David Clark

‘4 year anniversary of withdrawal from psych drug cocktail: healing continues’ by Monica Cassani

February 11, 2014

CONGRATULATIONS Monica on your 4th Anniversary and your fantastic website.

Here is what Monica had to say on her blog:

‘Below is the post for the anniversary of the completion of the psychiatric drug withdrawal process I went through that I wrote for last year. Much of it remains relevant and true, so I thought I’d share it again.

I actually have had my best year since coming off drugs this last year. I started seeing improvements somewhat faster in the last year and am getting significantly physically stronger and healthier in general. Discovering the histamine intolerance a little over a year ago led to the most significant personal dietary change I’ve made.

‘This Is An Alcoholic’ by Beth Burgess

February 10, 2014

Another little gem from Beth Burgess.

‘A piece I wrote before I was in recovery. A bit of a rant at the current addiction treatments too. Do you identify as an alcoholic or addict?

No-one these days seems to understand what an alcoholic is. Middle-class winos, binge-drinking teenagers, hard-drinking journalists or Wall Street party-boys. These people are all labelled as alcoholics of some description. And yet most of them are probably not alcoholics at all.

Read More ➔

Category: Blog Tags: alcoholic, control, drink diary, illness, media, stigma, treatment, understanding

Favourite Blogs: Research shows the dynamic spread of happiness in a large social network

February 8, 2014

Here’s one of my own blogs from WITR, written in January 2009, not long after the launch of the website.

‘Last week, the British Medical Journal published a very interesting article on the Dynamic spread of happiness in a large social network. This high quality research involved a longitudinal analysis over 20 years of participants in a long-term health study in America (the Framingham Heart Study, see at end of Blog for further details].

The research involved 12,067 individuals who were connected to someone else in this population at some point between 1971 and 2003. Researchers measured happiness by a questionnaire and conducted a complicated statistical analysis of the relationships between people in this large social network.

My Favourite Blogs – ‘Loneliness: a call to generosity’ by Pat Deegan

February 8, 2014

Here is a wonderful blog from US recovery advocate Pat Deegan:

‘Like many people, I experienced periods of intense loneliness during my recovery after being diagnosed with schizophrenia. Over time, I learned that my loneliness was a call for me to be more generous and to give of myself. Here’s what I mean:

Loneliness and being alone are two different things. In my early recovery, being alone was an important self-care strategy for me.

Bunny and Wolf fight overdose

February 7, 2014

Mike Scott found this great animation. Here is what the makers have to say:

‘Bunny and Wolf: An Animated Guide to Prevent Overdose Deaths
Opioid overdose continues to be a top killer of young people all over the world. In some countries, drug overdose deaths now outnumber those attributable to firearms, homicides or HIV/AIDS.

Few people realise that most of these deaths are easily preventable with the right information, and an inexpensive antidote, Naloxone, which can reverse overdoses.

Read More ➔

Category: Blog Tags: death, heroin, life saving, naloxone, opiates, overdose, police, polydrug use

‘Recovery is contagious redux’ by Bill White

February 7, 2014

Here’s the latest from recovery advocate William L White. Wonderful words, just wonderful words.

‘Those of you who have been reading my weekly blogs these past six months will recognize two simple and enduring themes: Recovery is contagious and recovery is spread by recovery carriers. Those notions first came to me on April 14, 2010 when I stood to speak at Northeast Treatment Centers’ (NET) dinner honoring NET’s 40th anniversary and the achievements of NET members. Here are some of the words that came to me as I stood before a room packed with people filled with hopes of what their newly found recoveries would bring.

“This night is a celebration of the contagiousness of recovery and the fulfilled promises recovery has brought into our lives. Some of you did not leave the streets to find recovery; recovery came to the streets and found you.

ManyFaces1Voice: Nell Hurley

February 6, 2014

“People who are in long-term recovery from addiction and other drugs have the ability to say, “This is who I am and this is what recovery has done for me,” and to reach out and help the person who is coming up behind them.”

Watch film of Nell Hurley, who is a woman in long-term recovery since 1997. She is the Executive Director of The Minnesota Recovery Connection in St. Paul, Minnesota and a board member of Faces & Voices of Recovery.

Nell has a wide range of experiences that include leadership roles in curriculum and education program development and has held positions at various non-profit organizations in Minnesota including the Minnesota Historical Society, Breck School, the Minnesota Museum of American Art, and In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater.

Resulting from her own lived recovery experience, Nell is passionate and committed to the growth of the recovery advocacy movement.

Category: Blog Tags: advocacy, FAVOR, manyfaces1voice, nell hurley, recovery, The Anonymous People

GUEST BLOGGER: Beth Burgess and ‘Can You be Grateful For Your Addiction?’

