As Tim found out, having a medical degree offers no protection against addiction, nor from the hard work that is required to change oneself as a key part of the recovery journey. (7,135 words)
My Favourite Blogs: Setting up a Recovery Community
January 25, 2014
Phillip Valentine, Executive Director for the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR), emphasises that the essential first stages in building a recovery community are to:
- create a vanguard of recovering people who want to tell their story
- organise the community, so that there are many different people, with many different types of recovery, all working towards the same aim.
Phil also stresses the importance of providing a way for people to ‘give back’ – giving back is an essential element of recovery for many people – tapping into this energy and ‘helping it flow to where it wants to go.’
Michael’s Recovery Minute
September 12, 2013
“I was ingrained in CCAR to show the positive side of recovery, putting a face on recovery, allowing people to see that recovery was possible. A reality that people in many walks of life would able to get their life together again.
Michael Askew is Manager of the Bridgeport Community Recovery Center, under the auspices of CCAR. Formerly known as Dark Shadow, he has been in recovery from 1989 after being in and out of prison for years (seven visits).
Setting up a Recovery Community
June 3, 2013
Phillip Valentine, Executive Director for the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR), emphasises that the essential first stages in building a recovery community are to:
- create a vanguard of recovering people who want to tell their story
- organise the community, so that there are many different people, with many different types of recovery, all working towards the same aim.
Facilitating recovery with peer support
June 3, 2013
I emphasise three main elements to helping people recover from addiction to alcohol and other drugs.
Firstly, we must empower people, as recovery comes from the person (not the practitioner). They do the work in overcoming their substance use problems. We can empower people by providing hope, understanding and a sense of belonging.
Secondly, people need internal resources (e.g. self-esteem, resilience) and external resources (e.g. family support, peer support) – recovery capital – to help them on their journey to recovery. They also need the basic essentials of living, i.e. roof over their head, money, someone who cares about them.
