Recovery Stories

04/09/2025

Taking a Break
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. After my stay in North Wales (which is work and play), it's holiday time and the Recovery Walk in Derry/Londonderry.

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...

27/08/2025

Mount Snowden (Yr Wyddfa): Saffron Roberts
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 recovery journey. He said: ‘All you’ve got to do, is do it in stages....'

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...

20/08/2025

‘What Happened? What Mental Health is Really About’: Bill Saunders
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,’ you will have nasty withdrawals (oops, sorry, ‘discontinuation syndrome.’) https://www.recoveryvoices.info/what-happened-what-mental-health-is-really-about-bill-saunders/

19/08/2025

Recovery Storytelling and Advocacy: Meghann Perry
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 on its own.

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...

18/08/2025

Recovery in the Context of Community
‘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.'

‘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 historicall...

13/08/2025

Disconnection and Addiction: Bruce Alexander.. addiction to drugs and alcohol, and to a wide variety of other activities is increasing because people are being torn from the close ties to family, culture, and traditional spirituality that constituted the normal fabric of life in pre-modern times. This kind of global society subjects people to unrelenting pressures towards individualism and competition, dislocating them from social life.

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.

12/08/2025

Beyond the Individual: David Best
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?

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 individ...

10/08/2025

Trauma and Addiction: James Deakin (Conversation from 2023)
James believes that trauma-related matters are badly under-resourced, although awareness is increasing in Wales. 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.

James believes that trauma-related matters are badly under-resourced, although awareness is increasing in Wales. 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 addic...

07/08/2025

Compelling Words: Bessel van der Kolk
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...

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 traumatize...

06/08/2025

Recovery Landscapes: William L. White
Researchers are beginning to suggest that reaching the tipping point of addiction recovery may have as much to do with community factors as intrapersonal factors. Recovery advocates and clinicians are calling for creation of a "healing forest"-- "naturally occurring, healing environments that provide some of the corrective experiences that are vital for recovery.”

Researchers are beginning to suggest that reaching the tipping point of addiction recovery may have as much to do with community factors as intrapersonal factors. Recovery advocates and clinicians are calling for creation of a

05/08/2025

A Genesis of Hope: Dr. David McCartney
He was a GP like me and he had drunk in a similar way to me and he had the same kind of consequences as me and he felt the same as me. He was a few years into his recovery and I identified and connected with him to the degree that I suddenly thought, “Oh my God, if he can do it, maybe I can do it.” I probably must have felt a mustard seed worth of hope. It was the first time I felt anything like that.

He was a GP like me and he had drunk in a similar way to me and he had the same kind of consequences as me and he felt the same as me. He was a few years into his recovery and I identified and connected with him to the degree that I suddenly thought, “Oh my God, if he can do it, maybe I can do it....

04/08/2025

The Culture of Recovery: Bill Stauffer
We know from an examination of our history that people typically recover in the context of community. It flourishes in environments where individuals feel a sense of belonging and purpose. In spaces of mattering. Places where people can share their gifts of recovery, what they have learned through transformation and earned wisdom about life, relationships, and personal growth, which can be shared with the wider community. https://www.recoveryvoices.info/the-culture-of-recovery-bill-stauffer/