February 5, 2014

In order to recover, alcoholics and addicts first have to go through the painful process of admitting their problem. Then comes the challenge of accepting the situation and doing the work to recover. But can you actually get to the point where you’re happy to be an addict? Where you appreciate what your addiction has given you and you actually enjoy your path in life?

I like being an alcoholic. Truly, I do. It’s an unusual position to take, I admit – but one that serves me well. I’m so happy, I even wrote a book about it. Let me tell you how I came to reach this point – and was able to write The Happy Addict to help others find the happiness that I already have.

The fact is that I spent a lot of my life fighting reality. I drank to escape, to numb, to hide and to retreat from the world. At the end of my drinking, there was nothing I could do to fight reality any more. My addiction was something I couldn’t deny or hide from any longer. The fact that alcohol was now betraying me was clear to me and everyone around me. My attempts at controlling my drinking had all failed and my chances of living through another withdrawal were pretty slim.

‘The three elements of self-compassion’ by Kristin Neff

February 5, 2014

I continue to look at Kristin Neff’s views on self-compassion from her very informative and helpful website. Here, she describes the three elements that underlie self-compassion:

‘Self-kindness
Self-compassion entails being warm and understanding toward ourselves when we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate, rather than ignoring our pain or flagellating ourselves with self-criticism.

Self-compassionate people recognize that being imperfect, failing, and experiencing life difficulties is inevitable, so they tend to be gentle with themselves when confronted with painful experiences rather than getting angry when life falls short of set ideals.

‘What is self-compassion?’ by Kristin Neff

February 4, 2014

Some of you will have seen Kristin Neff’s video on self-compassion on this website. Here is how Kristin defines self-compassion:

‘Having compassion for oneself is really no different than having compassion for others. Think about what the experience of compassion feels like.

First, to have compassion for others you must notice that they are suffering. If you ignore that homeless person on the street, you can’t feel compassion for how difficult his or her experience is.

‘Consumerism: Dissatisfaction guarenteed’ By Phil Hanlon

February 4, 2014

I continue the excellent series of videos by Professor Phil Hanlon centred around ‘What’s next for the health of society’ from his Afternow website.

‘In this video Phil Hanlon explores in more depth what ‘modernity’ is and why it has created current levels of ‘dis-ease’ in the modern world.

Modernity has brought many benefits (including technological improvements, material comfort, modern medicine and health care etc), but the downside includes the ‘dis-eases’ rehearsed in the earlier videos.

Ruby’s Healing Story

February 4, 2014

“But she said what she had to do first, before she started to heal, was to let the past go. And in order for her to let it go she had to forgive… she had to forgive the people in the mission, the missionaries, the manager of the mission. She had to forgive the station owner and his sons and workers. And she also had to forgive herself.”

Professor Marion Kickett shares the harrowing story of Ruby and describes how her early life experiences impacted on her later life, including the development of a drinking problem. By forgiving people involved in these terrible events, Ruby started a healing (or recovery) process which led to her realising a dream.

Marion is the new Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin University in Perth and co-founder (with David Clark and Mike Liu) of Sharing Culture, a new initiative to tackle historical trauma and its consequences in Aboriginal peoples.

Category: Blog Tags: aboriginal, alcohol problem, children, healing, marion kickett, prison, recovery, the stolen generation

‘Self-Compassion’ by Kristin Neff

February 3, 2014

‘… and you forget to say, “This is really difficult, this is really stressful. I need some soothing and comforting”. Most people forget that they need to give that to themselves.’

Self-compassion is not just essential for recovery, but also just for life in general. Kristin Neff, a leading expert in the ‘field’ of self-compassion, has a wonderful website on the topic.

Here is the first in a series of introductory videos on self-compassion that Kristin has made. You can link to the other videos from the YouTube page that this video is on.

Category: Blog Tags: caring, kindness, kristin neff, life experience, open-hearted, self-compassion, stress

Stuart Honor Talking at Recovery AM Conference

February 3, 2014

Start time of Stuart’s excellent talk (40 mins 20 secs)

In my humble opinion, Stuart Honor is one of the very special people in the UK addiction recovery field. Stuart has been doing research on recovery in communities for about a decade and has accumulated more data than anyone else in the UK. Stuart’s research addresses key recovery-related issues and he is never afraid to speak as he sees it… and challenge the system.

I remember years ago when Stuart first contacted me and invited me up to see The Breakfast Club he had set up in Halifax. I was really impressed by what I saw and by what Stuart was trying to develop – a genuine recovery community. You now know this place as The Basement Recovery Project, the CEO of whom is Michelle Foster. Stuart still plays a role.

‘Intergenerational Trauma & Healing, Part 1’ by Joe Solanto

February 3, 2014

For a while now, one of my blogs each day will focus on historical (or intergenerational) trauma and our new initiative Sharing Culture. Today, I introduce the first of three videos by Dr Joe Solanto of Canada about intergenerational trauma and healing.

