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I saw everything that day, that reinforced my previous understanding of ARC Fitness as one of the great examples of what is a Recovery Community. How they are a unique blend of their people, place and passions. The sense of ARC Fitness not only as a community...

I wasn't going to post anything today, but I just couldn't resist posting a link to this amazing film, created by the ARC Fitness team, about the conference. It really captures the atmosphere at the event and each time I watch it I feel very emotional. Coldplay's song 'A Sky Full of Stars' helps create the atmosphere.

Two key features of recovery have led to the important maxim: 'I alone can do it, but I can’t do it alone.' Firstly, recovery is something that comes from the person—they do the work. Treatment practitioners don’t ‘fix’ a person, they catalyse the person’s self-healing processes.

'Instead, I learned that both the power and the possibility of change reside within me. I could make decisions that would affect my life.  But I found I could not do this alone. I needed a supportive community around me. Slowly and gradually I found people who understood. I found friends and support people who could help me hold the hope...'

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 different lens...

The sociality of recovery provides meaning and identity. For many people, addiction attenuates their life meaning. Recovery restores meaning. Most people get meaning from relationships, from being able to give and receive, to have fun with other people, and share experiences with...

It's four months to the day that I visited ARC Fitness Recovery Community in Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland. I still think fondly of that amazing visit. In fact, I miss this vibrant city and the wonderful people I met at ARC. It's amazing how I've been so affected by my visit.

Sharing healing stories is important for many reasons, including helping those who are suffering. I know without a doubt that my journey out of the depths of despair would not have been possible without the people that shared with me their personal narratives. It was through these inspiring stories of resilience, strength...

Huseyin 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; they wanted their...

‘… my identity started to shift from being somebody struggling with addiction, to being somebody who focused on their health and who loved to run. And I was surrounded by people who saw me through this different lens, and that was refreshing for me because I had always been under the impression throughout my recovery...'

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...

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...'

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...

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...

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...