The idea of a Blog page is that we will regularly be posting a wide variety of different content. The page will not only contain posts related to our Recovery Voices interviews, but also include key information about addiction, recovery and treatment, latest happenings within the recovery communities with which we are collaborating, and relevant news and information from the wider world. We also hope to have contributions from guest bloggers from time-to-time.
14th January 2025
First of three parts of the story of the therapeutic photography course developed by Jill Whittingham, Lead Therapist at Eternal Media, to facilitate connection and recovery. Looking through the lens of a camera gives a new and creative way to tell stories of addiction and recovery. The course is run by Jill and Lucke Gabriel.
13th January 2025
My talk was primarily based on information provided in the excellent book 'What Happened To You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing' by renowned trauma expert Bruce D. Perry and well-known personality Oprah Winfrey. In my opinion, this book is...
9th January 2025
I have my own new year's resolutions in this context. They are simple. They come from my internal motivation and require me to be with, and work with, others. They are quite simply (i) to support recovery communities and those within, when and wherever I can, and (ii) keep banging on about the value of such.
8th January 2025
The person who had the biggest impact on me was Mark Gilman. ‘Mr Gilman’—he has reverential status for me—talked about Asset Based Community Development (ABCD), and this was a massive light bulb moment for me. I had always seen treatment services operating from a ‘weakness or deficits’ point of view.
7th January 2025
Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples must work together to create safe healing environments for all. We must enhance understanding of Indigenous healing across wider society, including in education, health, social care and criminal justice settings, and create advocacy campaigns to catalyse grassroots activity and create...
6th January 2025
'We are putting people in interventions in the United States whose problem severity and complexity is so great, whose recovery capital is so low, we're putting them in interventions so brief, so weak, it has little probability of success. And when they fail, what do we do with them?'
1st January 2025
'Surrounding myself with love, kindness and acceptance, gave me the time to begin to heal. I'm proud of myself for once. I've made good decisions, and bad choices, but I own those today because I was clean throughout. I have a job, a place at uni, a driver's licence, and a little flat to call my own. I've got a human in my life who...'
24th December 2024
Some of the most amazing people I have met over the past 25 years are in recovery from addiction. Some of them, I am proud to say, are amongst my best friends. They are inspirational, empathic, kind, thoughtful, smart and resilient. It has been, and continues to be, a great honour and pleasure to be working in this field.
23rd December 2024
Participants in the podcast were my Recovery Voices colleague Wulf Livingston, Marcus Fair (Founder of Eternal Media), Alex Magson (then of NWRC), Tony Ormond of Kaleidoscope/Dechra Newydd (at a later stage), and myself. Lucke Gabriel was in charge of filming the event.
20th December 2024
Gary Rutherford's TEDx Talk: Some of the kindest, strongest, empathetic and impressive people that I have met in my life have overcome addiction. They are much more than the sum of their problems. So as a society we need to stop judging people on the issues that are in their lives and that they're facing and look at it through a...
19th December 2024
Tim Leighton - My Reflections & His Story: On 18 March 2009, Tim and I both spoke at a conference in London organised by Action on Addiction and my grassroots initiative Wired In, with the main speaker being leading US recovery advocate Bill White. Addiction recovery advocates from around the UK were invited to the...
18th December 2024
Option 2, A Remarkable Programme for Families: Focus was then ‘on them, as a family—how they function, their values, their strengths, where the priority risks are for them, how they are going to overcome them themselves with us alongside.’ The family then began to put their...
17th December 2024
The 'National Lottery' Community Game Changer Award: One of the seven Community Game Changers whose head is now floating on a lake in St. James's Park is Marcus Fair of Eternal Media. A huge CONGRATULATIONS to Marcus for his Award! And to all the team at Eternal Media as they have obviously contributed to the winning of the Award. Here is what the article said about Marcus.
16th December 2024
‘As well as doing treatment and the rehabilitation, it is also really important for this client group to see that you can have fun without drugs and alcohol. You can laugh without drugs and alcohol. And that’s what is important. Instead of telling somebody we are taking away your drugs and alcohol, which a lot of the time is taking away...'
16th December 2024
More Than Treatment, Living Life (Again) - My Derry Talk: I had been asked by Gary Rutherford, Founder of ARC Fitness, to share some of the understanding I have formed over the last 20 years about what are Recovery Organisations, why they work, and what enables them to flourish. [Post includes a pdf of presentation slides.]