What a year 2011 has been, one of those crossroad years that the world seems to reach every few decades or so, when amidst the gloom and worry, opportunities for freedom lie.
In the midst of financial crises, Syrian despots, collapsing currencies, corrupt journalists and persecuted victims of press intrusion is a flowering of courage, honesty, integrity and perseverance.
The current state of the world is strikingly similar to the drama of recovery from addiction, and the similarities are so close, that perhaps there are broad human truths that run through both narratives.
As a society we have been debased by the narcissistic culture we have adopted in the past few decades, and 2011 was the year Britain's chickens came home to roost. We learned the real cost of endless spending and indulging. We learned the real cost to human beings of our gawping and prurient celebrity culture. We learned the real cost of marginalising our young people, and felt their anger boil over in the streets.
There will be many tired, ill, lonely and despairing people this Christmas who will be counting the real cost of 'good times' gone terribly wrong, people who are waking up to the realities of their addictions, just as society has started to wake up to its problems too.
For them, the sense of prevailing gloom and fear will be greatly amplified, and for a moment, for every addict who has reached the end of their ability to cope with their illness, a terrible moment of fear and powerlessness will envelop them.
In the midst of this, however, there is hope. The addict has a chance of a fresh start, the realisation that previous behaviours do not work any more, that old ways that seemed like solutions have only led to crisis, can give the addict a much yearned for doorway to freedom.
Sometimes it takes a disaster, the loss of a job or a relationship, to wake the suffering individual up to the truth of their situation and give them a new direction.
As with the addict, we have all had the truths of our societal addictions revealed to us, we have been shown the toxic nature of a society based on egotism and self obsession, and we too have an opportunity to get well.
The heartening fact is that many of us are taking that opportunity; banks, media barons and dictators the world over are being challenged and in many cases overthrown.
We must not only take heart in the knowledge that in the most difficult times that the world is in many ways actually getting better, but also that in every generation people seem to be becoming more caring and thoughtful, not less.
We must transfer our sense of optimism, of hope and of new beginnings to addicts and sufferers everywhere, and demonstrate to them that they can fight their own struggles for freedom, independence and sanity, and by just staying in the fight, day after day, they will inevitably triumph.
Showing posts with label Hope. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hope. Show all posts
Friday, 9 December 2011
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
The story of Miss Jones and her dozen pullet eggs
Mr Albert Peacock kept a shop that sold all kinds of goods in a poor area of Warrington - and he had one son named Harold who was seven years old.
Mr Peacock offered a very valuable service to his customers, which was the opportunity to sell their goods in his shop – potatoes, carrots, eggs, onions, etc. Mr Peacock knew you see, that people were short of money in that community and that they depended on this service to help support them financially.
One Saturday morning Miss Jones entered his shop. She had a dozen pullet eggs in her bag. Pullet eggs, incidentally, are very small. “Can you sell there dozen pullet eggs for me, Mr Peacock?” she asked.
“Of course”, said Mr Peacock laughing heartily. “If I can’t sell them for you with all my years of experience as a shopkeeper, I don’t know who can!” And Mr Peacock laughed heartily again. Mr Peacock was quite a hearty laugher. “Come back for your money round about half past four, Miss Jones” he said.
“I’ll most certainly do that.” said Miss Jones. And off she trotted gratefully.
For the rest of the day Mr Peacock traded successfully. But, despite all the comings and goings in his shop; and although he offered the pullet eggs to every customer – strangely enough, Mr Peacock failed to sell a single egg. It was half past three in the afternoon by now, when Harold the son came into the shop and noticed the worry etched on his father’s face. “What’s wrong, dad?” he asked.
“Well, I’m having difficulty selling these pullet eggs for Miss Jones, son” said Mr Peacock. “What shall I do? You see, I know she’s depending on the money from the sale of these eggs to buy a piece of meat for her Sunday dinner tomorrow.”
“Can I try selling them for you, dad?” asked Harold.
“You, Harold - don’t be so ridiculous!” said the father. “If I can’t sell these pullet eggs with all my years of experience as a shopkeeper, what chance do you have boy, as a seven year old?”
“You’ve got nothing to loose” replied Harold impudently.
“Well, I suppose not” Mr Peacock conceded. And with that he handed the pullet eggs over the counter to Harold his son. “Here” he said “and mind you don’t break any!”
