The idea of a Blog page is that we will regularly be posting a wide variety of different content. The page will not only contain posts related to our Recovery Voices interviews, but also include key information about addiction, recovery and treatment, latest happenings within the recovery communities with which we are collaborating, and relevant news and information from the wider world. We also hope to have contributions from guest bloggers from time-to-time.
21st July 2026
The impressive success of NWRC rests on the foundation of people in recovery helping others overcome their addiction. The book highlights the importance of a variety of factors in facilitating recovery, in particular the role of connection and relationships. It shows how NWRC members have impacted positively on their local...
20th July 2026
I decided to rehabilitate myself and become a good father and husband, which involved stopping drinking and drugging. I did not access any treatment service. I worked as a chef for a period, rising up the ranks quickly. The thought of being a chef for 30 years...
16th July 2026
I just wanted to let you know that I have just added three posts to the Stories section of the website that relate to the conversation that my colleague Wulf Livingston had with Rob Havelock and Lianne Jones in March last year. Rob is Founder of Sober Snowdonia...
15th July 2026
Now, I was connecting with people and my emotions, and learning more about the latter. I felt a massive sense of achievement in giving back to others and learning about myself. The connections with these other people and the sense of belonging I experienced were very different...
14th July 2026
Grassroots recovery community organizations and new recovery support institutions offer vehicles for long-term recovery support that bridge the clinic and the community. The clinic can bolster the will to recover and the means to recover, but it is the community that must...
13th July 2026
The alcohol and drug landscape continues to remain dominated by policy and practice seeking to ‘treat’ people. Despite the oft heard phrase - ‘it is easy to get off and much harder to stay off’ - we still have a world where...
8th July 2026
The person who had the biggest impact on me was Mark Gilman. ‘Mr Gilman’—he has reverential status for me—talked about Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD), and this was a massive light bulb moment for me. Mark worked for Lifeline for four years as Director of...
7th July 2026
'I found your book incredibly moving. What you've created is much more than a book about addiction and recovery. It's a testament to the power of community, the importance of being seen and valued and the extraordinary capacity people have to transform pain...'
6th July 2026
This book highlights what can be achieved by peer-led recovery communities by focusing on North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC), based in Bangor, and founded by James Deakin in 2015. It has five primary aims: 1. To illustrate key elements that are known to...
5th July 2026
Rob and Lianne are an exception to the commonly held view that romantic relationships don’t work for people in early recovery. Their relationship put them in a somewhat difficult situation. What did they say to other people...
4th July 2026
In this inspirational book, a series of personal stories are interwoven into chapters focusing on how the exciting initiative North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC), which is based in Bangor, is helping people recover from serious substance use problems and related issues.
1st July 2026
Tasty canapés were provided prior to my first talk, which was focused on addiction recovery and 'My Journey From Brain Chemicals to Human Connection', to an audience of around 30 people. We then had a gorgeous dinner...
30th June 2026
Us residents were surrounded by people in recovery who had what we wanted and from whom we could learn so many different things. One could cherry pick what one wanted to know and use, and without even knowing it...
29th June 2026
I joined and was soon inspired to write a play, which members really liked. I ended up directing the 40-minute play, which was about how drug and alcohol misuse can destroy people’s lives. I was offered a job with TAPE...
24th June 2026
What was my rock bottom? It was every morning! I would lie there when I came around in ‘bed’, wherever that might be, on a mate’s sofa or in a car park, and experience a heart-sinking feeling, an overwhelming...