All Posts

15th September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 15th September 2023
Categories

Dr. David McCartney

Dr. David McCartney, Founder of Lothians and Edinburgh Abstinence Programme (LEAP), talks about the development of his drinking problem whilst working as a GP in an inner-city practice in Scotland. He describes an unsuccessful attempt at sobriety, which involved a medical approach focused on prescribing. In crisis, he...
Do you like it?
Read more
15th September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 15th September 2023
Categories

Stigma

Our interviewees talk about various aspects relating to the stigmatisation of people who have had a past drug or alcohol problem.  David McCartney describes the negative reactions of a doctor who was assessing him as part of the process of determining whether he was eligible to receive benefits after he had come out of a treatment...
Do you like it?
Read more
15th September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 15th September 2023
Categories

The Magic in Recovery Communities

The first essential factors for a person to be able to recover are hope and a sense of belonging. Hope is based on a sense that life can hold more for one than it currently does, and it inspires a desire and commitment to pursue recovery. People in recovery describe the importance of having hope and believing in the...
Do you like it?
Read more
15th September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 15th September 2023
Categories

From Recovery to Methadone: Huseyin Djemil

Methadone maintenance became more the norm, rather than clinical detoxes. After Huseyin left the prison service, prisoners who had detoxed after being addicted to opiates were encouraged to go on methadone before being released into the community. They were told: 'You could die out there'.
Do you like it?
Read more
15th September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 15th September 2023
Categories

Journeys, Part 2: Living With Heroin Addiction

For some heroin addicts, everyday life can be reduced to simply responding to the body’s needs—finding the funds to pay for heroin to be used that day (which might involve acquiring and then selling items), purchasing, and then taking the drug. This can become a full-time job...
Do you like it?
Read more
14th September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 14th September 2023
Categories

Iain’s Recovery Story: ‘This is Me’

I then decided that enough was enough, the script had to stop. I realised that if I didn’t do something about getting off methadone, I could end up getting stuck in a situation where the methadone kept getting increased. This was something I wanted to avoid at all costs, since I would be just changing one dependency (an illegal one) for...
Do you like it?
Read more
14th September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 14th September 2023
Categories

Healing Trauma – Overlooking Fundamental Truths: Bessel van der Kolk

The reality is that there is little evidence that mental illness is caused by specific chemical imbalances (the brain disease model), or that psychiatric drugs are actually beneficial to people in the long-term.
Do you like it?
Read more
14th September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 14th September 2023
Categories

The Healing Forest

'It means that we must actively heal the community and its institutions at the same time an individual works on his or her own healing from alcohol or drugs or other unwell behaviours. The individual affects the community and the community affects the individual. They are inseparable from the point of view of addiction recovery.'
Do you like it?
Read more
14th September 2023
Author: Wulf Livingston & David Clark Posted: 14th September 2023
Categories

James Deakin

James Deakin describes his drug-dealing days in Manchester and cocaine addiction. He begins his recovery journey after moving to Bangor, and spends ten years as a chef before becoming a mental health worker and then a Drug Interventions Programme (DIP) worker. He becomes disillusioned with the treatment system...
Do you like it?
Read more
14th September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 14th September 2023
Categories

A Family Trauma: Huseyin Djemil

Huseyin’s earliest memory, from when he was three or four years old, was being terrified whilst he stood in his pyjamas in a hallway with lots of commotion going on around him. Someone picks him up and whisks him away. Later, he learns that his father had just killed someone in their house. As he grows up, he hears stories of that day...
Do you like it?
Read more
14th September 2023
North Wales Recovery Communities
Author: David Clark Posted: 14th September 2023
Categories

Giving Back, Part 1

James Deakin points out that a major ethos of North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC) is to be of service to the wider community of Bangor and further afield. He emphasises that the social cost of addiction is huge. One of the great things about recovery is that people actually get well and gain strength by giving their time and...
Do you like it?
Read more
14th September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 14th September 2023
Categories

Journeys, Part 1: Descent Into Heroin Addiction

There’s no sign that says, ‘you’re now entering addiction’, there’s no big sign that says, ‘you’ll need to stop now, if you go once more that’s you’. You just cross that line and you don’t realise you’ve crossed it until you try to stop. I didn’t think about withdrawal symptoms...
Do you like it?
Read more
14th September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 14th September 2023
Categories

North Wales Recovery Communities

North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC), located in Bangor, was founded by James Deakin in 2014. 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...
Do you like it?
Read more
13th September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 13th September 2023
Categories

Sapphire’s Recovery Story: ‘It Should All Be About the Person’

They believed that I didn’t need the same dose of methadone as I wasn’t now using illicit or unprescribed drugs, ignoring the fact that it was because of this dose of methadone that I was able to abstain from other drugs and alcohol. Their logic seemed to be...
Do you like it?
Read more
13th September 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 13th September 2023
Categories

‘What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing’: Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey

'Many of us experience adversity that has a lasting impact on our physical and emotional health. What happens to us in childhood is a powerful predictor of our risk for health problems down the road and offers scientific insights into the patterns of behaviors so many struggle to understand. Here, Winfrey shares stories from her own...
Do you like it?
Read more
123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536