David Clark

12th October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 12th October 2023
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Building a Recovery Community, Part 2: Wulf Livingston

Wulf points out that critical to the success of NWRC is that members have access to plenty of free environmental space on their doorstep. No-one has charged them for taking a walk on a beach or going up a mountain. It is more difficult to create a similar entity in a large city...
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12th October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 12th October 2023
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Hope

'The results of that first meeting, and the effect on my life, were immense. I’m certain that there is a small element of hope—or faith or some kind of spiritual flame—that burns inside us all. I believe it’s never completely extinguished, but can become so dim that it’s almost invisible to us. It was rather like that flame was fanned by my...'
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12th October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 12th October 2023
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Practices in 12-Step Recovery: Wendy Dossett

How can there be such an atmosphere of non-judgement when you have hard core language like ‘moral inventory’? Wendy believes that part of the reason for this is that in mutual aid recovery communities no one is better than anyone else. ‘Everyone has done the same shit.’
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11th October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 11th October 2023
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Building a Recovery Community, Part 1: Wulf Livingston

The first of a three-part Themes series focused on building a recovery community, with my colleague Wulf Livingston using developments over time at North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC) as an example. In 2015, Wulf was asked by James Deakin, the Founder of NWRC...
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11th October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 11th October 2023
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People Need Choice & Opportunity: David McCartney

David experienced a sudden and profound change in the quality of his life, and he felt an immense gratitude for ‘having another shot of life’. At one stage, he couldn’t have cared if he had gone to sleep and not woken up. He then suddenly had his enthusiasm and spirit back...
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10th October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 10th October 2023
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Being Heard: Huseyin Djemil

In the film clip below, Huseyin Djemil describes a project he had previously commissioned that involved giving homeless people in Aylesbury cameras to record their experiences on the street. The project participants were given the option of being anonymous when the project report was prepared.They didn't want to be anonymous...
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10th October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 10th October 2023
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A Recovery Community History: CCAR, The First Twenty Years

I’ve been following the work of Phil Valentine and his colleagues at the Connecticut Community of Addiction Recovery (CCAR), a peer-led recovery community in the US, for many years. They have been doing great things and leading the way with a number of their initiatives.
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9th October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 9th October 2023
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David Clark on Towards Recovery’s ‘Journeys’ Podcast

After researching biological mechanisms underlying addiction for many years, I spent time with practitioners and clients at a treatment agency in Swansea, WGCADA, where I learnt a good deal about the nature of recovery and the elements that facilitate treatment.
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9th October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 9th October 2023
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Giving Back, Part 2

James Deakin emphasises that people with addiction problems cause a large cost to society, so it’s important that when they’re getting well they give something back. As he started to help others, he realised that there was so much value to giving back, and to be recognised as a positive, upstanding member of the community.
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6th October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 6th October 2023
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Until the Lion Learns To Write: Huseyin Djemil

Huseyin mentions the proverb, 'Until the lion learns to write, all the stories will be from the hunters' perspective.' He emphasises that the present sorts of video and the recovery-related content on the Recovery Voices website are the lion learning to write.
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5th October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 5th October 2023
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Nature of Recovery, Part 2

Marcus Fair, Founder of of Eternal Media, emphasises that he was a very busy addict. When someone like him gets into recovery, they are thinking, ‘How I am going to fill those 24 hours? If you can’t remember what you used to do, or you were a kid when you got onto drugs, and you have no outside interests… now what?’
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3rd October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 3rd October 2023
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Latest Stories Posts Focus on Wulf Livingston

I just wanted to let you know that I have posted three Story posts today, all of which focus on my Recovery Voices colleague Wulf Livingston. These posts follow on in the vein of our 15 earlier posts, in this moving from Wulf's early drug and alcohol use, through to his early and...
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3rd October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 3rd October 2023
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Seeding Recovery in North Wales: Wulf Livingston

Wulf points out that all this activity reached a threshold of community that has led to the positive things that exist in North Wales today. He says there are about 20-30 like-minded people spread across North Wales, many of whom have been around a long time. They all know...
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3rd October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 3rd October 2023
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Learning From Lifeline: Wulf Livingston

A number of aspects related to the ethos of Lifeline, and the way the charity operated, impacted on Wulf in a positive way. A number of the staff had ‘lived experience’ of drug-taking and some were on methadone scripts. Staff were in control of the amount of time they spent with the people they were helping, and they saw...
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3rd October 2023
Author: David Clark Posted: 3rd October 2023
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Hedonistic Drink & Drug Use: Wulf Livingston

I first met my Recovery Voices colleague Wulf Livingston in 2000 when Becky Hancock and I were conducting the Drug and Alcohol Treatment Fund (DATF) evaluation in Wales. The local evaluator for North Wales, Anni Stonebridge, used to organise our meetings when...
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