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’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.'

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.

... 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.

So, I had to find as actors, the worst of the worst who had turned their lives around. Luckily, I had friends in low places. I also had to deal with my film crew of three police officers, who were not happy being seconded to...

That was part of the beauty of Flipped It. Absolutely nobody knew what they were doing, whether it be on the police side or on the people in recovery side of things. It totally levelled the playing field that everybody, bar me...

I discovered then the power of storytelling. If you want to change people's opinions, then you’ve got to get them to listen to a story. You can show them charts and graphs and make a solid business case, but it’s not going to have the same impact as creating an emotional buy-in...

That was the first time that I saw what I now know is the transformation of pain into power. Her power, in this instance, was to show me that recovery was possible! So, I thought, ‘Maybe I can do this recovery?’ However, I was still filled with fear.

James Deakin set about developing the NWRC Recovery Programme within Penrhyn House, attended by both residents and outside community members, with the aim of creating as many elements as possible that facilitate...

I gradually expanded my shares and I found that people started to cry whilst listening. I started to realise that people genuinely understood me for the first time ever. After the meeting, people would come up to me and say that the same things had happened to them and they... 

‘...that most of the work of recovery happens in the person’s life outside of treatment relationships and settings. In addition to belonging and hope, the successes and pleasures the person needs to experience in order to gain a sense of agency are more likely to occur—and to be personally relevant and gratifying when they do occur—as part of intrinsically meaningful activities that...

So, on Saturday 25th July, seven organisations, predominantly from North Wales, will be represented on the Lakeland 50 start line by eleven individuals, largely people in recovery from addiction and many other forms of adversity. It’s a tough undertaking, make no bones...

Number 7 was the 100-mile walk in Pembrokeshire in 2023. My first experience of the whole week away with NWRC. Counselling, logistics, negotiation, catering, and foot care. Tears, tantrums, laughter, and blisters.

James submitted a funding application for the DWP’s (Department of Work and Pensions) Flexible Support Funding programme run through his local Job Centre. He set up a charity, North Wales Recovery Communities...

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...

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.