September is Recovery Month. It’s a time for people in recovery to reflect, rejoice, and be forever grateful. It’s a time of coming together and getting words like addiction, detox, and recovery out there for all to see. In 2023, addiction and recovery are still taboo subjects with little understanding or will to learn, to overcome prejudice and to provide better support to those who need it.
Blog authors: Karen & Miles, Listen Up! reporters [pictured]
“There is more to #addiction and #recovery than coming off a substance – the truth is there is much to untangle. If only we could escape emotions.” – TJ, ListenUp! reporter
At Listen Up! we try to destigmatise issues by sharing our stories. We’re a network of trained community reporters experiencing homelessness, living all around the UK, using our mobile phones to document our stories. Through the hub, we want to elevate our voices and challenge stereotypes.
Recovery is a bridge to normal living. That’s the message we are trying to get out there and make recovery attractive and achievable. Recovery is different for each person; it is unique, and we all deal with it in our own way. Most support groups tell us to keep it in the day, but in early recovery that feels like a mountain to climb. So many of us break down to an hour at a time.
Today, on Wednesday 20th September between 9-5pm the ListenUp! team are taking over Groundswell’s Twitter (now known as X) and Facebook. Every hour between 9am – 5pm we’ll be sharing one of our reporters’ stories of their recovery. From one hour to the next, people are working through their recovery – every hour is a win.
Some of you will identify with them, some will find them interesting and investigate deeper, some may simply enjoy the read.
We do recover…
Recovery reports for #RecoveryDay
- “I wrote this blog to try to make sense of how I was feeling about achieving ten years without a suicide attempt. I realised that, for me, recovery is about rediscovering how to experience joy” says Tess.
- “It is such as shame that we spend so much money getting people clean or moved on but then fail to spend that bit extra to make their recovery stick” says Charlie in this illuminating piece about alcohol.
- Aaron wonders about survival, healing and his long journey of recovery.
- “I asked Claire if she would like to share her story because I wanted to show that it is possible to recover no matter how bad things are”. Claire and Karen both hope the interview gives hope and encouragement to anyone struggling with addiction”
- “There is more to addiction and recovery than coming off a substance – the truth is there is much more to untangle. If only we could escape emotions.” TJ tells us why, for him, emotions are the root of evil.
- “Being clean is something you have to seek rather than having to resist the urge to use.” For Mat, recovery is “getting something new, something you want. Instead of saying no over and over again, you are saying yes. Yes, to life.”
- Charlie talks about how recovery from addiction, mental health and homelessness are interlinked: “I see addiction and mental health issues as being indivisible. They are both symptoms of homelessness rather than direct causes of it.”
- These podcasts examine whether it’s possible to fully recover from homelessness. We’re sharing them because they are three insightful, beautiful and supportive conversations examining our different experiences and what ties us together.