This week’s posts on Recovery Voices have been devoted to Marcus Fair and his exciting recovery initiative Eternal Media, which is based in Wrexham, North Wales. I just love what Marcus and his crew are doing. I was fortunate enough to visit The Bunker in April this year and meet Marcus and his colleague Lucke Gabriel, who is Head of Post-Production at Eternal. It was a most stimulating and inspiring experience.
Marcus and his team receive commissions to make films for health boards, the police and prisons. They take out people in recovery as crew members for this work, helping them to gain valuable experience. People in recovery also participate in Recovery in Focus courses run by Eternal Media. They are skilled up in various ways in using their mobile phone cameras to take photographs. They are taught about composition, lighting and various other matters, and taken to a variety of locations. They visit photography exhibitions, and also learn how famous photographers look at things.
However, there is another important element of these participatory activities organised by Eternal Media, as described in the film below. People learn other skills essential for their recovery journey, which help them connect with others and gain a sense of belonging, enhance their self-esteem and confidence, and help reduce feelings of worthlessness. And these changes occur ‘under the radar’, as Marcus calls it.
If you enjoy watching this film, you might want to learn more about the Recovery In Focus initiative run by Eternal Media.