I really liked this blog on Wired In To Recovery, which appeared in June 2010.
‘I have just returned from a visit to the SHARP Recovery service in Liverpool. Having worked within the drug and alcohol field for almost 20 years I had heard the word “Recovery” tossed about here and there and, like a revival of the “midi”, come back into fashion again!
So I took my old cynical head and was prepared to look and see what this “new and improved Recovery” looked like.
I went with two colleagues as visitors for the day. We were greeted by really warm friendly staff who explained the format of the day… we were there just to observe and not get involved, and could only participate if asked to (that turned out to be much harder than I thought!)
What unfolded throughout the day completely blew me away. I was genuinely surprised by the commitment and passion, not only from the staff, but mostly from the service users themselves in their determination and resolve in their Recovery.
Their faith in Recovery was infectious. I recognised the service users that I work with in Cumbria, the cocaine and alcohol bingers and the hardened opiate users jaded after years of use. What was different for these people was that there was real hope, and they could feel and taste it, at the end of the day they made me feel it too.
There were parts of the day that were so profound and moving that it would seem irreverent to write about them here, it is enough to say that I belive in Recovery. It IS out there and I know what it looks like. We need to offer this hope to our users in Cumbria and I know that means us all working together to get this right , but I will be blowing the Recovery horn loudly from now on.
Recovery is not a pipe dream. It is a Reality. And we should make it happen for Cumbria.’
