About the Project

Recovery Voices, developed by David Clark and Wulf Livingston, captures conversations about what works in supporting recovery from addiction, and in the development of peer-led recovery communities, from a range of individuals with lived experience, as well as friends of recovery.

We highlight common messages and learnings that come from these conversations, providing a resource for people working with, and supporting, recovery and recovery communities.

We celebrate the lives and successes of recovering people and recovery communities, and in doing so enhance the visibility of recovery and highlight what can be achieved.

We encourage the development of new peer-led recovery communities and their interaction with other initiatives.

Blogs


8th August 2026

Flipped It!: A Film That Changed Lives, Part 2

’All the fear, all the anxiety, all the pain left me. The emotions were still there, I was still raw, I was still crying. I was still coming to terms with the person I was, the person I was becoming, but all the pain had gone.'
7th August 2026

Flipped It!: A Film That Changed Lives, Part 1

Nick explains that ‘through his life, one pain-in-the-backside officer, Alec Owen,’ an inspector with Merseyside police, never gave up on him. Whenever he was arrested, Alec turned up to see him, just wanting to help him.
6th August 2026

Premiere of ‘Flipped It!’: Marcus Fair MBE Story, Part 7

... people were standing and cheering when someone was being interviewed. Every now and again there was a standing ovation. People were laughing and crying throughout. At the end of the film, the place erupted.

People


25th March 2024

Gary Rutherford

There is an infectious enthusiasm that runs through the interview. It is combined with a real sense of passion and drive. We hear of Gary’s own formative experiences and use. His move out of addiction and into nursing, and from this the recognition of a void in support for others. This void was initially filled in by Gary in his spare time...
12th February 2024

Rhoda Emlyn-Jones OBE

What is so remarkable about this interview, and in a sense what I continue to learn from Rhoda, is how the best of practice is built on the most obvious, but often neglected, cornerstones of honesty, respect and understanding.... Rhoda provides us with a clear message about the value of hope and strengths over negative...
18th September 2023

Wulf Livingston

Wulf Livingston talks about his early hedonistic drug and alcohol use, life as a successful chef, and qualification as a social worker. He then worked with the drug and alcohol charity Lifeline in England, CAIS and later the Probation Service in North Wales. Wulf later joined academia, eventually becoming Professor of Alcohol...

A RECOVERY COMMUNITY PROVIDES:

Hope
Understanding
A sense of belonging
Acceptance and support
Engagement in meaningful activities
Opportunity to give back to others

A RECOVERING PERSON:

Gains a stronger motivation to change
Possesses an enhanced self-esteem
Becomes an empowered citizen
Overcomes stigma (shame)
Finds a sense of purpose
Acquires a new identity

Communities


10th August 2023

North Wales Recovery Communities

North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC) comprises a number of communities, including a residential rehab at Penrhyn House, Growing for Change, with its gardens and allotments, and Bwyd Da Bangor (Good Food Bangor), a community cafe/restaurant that provides the best food on the High Street. Penrhyn House offers space for various...
10th August 2023

Towards Recovery

Towards Recovery offers a Recovery Cafe in Henley-on-Thames, as well as an online Recovery Cafe, where people recovering from addiction, can get support and encouragement. It aims to help people connect with others, re-connect with themselves and the world around them, and make sustainable changes to create a life of...
10th August 2023

Eternal Media

Eternal Media is a media production social enterprise and charity, located in Wrexham, that makes high impact documentary films. Their professional, award-winning producers empower and mentor volunteer film crews, which comprise people who are rebuilding their lives and are recovering from addiction and/or an involvement in...

Stories


7th December 2023

Working in the Welsh Treatment System: Wulf Livingston

I first met Wulf in Colwyn Bay in 2000 when he was working with the treatment service CAIS. Over the course of a number of meetings in those early years of the new millennium, I found Wulf to be very well-informed and someone who really cared about the people he was...
13th July 2026

Addiction & Early Recovery: Rob Havelock & Lianne Jones

He was always guilty of romanticising a life which involved him sitting in a pub with his pint, being Jack the Lad, and enjoying the company of his mates. He soon relapsed into drinking. However, he found only a short-lasting enjoyment from alcohol.
19th September 2023

Recovery Friendly Universities: Wendy Dossett

This Recovery Friendly University Pledge is an official commitment to welcoming and supporting people in recovery, valuing the contribution they make, reducing the barriers to university for people in recovery, and fostering a supportive environment that enables...