In these videos, Joe ‘discusses what trauma is, how the experiences of colonization “qualify” as trauma, how trauma might be transmitted across the generations, crime and other social problems as understandable responses to trauma and implications for healing individuals, families and communities.’

In the first video, Joe talks about different types of trauma: Type 1 (acute), Type 2 (chronic) and Type 3 (intergenerational). If you enjoy this video, check out Part 2 and Part 3.

Category: Blog Tags: colonisation, communities, healing, historical trauma, intergenerational, joe solanto, sharing culture, trauma types

My Favourite Blogs: ‘Experiences of a mother of two young heroin addicts’ by Mark’

February 1, 2014

A very moving blog which first appeared on Wired In To Recovery (WITR) in May 2009 and on Recovery Stories in June 2013. Mark blogged regularly on WITR until the community closed.

“We found my 20 year old brother dead of an overdose. He had just kicked the habit so tolerance was low. He started a job and the first payday was his last.

Mum wrote this after I got clean. Copy and use it anywhere it can be of use.”

Read More ➔

Category: Blog Tags: family, heroin, loss, mother, overdose, recovery, son, stress

My Favourite Blogs: How do I know a treatment service is recovery-oriented?

February 1, 2014

This is one of the most important blogs on the Recovery Stories website.

Some treatment services today say they are doing recovery – using recovery-based care – when they are not in fact doing so. So how do you know that you are going to receive genuine recovery-based care when you sign up to a treatment service claiming to be recovery-oriented?

Here is some help from Mark Ragins, a leading figure in the mental health recovery field, about what to look for in a service offering recovering-based care. Mark may be talking about mental health recovery, but what he says is of relevance to addiction recovery.

My Favourite Blogs: Untangling the elements involved in treatment

February 1, 2014

Here’s a summary of a piece of research that Lucie James and I conducted some years ago. I am very proud of this piece of work and it certainly opened my eyes to the importance of gaining a sense of belonging in the recovery journey.

‘To understand how treatment helps people overcome substance use problems, it is essential to understand the elements that operate in the treatment process, and how they might interact to facilitate behavioural change and a person’s path to recovery from addiction.

Lucie James and I set out to gain initial insights into these issues by using a qualitative analysis of the views and experiences of clients on the RAPt treatment programme in one male and one female prison in the UK.

Life as a Heroin Addict: Introduction

January 31, 2014

I was going through our old Wired In YouTube channel and saw that one of our videos – made by Jon Kerr-Smith and Lucie James – now had 0ver 290,000 views. Quite proud of that.

This video is part of a series that Jon and Lucie made with our friends in South Wales: ‘In this series we will be looking at different aspects of heroin addiction, treatment and recovery, as told by the addicts themselves.”

You can find the other videos on our channel. Enjoy!

Category: Blog Tags: harm reduction, heroin addiction, jon kerr-smith, lucie james, recovery, south wales, treatment, views

Historical Trauma: Nature of the Problem

January 31, 2014

With the launch of our new Sharing Culture initiative and website, here is a description of The Problem:

‘Colonisation and its associated violence and control still exert a marked negative impact today on Australian Aboriginal people. Trauma and an associated unresolved grief have been transmitted across generations in ways that have influenced individuals, families and communities.

Expressions of historical trauma in Aboriginal people can be seen in: adults who feel inadequate in their day-to-day functioning: the poor physical and psychological health and much lower life expectancy; the escalation in addiction to alcohol and other substances which are used as a coping mechanism; the increase in domestic violence across generations; the self-harm, suicide and risk-taking that occurs when people can find no meaning to their existence and have no sense of purpose for their day-to-day activities.

‘4 year anniversary of withdrawal from psych drug cocktail: healing continues’ by Monica Cassani

‘This Is An Alcoholic’ by Beth Burgess

My Favourite Blogs – ‘Loneliness: a call to generosity’ by Pat Deegan

Bunny and Wolf fight overdose

‘Recovery is contagious redux’ by Bill White

ManyFaces1Voice: Nell Hurley

GUEST BLOGGER: Beth Burgess and ‘Can You be Grateful For Your Addiction?’

‘The three elements of self-compassion’ by Kristin Neff

‘What is self-compassion?’ by Kristin Neff

‘Consumerism: Dissatisfaction guarenteed’ By Phil Hanlon

Ruby’s Healing Story

‘Self-Compassion’ by Kristin Neff

Stuart Honor Talking at Recovery AM Conference

My Favourite Blogs: ‘Experiences of a mother of two young heroin addicts’ by Mark’

My Favourite Blogs: How do I know a treatment service is recovery-oriented?

My Favourite Blogs: Untangling the elements involved in treatment

Life as a Heroin Addict: Introduction

Historical Trauma: Nature of the Problem

Sidebar – Recovery Stories Book

Recovery Stories

Carrolup Story

Wired In To Connection