Well, it’s going to have to be a second blog post in a day. I only saw early this morning a post on Linked In from one of my recovery heroes, Kendra Gray. Her post is about one of my favourite organisations BAC O’Connor and someone who inspired me so greatly when I first met her 21 years ago in the Houses of Parliament… Noreen Oliver.
Back in 2004, Noreen asked if I would conduct an evaluation of Burton Addiction Centre, as it was known then, and I discovered my first genuine recovery community. In a sense, that’s where my recovery communities journey began. A place where recovery oozed out of the walls. My Wired In colleagues (my talented students and ex-students) and I not only conducted an extensive evaluation (see here for a summary), but also carried out two large qualitative research studies, one of which concerned client views of their treatment service, and wrote 19 Personal Stories. We were inspired and had fun!
Here are Kendra’s words from her Linked In post:
‘Time….. it goes so fast, sometimes the days drag but the weeks just seem to fly by. You blink and suddenly 20 years of your life have whizzed by. That’s what I’m reflecting on today, on my 20 year anniversary at BAC O’Connor. It still seems like yesterday that I walked through the doors on my first day feeling a little lost and very unsure of myself. At no point did I ever think I would work alongside the power house Noreen Oliver and I most certainly didn’t see myself running the organisation that I fell in love with from the minute I started working here.
I feel a huge sense of pride and feel extremely privileged to work with so many amazing people, both those who access the services we provide and the staff and partners who I work with.
The last 20 years have been a mixture of ups and downs, tears and laughter, highs and lows. When I started at BAC in May 2005, we had 7 beds and a camp bed for emergencies with approximately 15 people on the programme at any one time, you had to cut your way through the smoke in the lounge and my payroll number was 37. At the time we employed approximately 30 staff, today we have over 150 staff plus volunteers.
The highs……
Growth – for me, recovery is all about growth. Growth for the individuals accessing our services, for our teams as they develop new skills and experience for the organisation, and growth for me personally as I’ve learnt so much in that time. We now have 87 beds across Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent and Wigan. We deliver detoxification, residential rehab, a recovery academy, recovery housing, community programmes and we run 3 Social Enterprises; Langan’s Tea Rooms, Straw Bale Café and Noreen’s Recovery Lounge.
Whilst all of this is tremendously rewarding nothing compares to the privilege I feel seeing the growth of people in their individual recovery journeys. Each one unique and special in their own way, people that have been through our service who have gone on to live healthy, happy lives with families that have been rebuilt, new families have been started with babies being brought in the world. This is what inspires me every day.
People – none of what we do could be achieved without the people, the partners and commissioners we work with and our wonderful Trustees. I’ve met and worked alongside some truly amazing humans who inspire me in so many different ways and who have taught me so much over the last 20 years. There are far too many to mention but you know who you are and I just want to thank you for the contribution you make to BAC and to me personally.
Visible Recovery – Seeing the power of recovery communities being established and empowered has been without doubt one of highlights of my career. I am so proud of the recovery communities we are supporting in Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent and Wigan and look forward to seeing how they will develop further.
The lows…….
Funding cuts – Closing one of our residential rehabs was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to deal with and I will continue to fight to make sure that residential rehab is not for the chosen few.
Covid – Just wow, the fear of the unknown and feeling the weight of responsibility whilst feeling isolated in the beginning was a real eye opener for me. At the start it felt like running a marathon without a finish line but we got through it and it showed me how adaptable and dedicated our staff are, putting the people who use our service first.
Changing nature of the world we work in – it saddens me that we are seeing more complexity in terms of physical and mental health/wellbeing and at a much younger age than 20 years ago. The substances themselves causing untold harm and lifechanging impact for individuals, families and communities; deaths are still rising but we still don’t see this talked about in parliament or in the public.
So, what for the next 20 years……
I was mentored by Noreen and her passing was such a difficult time for BAC and for me personally, some days I don’t really feel like I know what I am doing but the one thing I am determined to do is carry on her legacy and make sure that I always do my best every day to keep making a difference.
Without a crystal ball who knows what the next 20 years will bring but the one guarantee is that the only constant in life is change and I commit to always putting people first, working closely with our partners and keeping a growth mindset, keep listening, always be open, honest and transparent and ask for help when I need it. Our Programme Director says it’s our job to make us ourselves redundant and whilst he’s right, sadly I don’t see that happening anytime soon. We as a sector are a whole community and we need to work together to make sure that people get the best from our services and that is my commitment to the next 20 years.
Finally, I want to thank the amazing team at BAC O’Connor across all our services in Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent and Wigan, you go above and beyond every day and we couldn’t do what we do without you.’
At the top of this post is a photograph taken during my last visit to BAC O’Connor in May 2024. Such a wonderful visit, time spent with friends who I hold in the highest regard. The image below is from Kendra’s post. Here is my comment on Linked In
‘Congratulations, Kendra. You and the team have done such an amazing job over the years, so many lives turned around, people going on to help others… the true contagion effect of recovery. I so fondly remember my times visiting BAC, dating back to 2004. I still miss Noreen terribly, but I know she left BAC in such wonderful and caring hands. Looking forward to our next chat. x’