Themes


9th July 2026

Being a Couple in Recovery: Rob Havelock & Lianne Jones

Rob agrees with Wulf that he and Lianne were an exception to the commonly held view that romantic relationships don’t work for people who are in early recovery. He points out that their relationship put them in a somewhat difficult situation. ‘What did we say to other...
4th February 2025

Nature of Recovery Communities: David Best

When David and colleagues run their Inclusive Recovery Cities workshops, they encourage individuals and groups to engage with four quadrants: sport, art and recreation; employment, training and education; volunteering and community involvement, and mutual aid and recovery...
25th March 2024

Addiction, Recovery, Meaning & Identity: Tim Leighton

Tim emphasises that addiction can be very damaging—it damages relationships, self-esteem, and social capital. There is some sort of legacy when you come out of addiction that needs to be mended. A very big hole where addiction used to be. In a way, recovery is about filling...

Extras


19th September 2023

Impact of a Loved One’s Substance Use Problems on Family Members

If two close family members (a conservative estimate) were affected, this meant that there were at least 4.2 million people in the UK alone living with the negative consequences of someone else’s drug and/or alcohol problem.
10th September 2023

The Impact of Colonisation

The impact of colonisation on Indigenous peoples has been similar in a number of countries, including Australia, Canada, America and New Zealand. In her book Trauma Trails: Recreating Songlines, Professor Judy Atkinson describes how the control of Indigenous peoples by the coloniser was facilitated by three main types of power abuse or violence—overt physical violence, covert structural violence, and psychosocial domination.
19th September 2023

What is distinctive about an ABCD Process – Four Essential Elements: Cormac Russell and John McKnight

‘The primary goal of an Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) process is to enhance collective citizen visioning and production. This paper discusses each of four essential elements in detail in an effort to...

About us


Testimonials


  • David’s work across many decades has laid the groundwork for words and practices that today trip off the tongue, such as ‘recovery movement’ and ‘cultural trauma’. The Recovery Voices website brings his insights from the field into one home. It also invites us to the meal table within that house. He and his collaborator Wulf Livingston rightly reserve a special seat for the people and communities whose stories we must hear into full expression to move towards genuine reconciliation. Thank you, David, for your continued groundbreaking work and the wholehearted way you convene us into the heartland of an alternative future. Cormac Russell, Author of Rekindling Democracy and Co-author of The Connected Community.

  • I’m glad that this new website has been launched—it’ll help people share their experience of what it means to be human and help remind them of the simplicity of the recovery journey to wholeness. Congratulations to my friends David, Wulf, and colleagues—their dedication to helping others navigate their humanness is something I’ve long admired. Wynford Ellis Owen, Former CEO at Living Room Cardiff, Wales
  • Congratulations on the new website! Bill White (Addiction Recovery Advocate, Historian and Researcher)
  • The new resource Recovery Voices digs into the lives and experiences of people who, in recovery themselves, spend time with others seeking, or in, recovery from addictions. In identifying themes, it draws out the rich diversity of experiences, showing how there is no single 'grand narrative' of recovery, no single 'recipe', just lots of people living out their own authentic lives in ways that they greatly prefer. The site represents a tonne of voluntary work from David Clark in Australia and Wulf Livingston in Wales. Their collaboration in itself shows how recovery seeds in, and spreads from, the spaces between people in relationships. Professor Wendy Dossett, University of Chester, England
  • I’ve been learning from David’s websites for over 20 years now, and his new Recovery Voices initiative with Wulf Livingston has added a new dimension to my experiences. I love the films and through them I am ‘meeting’ new people, discovering exciting recovery community initiatives, and learning even more about recovery and related matters. It’s a little university… and it’s only just begun! Michael Scott, Australia (45 years in recovery from alcohol addiction, 40 years as a drug and alcohol treatment practitioner)