Blog

The story of the growth of Cocaine Anonymous in Scotland illustrates a recurring historical pattern...

The main part of my writing has been a book entitled 'Transforming Pain Into Power: The Story of North Wales Recovery Communities'. The project has been quite a journey, not only involving the writing but also multiple interviews over Zoom with various people at NWRC...

‘… Recovering people need empathy and TLC (Tender Loving Care). Rapport with the patient is key to helping them recover. In my opinion, good rapport should be a given working in this field—it is what I experienced...

It was and still is an incredibly surreal moment in a very strange life that I’m experiencing. My life seems to have gone from one extreme to another and I’m so very grateful for the few people who never gave up on me when I was a homeless addict, they saved my life and...

Here are links to five separate short films, the first focusing on the speech given by Gary Rutherford in Ebrington Square before we set off. There follows three films of the actual walk through the city, which ended up back at our start point after we crossed the Peace Bridge.

I had a wonderful time in North Wales visiting old friends at North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC) in Bangor and Eternal Media in Wrexham, and met lots of new friends, some of whom I have been communicating with via Zoom. I would take this opportunity to thank James...

I will be giving a talk at 19.00-21.00 on 12 September in Penrhyn Hall, the Council building in Bangor. Most of the talk will be different to the one I gave at Bwyd Da Bangor last year. You can see the film made by Eternal Media of that talk here. The second part of that talk focused on...

James Deakin came to sit with me when we got back to Penrhyn House. At the time, I didn’t really think that I could do all that was required to find long-term recovery. James congratulated me on my Snowden achievement, and explained that I didn’t need to focus on my whole...

The compelling evidence is that all psychopharmacology changes your brain chemistry, even though there’s absolutely no evidence that your brain chemistry is in any way aberrant. Thus, you will get nasty side effects, develop tolerance, and if you cease using ‘psych meds’...

Be authentic. The best stories are short, honest, intimate, humble, and full of heart. They don’t need embellishment, scintillating details, or unbelievable feats. They don’t need self-promotion or manipulation to make the protagonist heroic. The truth of recovery stands powerfully enough...

‘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 these needs can be, and historically have been, met.'

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...