Huseyin Djemil’s Lent Blog Series

April 4, 2023 by

Huseyin Djemil of Towards Recovery has posted the 40th and last part of his Lent Blog Series, an amazing Recovery Guide. You can find links to all the posts in our Resources section. Here is the last episode of Huseyin’s series, Living a fulfilling life:

‘I’m not we are always the best example [to others] of someone living a fulfilling and meaningful life in recovery because everyone’s life is made up of a unique set experiences and responses to those experiences that shape us. In my case, I’m just trying to be “present”, to turn up as the authentic me in all aspects of my life in recovery. I don’t always manage it and sometimes when I do, the authentic me can make my life harder e.g., If I’m asked what I think about something I usually say, and sometimes (quite often) it can put the cat among the pigeons.

I also can’t help helping, and often my life in recovery feels it’s at its best when I’m helping someone solve a problem, meet a goal, or get closer to realising a dream they have. Mostly all I do is listen or act as a sounding board and occasionally I have a contact that I can connect the person to.

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Huseyin Djemil’s ‘Towards Recovery’ Blog Series

March 17, 2023 by

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]:

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Huseyin Djemil’s ‘Towards Recovery’ Blog Series

March 16, 2023 by

As Lent approached in 2023, Huseyin Djemil, Founder of the Recovery Community Towards Recovery, was inspired to sit down each day and write a short article for a Blog Series with the aim of informing and inspiring other people on their recovery journey. Here are links to the 40 blog posts. 

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Phil Valentine’s Blog

March 16, 2023 by

One of my favourite bloggers has been Phil Valentine, Executive Director of the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR), who has used his blog to share lessons he has learned in his recovery and in his professional roles. An introduction to Phil and his blog, links to nine of my favourite posts from Phil’s blog, as well as to the “CCAR Recovery Matters!” Podcast run by Phil and his wife Sandy.

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The Role of Community: Huseyin Djemil

March 1, 2023 by

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.

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Phil Valentine’s Blog: An Excellent Resource

February 24, 2023 by

One of my favourite bloggers has been Phil Valentine, Executive Director of the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR), who has used his blog to share lessons he has learned in his recovery and in his professional roles. Here is part of what Phil says in introducing himself and his blog.

‘I started work at the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR) in January 1999. I became the Executive Director of this recovery community organization in 2004. I have trained the CCAR Recovery Coach Academy© dozens of times and have a hand in modifying, improving and adapting various recovery coach curricula. I’m old enough now to start considering my legacy. This is one way for me to share lessons learned in my recovery, in my role as Executive Director and a trainer. When I engage with others, I present the same messages repeatedly. It’s time to write them down.’

I have added Phil’s full description of his blog as part of a new post in our Resources section of the website. I also provide links to nine of my favourite posts from Phil’s blog, as well as to the “CCAR Recovery Matters!” Podcast run by Phil and his wife Sandy. Please check out this excellent Resource.

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5th Year Anniversary for Ron Grover’s blog

February 26, 2014 by

dm1One of the most popular blog postings on this website is From Discovery To Recovery: My Emotional Journey As The Parent Of An Addict by Ron Grover. Well worth a visit.

Ron celebrated the 5th anniversary of his blog An Addict In Our Son’s Bedroom last month. Here is what he had to say:

‘On January 20, 1999 I began writing this blog. Never when I began did I think it would become what it has and last this long. At this point it has become an old friend and it keeps me connected to friends all over.

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Sharing Culture blog: Recovery from trauma

February 21, 2014 by

511+Nl1uNdL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_I am now blogging on my new website Sharing Culture and here is a recent posting.

‘Judith Herman’s book Trauma and Recovery is a classic. Judith starts the recovery part of her book, in a chapter entitled ‘A Healing Relationship’, with some important insights into recovery and healing.

‘The core experiences of psychological trauma are disempowerment and disconnection from others. Recovery, therefore, is based upon the empowerment of the survivor and the creation of new connections.

Recovery can take place only within then context of relationships; it cannot occur in isolation. In her renewed connection with other people, the survivor re-creates the psychological facilities that were damaged or deformed by the traumatic experience. These faculties include the basic operations of trust, autonomy, initiative, competence, identity, and intimacy.

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‘Will I ever smile again?’ by Maddie

May 23, 2013 by

IMG_2338As some of you know, I developed the online recovery community Wired In To Recovery (WITR). I always loved it when a community member wrote their first blog on WITR, particularly when they described their lives and feelings. Sometimes, people ‘surfaced’ with just a few sentences like, “I’m Bob, I have just accessed treatment after ten years heroin addiction. I’ll be back soon and blog again.”

And sure enough, most would be back and their blogs would increase in length and number. Some people were looking for help online and they would receive comments from other community members. And they would respond to these comments.

One person who surfaced on WITR was Maddie, someone from somewhere in Australia. I started to comment on Maddie’s blogs and I then started to provide some help by e-mail. It wasn’t long before we were emailing each other regularly.

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