Huseyin Djemil became the first of our Recovery Voices when he was interviewed by David Clark in March 2023. He was interviewed again by David in April 2023, covering a varied range of topics which included: recovering people needing to be visible: the Japanese art off Kintsugi, which teaches you that your broken parts are valued; an analogy of the revolving door of treatment; promoting belief in recovering people; his work as a Drug Strategy Co-ordinator for the seven London Prisons; and his reflections on the drug treatment system. [8 films, 41 mins 32 secs]
Our First Recovery Voice: Huseyin Djemil
March 28, 2023
Wulf Livingston, from North Wales, and I have developed a new initiative called Recovery Voices. We will be interviewing people in recovery from addiction, as well as their recovery friends, and creating a series of short films focused on a number of themes. These short films will eventually become part of a new Recovery Voices section of the website.
The first of our Recovery Voices interviewees is Huseyin Djemil from Henley-on-Thames in the UK. Some of you may remember that I was the first participant in Huseyin’s Journeys Podcast which is available on the Towards Recovery website.
I have edited a series of 15 short films (totally nearly 90 minutes) to from Huseyin’s Voice which can currently be found in the Resources section of the website. Huseyin talks about the recovery community he developed, Towards Recovery, describes some of his work as a freelance consultant in the addiction field, and reflects on various themes related to addiction recovery and treatment. He is in long-term recovery from an addiction to Class A drugs.
Huseyin Djemil’s ‘Towards Recovery’ Blog Series
March 17, 2023
Yesterday, I posted a film clip of part of a conversation between Huseyin Djemil and myself which was originally recorded for the former’s Journey Podcast series. Huseyin, who lives in Henley-on-Thames in the UK, developed the inspiring recovery community Towards Recovery back in 2012. Their website is well worth a look, and if you are in the area then check out their Recovery Cafe.
At the beginning of March this year, I introduced you to Huseyin’s Blog Series. Here is how Huseyin describes the series on the Towards Recovery website:
‘As we approached Lent, Huseyin felt inspired to take action this year. He is observing the 40-day period of fasting and prayer and has given up watching TV during this period and committed to writing a short article for each day of Lent in the hope that it might inform and inspire others in their recovery journey as well. Lets dive in…’
I love this inspirational series as it contains a wealth of useful information for people on their recovery journey. Here are the titles and links to the first 22 blog posts [I have just updated this blog to complete the series—DC, 03/04/23]:
The Role of Community: Huseyin Djemil
March 1, 2023
Huseyin Djemil of Towards Recovery, a recovery community based in Henley, England, recently started a Lent Blog. Here is the Day 3 blog post which describes the role of community in facilitating recovery.
‘At Towards Recovery, we offer a simple “in” for people seeking to initiate recovery. We run a regular recovery café and provide “touch points” for people to engage with us e.g., like the recovery café, which is in-person and online, various programmes and courses, clubs (like Strava, books, films, talks), a podcast about recovery journeys and a book of reflections and daily invitations.
All of these “touch points” make recovery visible to those that might be seeking help and are unsure how to go about it, and are unclear about what help might look like. Making recovery visible allows people to see it and decide whether they want to connect to it, and with us.
Journeys – Making Recovery from Addiction Visible
May 6, 2021
Huseyin Djemil from the UK has this week launched a new podcast focused on recovery from addiction, which he describes as such:
‘A new series from Towards Recovery CIC – making recovery from addiction visible.
Huseyin Djemil speaks to people who have lived experience of recovery from addiction, people who have been affected by addiction and those working in the addiction and recovery field – in its many contexts. There is a lot of information about addiction, but people get better and their stories need to be visible to give others hope.
Recovery is not a linear path from A to B, it’s more of a winding road and we want to explore those journeys and get those stories heard, because our stories have power.’