Fifteen minutes later Harold was back – and he’d sold all the eggs. His father marvelled. “I don’t believe it! How did you manage to sell all those pullet eggs, Harold – when I’d been at it all day long and failed to sell a single one?”
“Well” said Harold. “You’re a big man dad, and your hands are big. The pullet eggs, which are small, looked like nothing at all in your hands. But I’m a little boy, and in my little hands the pullet eggs looked huge – and everyone fancied them.”
A few weeks ago I read somewhere that the Peacocks Company were going to expand their business empire and were opening a hundred new shops in England and Wales. And I remembered how the original Mr Peacock and his son, Harold, had taught me two valuable lessons.
1) If we do the right thing we get the right result. (That’s obvious with the company Mr Peacock established going from strength to strength. It’s also true for addicts and alcoholics when we embark on the exciting journey of recovery – if we do the right things we get the right results.)
2) And the second lesson was this: no matter how insignificant we think we are - we can, as Harold proved, do some things that no one else can - even though the best qualifications to do that job sometimes appear to belong to other people. (Never underestimate yourself as recovering alcoholics and addicts: you might be the one person who can say the right words at exactly the right time and in exactly the right order – that can save someone from a life of despair, hopelessness and loneliness through addiction to drink and/or drugs. Now, how important is that?!)
Round about Christmas, for example, if you employed the best actors in the world to tell the Nativity story, I’ll bet you a million pounds that a small group of children from a Sunday school class in the back of beyond in rural Wales can do a better job.
See what I mean?
Read more of these daily Blogs by visiting: www.welshcouncil.org.uk
Mr Peacock offered a very valuable service to his customers, which was the opportunity to sell their goods in his shop – potatoes, carrots, eggs, onions, etc. Mr Peacock knew you see, that people were short of money in that community and that they depended on this service to help support them financially.
One Saturday morning Miss Jones entered his shop. She had a dozen pullet eggs in her bag. Pullet eggs, incidentally, are very small. “Can you sell there dozen pullet eggs for me, Mr Peacock?” she asked.
“Of course”, said Mr Peacock laughing heartily. “If I can’t sell them for you with all my years of experience as a shopkeeper, I don’t know who can!” And Mr Peacock laughed heartily again. Mr Peacock was quite a hearty laugher. “Come back for your money round about half past four, Miss Jones” he said.
“I’ll most certainly do that.” said Miss Jones. And off she trotted gratefully.
For the rest of the day Mr Peacock traded successfully. But, despite all the comings and goings in his shop; and although he offered the pullet eggs to every customer – strangely enough, Mr Peacock failed to sell a single egg. It was half past three in the afternoon by now, when Harold the son came into the shop and noticed the worry etched on his father’s face. “What’s wrong, dad?” he asked.
“Well, I’m having difficulty selling these pullet eggs for Miss Jones, son” said Mr Peacock. “What shall I do? You see, I know she’s depending on the money from the sale of these eggs to buy a piece of meat for her Sunday dinner tomorrow.”
“Can I try selling them for you, dad?” asked Harold.
“You, Harold - don’t be so ridiculous!” said the father. “If I can’t sell these pullet eggs with all my years of experience as a shopkeeper, what chance do you have boy, as a seven year old?”
“You’ve got nothing to loose” replied Harold impudently.
“Well, I suppose not” Mr Peacock conceded. And with that he handed the pullet eggs over the counter to Harold his son. “Here” he said “and mind you don’t break any!”
Fifteen minutes later Harold was back – and he’d sold all the eggs. His father marvelled. “I don’t believe it! How did you manage to sell all those pullet eggs, Harold – when I’d been at it all day long and failed to sell a single one?”
“Well” said Harold. “You’re a big man dad, and your hands are big. The pullet eggs, which are small, looked like nothing at all in your hands. But I’m a little boy, and in my little hands the pullet eggs looked huge – and everyone fancied them.”
A few weeks ago I read somewhere that the Peacocks Company were going to expand their business empire and were opening a hundred new shops in England and Wales. And I remembered how the original Mr Peacock and his son, Harold, had taught me two valuable lessons.
