practitioners — Recovery Stories

Demoralisation in a Treatment Service: Huseyin Djemil

June 16, 2023

Huseyin Djemil, Founder of Towards Recovery, has done a good deal of consultancy work over the years. Here’s an example of the sort of work he has done within the treatment system.

‘Huseyin provided a one-day training course on opiates for practitioners of a well-known treatment provider. He finished his presentation slides by lunchtime. He wondered what was he going to do for the rest of the day?

He discovered that there were no opiate groups for clients, despite the fact that 51% of them were opiate users. When he started to discuss this matter with practitioners in the afternoon, he was told that the clients didn’t want anything other than methadone. Huseyin explored with the practitioners in an innovative way whether this was actually the case. He came up with some interesting findings.’

My Journey: 3. Learning About Addiction Treatment – My WGCADA Experience, Part 2

March 6, 2023

I learn about the referral process, assessment, Pretreatment, Primary Treatment, Aftercare, DOMINO (Development in Motivation In New Outlooks) and community support from a number of the practitioners at West Glamorgan Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (WGCADA) in Swansea. In entering this new world, I learn about a number of key factors that facilitate recovery at this treatment service. (4,346 words)

The late Lawrence Mylan, who ran the Pre-Treatment programme at WGCADA.

Last week, I described how I started visiting a local treatment agency in Swansea, West Glamorgan Council on Alcohol and Drug Addiction (WGCADA), in order to learn more about addiction, treatment and recovery. After working as a neuroscientist for over 20 years, I had closed down my research laboratory because I no longer believed that neuroscience was helping people overcome addiction to drugs and alcohol. I continue to describe what I learnt at WGCADA.

1. WGCADA Referral and Assessment

People with a substance use problem enter into treatment in a variety of ways. They may refer themselves, realising they have a problem for which they need help, or they may be convinced or ‘pressurised’ into visiting a treatment agency by family and friends. They may be referred by their GP or by other health services, or by social services or a housing organisation. They may be referred by some component of the criminal justice system; in some cases, this may be a ‘forced-choice’ (coercion), with imprisonment being the alternative to attending treatment.

Sapphire’s Recovery Story: ‘It Should All Be About the Person’

January 31, 2023

Things went well when Sapphire was intimately involved in decisions about her methadone-based treatment, but poorly when professionals took sole control. (7,631 words)

Recovery as an Organising Construct – Bill White Interviews Larry Davidson

July 10, 2021

William L White and Larry Davidson are two of my recovery ‘heroes’. In this 2013 paper from his website, Bill interviews Larry about mental health recovery. As the former says, Larry was ‘one of the earliest pioneers in studying and promoting the concept of recovery related to severe mental illness.’ Here are Larry’s answers to two of Bill’s questions. [I have shortened the paragraphs for easier online reading.]

‘Bill White: How is the emergence of recovery as a new organizing paradigm changing the design and delivery of mental health services in the United States?

Larry Davidson: I think the biggest change that the recovery paradigm has introduced, and the change that poses the most difficulty for traditional clinicians to understand and accept, is that recovery is primarily the responsibility of the person rather than the practitioner.

Recovery Vision: New paradigm, new questions, new answers

August 13, 2013

I’ve just watched this wonderful talk (from 2001) by Bill Anthony, one of the pioneers in recovery-based care in mental health. [Bill starts his talk at 25’20” into the video]

Bill describes a metaphor for explaining a paradigm shift, such as the paradigm shift to recovery-based care in mental health.

This metaphor is that mankind once thought the world was flat. This understanding led to certain questions such as, “How far do I sail before I fall off the end of the earth?” Once mankind learnt the world was round, these questions were redundant. We asked different questions.

‘Social Inclusion and Recovery: A Model for Mental Health Practice’ by Julie Repper & Rachel Perkins

July 22, 2013

I am very impressed by this book and highly recommend it for all people working in the mental health and addiction fields. It is informative, easy to read and considers a wide range of practical issues. It focuses on how we can best help people with mental health problems gain meaningful and satisfying lives.

I’ve written one blog based on material in this book – What is Recovery? – and more will appear shortly. Here is what appears on the book’s back cover:

‘The starting point of this book is the lived experience of mental health problems and recovery, articulated by many of those who have survived and thrived with mental health difficulties.

On the basis of the myriad individual journeys contained in their accounts, the book explores the day-to-day supportive and facilitative role of nurses and direct care staff as allies in the recovery process.

Demoralisation in a Treatment Service: Huseyin Djemil

My Journey: 3. Learning About Addiction Treatment – My WGCADA Experience, Part 2

Sapphire’s Recovery Story: ‘It Should All Be About the Person’

Recovery as an Organising Construct – Bill White Interviews Larry Davidson

Recovery Vision: New paradigm, new questions, new answers

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