Blog

Caitlin sits down to talk with Marcus Fair about his 25-year long battle with crack and heroin addiction—to how he went from writing himself off in his early 20’s, to years of spells in prison and homelessness, to then how he found long-term recovery and founded Eternal Media a charity and social enterprise with the goal of supporting others...

Interviewees had to shape a new identity and social involvement in worlds that are not associated with drug use. An essential element underlying recovery is people being accepted as ‘normal’ by so-called normal society. Former users of heroin may be reluctant to engage...

In Wendy’s research, only 25% of her Fellowship participants described themselves as religious. Many people who stick around in the Fellowships interpret Higher Power in secular ways. She points out that lots of ideas found in SMART Recovery, which presents itself as...

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 problem as...

‘If recovery is a journey from London to Manchester, then treatment is the taxi ride to the station.’ Huseyin argues that the taxi-ride to the station has become a proxy for the journey. Taxi drivers convince you to get into their taxi so you can get to the station (treatment), but when you get there you don’t know which train to take to continue...

In the Kimberley, that emotional pain did not surface. I started to feel at peace with myself. And with my past. I loved every moment of our days, waking up to magical sights and sounds, and sharing the beauty of this magical Country... My experiences made me reflect on how Aboriginal people are connected to their Country...

NWRC members have to engage in 20-30 hours of organised social activities a week. This is important so that members can be around people and form strong positive, ’sober’ connections. Addiction is disconnection, recovery is connection. Right from the beginning, people are encouraged to get assimilated into a group...

‘"It was 25 years, just looking like a skull on a stick." Eating every three days, if he remembered, and if he could get into the local garage to rob something. He’d travel around the country buying heroin. He used to wear out towns, rather quickly, because of the amount of crime in which he was involved. He had to keep moving on.

Stories give cognitive and emotional significance to experience. 'Stories are amusing, memorable, and absorbing; they are also instructive, informative and orienting… We construct and negotiate our social identity through the stories we tell other people (and through the stories that then get repeated about us).'

'Fear doesn't consume me anymore. Instead of being emotionally shut down, crippled by feelings of worthlessness and despair, I am thriving, developing and growing. I have learned how to love and be loved, how to help and be helped. I'm just a guy who found recovery and was shown the way out of addiction. For me it will always be a lifelong programme of maintenance.'

Once I started meeting and listening to people with, or who were recovering from, a serious substance use problem, I knew immediately I was doing something important. I was learning key information that not only would shape my own behaviours, but other people’s as well. I knew I had to start writing Recovery Stories...

Members of recovery communities engage in a wide range of social, physical and educational activities that fill the void created by moving away from previous unhealthy addictive behaviours, and help individuals create a more fulfilling and rewarding lifestyle. Recovery communities facilitate human connection and enable feelings of...

Big Organisations Hoovering Up Money: ‘You change the articles and conditions, or the memorandum or your legal status of the organisation, to allow you to trade in a bigger circle. And that’s all about feeding a corporate identity. It’s actually got absolutely nothing to do with the individuals underneath.’

'I’m old enough now to start considering my legacy. This is one way for me to share lessons learned in my recovery, in my role as Executive Director and a trainer. When I engage with others, I present the same messages repeatedly. It’s time to write them down.' Phil Valentine, Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR)

'What strikes me throughout is the strong sense of social justice (and injustice) that shapes Marcus’s experience as he explores the translation of his personal filmmaking into establishing one of the most fantastic of community projects. Marcus has become a key leader within and supporter of much of which stands out about the...'