diagnosis and the death of my parents two years ago, I’ve plummeted into a consistent state of contemplation where I’ve wrestled with a gnawing question: what do I do with the time I have left?’
1. Beginnings of North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC): Wulf Livingston
James told Wulf that he had a vision for the place and asked him what he thought. He wanted to use the place for a recovery community and call it North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC). He considered it very important that NWRC was not like a traditional rehab, ‘sealed off’ from the community in which it is embedded. James wanted the residential part of NWRC to be integrated with the surrounding community.
In the top photograph, I am having dinner with members of ARC Fitness, along with Gary and Sarah Rutherford’s lovely daughter Zoey. 7 May 2024.