I was thinking earlier today how lucky I am to be working in the addiction recovery field and in being a recovery advocate. And also how lucky I am to have caught up with my Recovery Voices colleague from North Wales, Wulf Livingston. I hadn’t seen him for many years before I visited him and his lovely wife Mel in September 2022. There, Wulf and I decided to develop the Recovery Voices project. Here is something I posted as a Story back in December 2023, along with a film clip from one of my conversations with Wulf where he talks about his days as a chef.
‘I sometimes ask myself why I like working in the addiction recovery field so much. It doesn’t take me long to come up with the answers and they are always the same. I am fascinated by how people come through so much adversity in overcoming their addiction, and so often the other problems that arose as a consequence of their addiction, or preceded it and were a significant factor in its development. I love the fact that they go on to lead valued and meaningful lives, often helping other people on there journey to recovery.
There is also something special about being around people who are trying to turn their lives around or have done so. And seeing them help each other. I love the human interactions I see when I visit recovery communities. And I guess I’ve never really liked seeing people struggling in their lives. And I don’t like social injustice, something that close friends tell me has been part of my character for a very long time.
I saw the same personality characteristics in Wulf when I first met him back in 2000. I could see that he cared passionately about other people, the adversities that they faced, and finding ways to help them. I guess in a way it is no surprise that we’ve come together all these years later to develop this Recovery Voices initiative.
At the time we first met, Wulf told me about his chef days. My clearest memory about those conversations was Wulf telling me how much drinking and drugging went on amongst chefs. It was an occupation to escape or avoid! He also told me about his actions described in the film below, his helping young people. Seeds of what was to come in his later life, the signs of a special person who cares about others.’
The above photograph was taken during our walk with Sober Snowdonia on 28 April 2024.