1) If we do the right thing we get the right result. (That’s obvious with the company Mr Peacock established going from strength to strength. It’s also true for addicts and alcoholics when we embark on the exciting journey of recovery – if we do the right things we get the right results.)
2) And the second lesson was this: no matter how insignificant we think we are - we can, as Harold proved, do some things that no one else can - even though the best qualifications to do that job sometimes appear to belong to other people. (Never underestimate yourself as recovering alcoholics and addicts: you might be the one person who can say the right words at exactly the right time and in exactly the right order – that can save someone from a life of despair, hopelessness and loneliness through addiction to drink and/or drugs. Now, how important is that?!)
Round about Christmas, for example, if you employed the best actors in the world to tell the Nativity story, I’ll bet you a million pounds that a small group of children from a Sunday school class in the back of beyond in rural Wales can do a better job.
See what I mean?
Read more of these daily Blogs by visiting: www.welshcouncil.org.uk
Thursday, 11 June 2009
An event of some considerable importance
PRESS RELEASE
12th June 2009
“Recovery should also be a goal, not simply harm reduction”
The inaugural annual Welsh Council on Alcohol and other Drugs lecture will be delivered by Dr David Best, Reader in Criminal Justice at the University of the West of Scotland at the Senedd, Cardiff Bay on Tuesday, 16th June at 6.30pm. The lecture, held in association with the three registered treatment centres in Wales Brynawel House (South Wales), CAIS (North Wales) and Rhoserchan (Mid Wales), will be hosted by Gareth Jones OBE, AM.
The lecture, Evidence of Hope: What do we know about sustained recovery from alcohol and drug addiction?, chaired by Wynford Ellis Owen, Chief Executive of the Welsh Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs, will be the first time the Council and the three registered treatment centres in Wales will have worked together in partnership to tackle the wider debate on a number of different approaches to addiction therapy.
Dr David Best, in addition to his academic work in Scotland, is also involved in work for the Home Office in London, the Scottish Government, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Abuse and local recovery initiatives in Glasgow and Lanarkshire. A Chartered Psychologist and a member of the British Criminology Society, he spent ten years working in research at the National Addiction Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, managing a range of applied studies of drug and alcohol treatment interventions to prevent drug-related deaths and drug crime studies. He has also worked with the Police Complaints Authority, the National Treatment Agency and the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit.
Wynford Ellis Owen, Chief Executive of the Welsh Council on Alcohol and other Drugs, said, “There are of course a number of different approaches and philosophies on tackling addiction but it is great to see all three treatment centres working together formally for the first time for the benefit of Welsh clients. It is not an easy debate but one which Wales needs to have and I am very grateful to Dr David Best for agreeing to deliver our inaugural lecture as it is an important objective for us to deliver as part of our current three-year strategy”.
Dr David Best, said, “I am looking forward to speaking in Cardiff as my current areas of research interest are around recovery journeys from addiction, the relationship between drug use and crime and the role of organisational functioning in influencing treatment effectiveness are all highly relevant. I know a great deal of emphasis is put on harm reduction policies but I do believe that we should also be talking about sustained recovery in the same sentence.”
Lynn Bennoch, Lead Director, CAIS, on behalf of the three registered providers, added, “CAIS has 12 years experience of providing Detox services, and 18 years of providing rehabilitation services, Brynawel House has 32 years experience of providing rehabilitation services and Rhoserchan 21 years - therefore in total we have 83 years of experience!
“We are currently looking at ways of working towards providing the ‘best practice’ and a more holistic approach to the treatment of drug and alcohol clients that will take into account the different approaches on tackling addiction. The collaboration between the three registered treatment providers will seek to address a more flexible and systematic approach to the residential treatment of those seeking help with their dependency.”
Gareth Jones AM, said, “Gareth Jones AM, said, “"I am delighted to be able to sponsor this important event in the Senedd and pleased that the inaugural lecture of the Welsh Council on Alcohol and other Drugs has attracted a renowned expert and a speaker of such high calibre as Dr David Best. The issues surrounding the debate on addiction, treatment and crime are sometimes complex and difficult but nevertheless we ought not to shirk our responsibility to openly discuss the potential solutions.
"I am mindful of the heavy toll of drug and alcohol addiction on individuals, families and society as a whole and we owe it to ourselves to try to get the right messages over even if that means for example challenging some commercial interests. I look forward to a renewed debate and a greater co-ordination of our efforts and resources in this important field."
