David Clark

28th August 2024

Overlooking Fundamental Truths: Bessel van der Kolk

The brain-disease model overlooks four fundamental truths: (1) our capacity to destroy one another is matched by our capacity to heal one another. Restoring relationships and community is central to restoring well-being; language gives us the power to change ourselves...
27th August 2024

What Helps Most?: Rhoda Emlyn-Jones OBE

Rhoda goes on to say: 'There are general universal things that we need to do to respond well to people. And the most unhelpful thing to do is to create stereotypes, to label people, to block people from the help at the moment they are inviting it in. Give people...'
26th August 2024

Descent Into Addiction: Dr David McCartney

David started to drink more and more to alleviate his increasing anxiety. He eventually realised that his drinking levels were not that different to the people who were coming to see him for their alcohol problems. However, he rationalised that he could not have a...
21st August 2024

Giving Back: James Deakin

One of the themes behind developing Bwyd Da Bangor (Good Food Bangor), the NWRC cafe/restaurant on the High Street, ‘was to try and be of service to other marginalised communities within the wider community.’ NWRC grows food, through their Growing for Change initiative, which it supplies to a number of local...
20th August 2024

Factors That Facilitate Addiction Recovery, Part 2

This was probably the first time that I realised that my addiction wasn’t about a particular substance, but was about my way of thinking or perception of reality. The substance was in fact my solution to my inability to live at peace with myself. Coming to accept that I, rather than...
19th August 2024

Factors That Facilitate Addiction Recovery, Part 1

The first essential factor for a person to be able to recover is hope. This hope is based on a sense that life can hold more for one than it currently does, and it inspires a desire and motivation to improve one’s lot in life and pursue recovery. Hope is the catalyst of the...
14th August 2024

Recovery in Focus #5: Eternal Media

Photographs become so much more than pictures once you’ve been on Recovery in Focus! Our location shoots took us to Liverpool, Colwyn Bay, Parys Mountain, Llandudno and Lligwy. And the workshops taught photography skills, support in building robust recovery toolkits, alongside learning how to use photography...
13th August 2024

My Reflections and Wulf’s Past Life

... Wulf told me about his chef days. My clearest memory about those conversations was Wulf telling me how much drinking and drugging went on amongst chefs. It was an occupation to escape or avoid! He also told me about his actions described in the film below, his helping young people. Seeds of what was to come in his later life...
12th August 2024

Back From My Break

Please tell your friends about our website and ask them to do the same. It’s very important that as many people as possible get to hear about the amazing recovery communities that exist in the UK (and further afield).... And please remember, the voices of recovering people are inspirational and have much to teach us. 
27th June 2024

Taking a Break

I've therefore decided to take a period away from our Recovery Voices project, so that I can focus more on the recovery book I want to write and spend more time 'being'. This post will be my last until the beginning of August. This focus on book writing and 'being' time is all the more important in that I have a significant...
26th June 2024

Therapeutic Effects of Eternal Media: Marcus Fair

Marcus and his team receive commissions to make films for health boards, the police and prisons. They take out people in recovery as crew members for this work, helping them to gain valuable experience. People in recovery also participate in Recovery in Focus courses...
25th June 2024

Second Theme Clip Playlist: Marcus Fair

‘But the other skills they are getting are all being fed in under the radar, the confidence, the self-esteem. The sense of worthlessness is going. You know, that self-loathing that us addicts have had in addiction. It’s overwhelming that self-loathing. And that kind of goes and people don’t even know. All they know is that...
24th June 2024

David’s Conversation With Marcus Fair

I am so impressed by what has been achieved by Eternal Media, both in terms of helping large numbers of people in their recovery journey from addiction and/or offending behaviour, and by the high quality of the film projects that the team has made. And the fact that Marcus has survived the constant challenge of finding funding...
22nd June 2024

Marcus Fair, Part 2

I was fascinated by Marcus's transition from heroin addict to filmmaker. I loved his film Flipped It!, which was about addiction and how people turn it around and find recovery. He used both the police and people who had been in trouble with the police in making the film. I am so impressed by what has been achieved by Eternal Media...
20th June 2024

Theme: Mutual Aid, Part 1

Wendy Dossett points out that at mutual aid group meetings, no-one is better than anyone else. ‘Everyone has done the same shit.’ At the end of the clip, she says, ‘But for navigating a path to recovery from addiction, the central kind of emotional journey that that is, you’re so much better off with somebody who’s trod that path...