David Clark

I believe that we who care about addiction and the environment must continue the heroic rescue work, but I also believe that the even more essential task is getting rid of “the-son of-a-bitch upstream,” i.e., the vicious cycle that is described by the global, historical view of addiction.

David describes two important questions about recovery communities or groups: Can the connectedness of recovery communities inspire similar changes more broadly across the wider community? Can they be the glue or the inspiration for re-engaging a range of excluded and marginalised groups and individuals?

James believes that trauma-related matters are badly under-resourced... He points out that numbers of men who were affected by institutional sexual abuse are ‘basically full-on addicts’ and have been for years. Everyday people only see these men’s addiction; they don’t see the traumatised children who sit behind it all.

We are fundamentally social creatures—our brains are wired to foster working and playing together. Trauma devastates the social-engagement system and interferes with cooperation, nurturing, and the ability to function as a productive member of the clan... Yet institutions that deal with traumatized children and adults all too often...

Researchers are beginning to suggest that reaching the tipping point of addiction recovery may have as much to do with community factors as intrapersonal factors. Recovery advocates and clinicians are calling for creation of a "healing forest"-- "naturally occurring, healing environments that provide some of the corrective...

He was a GP like me and he had drunk in a similar way to me and he had the same kind of consequences as me and he felt the same as me. He was a few years into his recovery and I identified and connected with him to the degree that I suddenly thought, “Oh my God, if he can do it, maybe I can do it.” I probably must have felt...

We know from an examination of our history that people typically recover in the context of community. It flourishes in environments where individuals feel a sense of belonging and purpose. In spaces of mattering. Places where people can share their gifts of recovery, what they have learned through transformation and earned...

‘Addiction and recovery are more than something that happens inside someone. Each involves deep human needs in interaction with a social environment. For addicts, addiction meets a multiplicity of needs and the culture of addiction provides a valued cocoon where...

Climbing is made up of a series of stages, moving from one foothold or one grip to another. One small movement followed by another… and then another. Concentration and focus are needed. In this regard, there is a close analogy with the recovery process.

Gary went to a running club and did the miles by himself. He loved that because ‘that was me in my head’. However, whenever he did strength training and CrossFit, it was community-focused. You did it in a group and everybody was in it together. In the ARC group sessions, when everybody does the same thing at the same time...

'And if you're ever looking for inspiration or a realisation of how well life is, all you've got to do is look at some of these guys and look at where they’re up to, what they’re going through, and what they’ve been dealing with. And nine times out of ten, they're doing it with a smile on their face as well.’

The first part of the film, Totally Addicted, involves three inmates talking about the effects of Spice, how it is very addictive, and the serious adverse reactions that people experience with the drug, e.g. intense anxiety, paranoia, dissociation. The drug is obviously getting into HMP Berwyn and impacting badly on some of the inmates.

It turned out they would be, for what turned out to be the seven of the loneliest years of my life. During this time, I didn’t touch one drop of alcohol. Yet it still had me by throat, strangling every waking day. I was in a continual...

I'm back to posting on my Recovery Voices blog after nearly three weeks away. Mind you, I haven't been away anywhere or even resting full-time at home. Just been busy finishing one of the books I'm writing, as well as helping out on a new initiative that has been developing in North Wales.

The first line of response should be support imbedded within relationships that are natural, reciprocal (non-hierarchical), non-professionalized, non-commercialized, and potentially enduring. Such relationships are to be found, not within a treatment center, but within the...