ENDS
For further information please contact Rhodri Ellis Owen at Cambrensis Communications on 029 20 257075
Editor’s Notes
The 3 Welsh treatment centres (Ty’n Rodyn/Hafan Wen, Brynawel House and Rhoserchan) are able to associate themselves with this event thanks to the investment in recent years by the Welsh Assembly Government into Drug & Alcohol residential treatment centres
12th June 2009
“Recovery should also be a goal, not simply harm reduction”
The inaugural annual Welsh Council on Alcohol and other Drugs lecture will be delivered by Dr David Best, Reader in Criminal Justice at the University of the West of Scotland at the Senedd, Cardiff Bay on Tuesday, 16th June at 6.30pm. The lecture, held in association with the three registered treatment centres in Wales Brynawel House (South Wales), CAIS (North Wales) and Rhoserchan (Mid Wales), will be hosted by Gareth Jones OBE, AM.
The lecture, Evidence of Hope: What do we know about sustained recovery from alcohol and drug addiction?, chaired by Wynford Ellis Owen, Chief Executive of the Welsh Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs, will be the first time the Council and the three registered treatment centres in Wales will have worked together in partnership to tackle the wider debate on a number of different approaches to addiction therapy.
Dr David Best, in addition to his academic work in Scotland, is also involved in work for the Home Office in London, the Scottish Government, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Abuse and local recovery initiatives in Glasgow and Lanarkshire. A Chartered Psychologist and a member of the British Criminology Society, he spent ten years working in research at the National Addiction Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, managing a range of applied studies of drug and alcohol treatment interventions to prevent drug-related deaths and drug crime studies. He has also worked with the Police Complaints Authority, the National Treatment Agency and the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit.
Wynford Ellis Owen, Chief Executive of the Welsh Council on Alcohol and other Drugs, said, “There are of course a number of different approaches and philosophies on tackling addiction but it is great to see all three treatment centres working together formally for the first time for the benefit of Welsh clients. It is not an easy debate but one which Wales needs to have and I am very grateful to Dr David Best for agreeing to deliver our inaugural lecture as it is an important objective for us to deliver as part of our current three-year strategy”.
Dr David Best, said, “I am looking forward to speaking in Cardiff as my current areas of research interest are around recovery journeys from addiction, the relationship between drug use and crime and the role of organisational functioning in influencing treatment effectiveness are all highly relevant. I know a great deal of emphasis is put on harm reduction policies but I do believe that we should also be talking about sustained recovery in the same sentence.”
Lynn Bennoch, Lead Director, CAIS, on behalf of the three registered providers, added, “CAIS has 12 years experience of providing Detox services, and 18 years of providing rehabilitation services, Brynawel House has 32 years experience of providing rehabilitation services and Rhoserchan 21 years - therefore in total we have 83 years of experience!
“We are currently looking at ways of working towards providing the ‘best practice’ and a more holistic approach to the treatment of drug and alcohol clients that will take into account the different approaches on tackling addiction. The collaboration between the three registered treatment providers will seek to address a more flexible and systematic approach to the residential treatment of those seeking help with their dependency.”
Gareth Jones AM, said, “Gareth Jones AM, said, “"I am delighted to be able to sponsor this important event in the Senedd and pleased that the inaugural lecture of the Welsh Council on Alcohol and other Drugs has attracted a renowned expert and a speaker of such high calibre as Dr David Best. The issues surrounding the debate on addiction, treatment and crime are sometimes complex and difficult but nevertheless we ought not to shirk our responsibility to openly discuss the potential solutions.
"I am mindful of the heavy toll of drug and alcohol addiction on individuals, families and society as a whole and we owe it to ourselves to try to get the right messages over even if that means for example challenging some commercial interests. I look forward to a renewed debate and a greater co-ordination of our efforts and resources in this important field."
ENDS
For further information please contact Rhodri Ellis Owen at Cambrensis Communications on 029 20 257075
Editor’s Notes
The 3 Welsh treatment centres (Ty’n Rodyn/Hafan Wen, Brynawel House and Rhoserchan) are able to associate themselves with this event thanks to the investment in recent years by the Welsh Assembly Government into Drug & Alcohol residential treatment centres
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