Weekly round up and blog of the week

Dear all,

Well semi back into the swing of things after the season to be jolly but the weather is now getting on my nerves. Enough snow already. However, enforced staying in has had some positives in that it has been a busy week Wired In-wise, both on the site and beyond.

2010 has a buzz about it in recovery terms (and I hope in other terms too) and it is good to see so many of you starting the New Year with hope in your hearts and eyes firmly focused on next steps.

For many of us last year was a year of significant change, of coming into recovery or consolidating our drug or alcohol free lives – a good year really. This is particularly true for Mark Burns for whom 2009 was definitely a milestone year. The act of celebrating the New Year itself, at the Serenity Cafe in Edinburgh, underlined for Kane D just what people in recovery can achieve.

Chris G. certainly showed that recovery gives more power to your elbow, cooking 25 breakfasts, washing up, serving tea and biscuits, cooking 25 turkey dinners and then cleaning up and washing the floor. Phew!

Matthew reminds us all how much the recovery landscape has changed in the last twelve months and looks forward to the next developments in 2010. In a similar vein 2009 was an important year for laying the foundations for Wired In as a living, breathing, thriving community. We aim to see this amazing community continue to grow and develop in order to provide a resource that is a hub for the UK recovery movement.

In order to do this we will be calling on those of you that are interested to get involved – so there are exciting times ahead. As a starting point please, please, please can I ask all of you who value Wired In to comment on what Wired In does for you, what would happen if it didn’t exist and the difference that Wired In makes. It is so important that we have your feedback (massive thanks to those of you who have already commented) and I don’t really ask for much as I stay up night after night, editing blogs, wearily hunched over my keyboard by the light of a flickering candle…. sob.

Carl is also focused on the future, solution focused in fact (see what I did there!), reflecting on how resolving to give things up, rather than to take on new challenges, can leave people feeling guilty, sad, powerless and frustrated. Mathew, despite a touch of the winter blues, is still looking at the bigger picture.

The impact of addiction and how it influences our behaviours was covered in several blogs. Androcles (welcome back!) reflects on how active addiction erodes values and places our own needs above all else. Phil recognises that recovery offers the oppprtunity of a greater understanding of self beyond labels and GuyinGHo ponders the link between relationships and relapse.

Three blogs looked at barriers to recovery from three different perspectives. Peapod explores the impact of drug workers settling for too little and Ollie at how the language that we use on a daily basis contibutes to stigma. Graham (hopefully having a good day today) asks when boundaries become barriers and how much practitioners should be able to disclose.

Recovery itself can seem to be a long and daunting road, particularly and the start of the journey. Tony remembers struggling with who he was and what he was about to become, only to find that he is still himself but with a completely different outlook on life. Fiona, who is definitely in the right place blogging on Wired In, is realising that she she can’t stop using in the way she thought she could – but hasn’t lost hope.

Claire has set herself a double challenge of trying to stay clean and learn to use a computer – hang on in there on both counts. Louis wonders when sobriety becomes recovery becomes recovered – and gets some interesting responses. But I will leave it both to Brian and to Mark to provide the evidence that it works if u work it.

A number of bloggers are in debating or questioning mode this week – so if any of you have views or any thoughts on answers do comment. In Altered States MildGreens asks whether all drug policy on a global scale needs to be re-examined. Dagny Taggart questions whether the new Scottish Drugs Strategy Delivery Commission can really claim a balanced membership reflecting the complex nature of the problem it is supposed to be addressing.

Mark Gilman wonders what a modern methadone clinic would look like in a world of recovery.

Ann Marie wants to learn all she can about addiction and recovery and Benx is concerned about the impact of heroin use on sperm count.

Emotional Freedom Technique has appeared on Wired In before, but for those of you who are new to EFT or are aware of it but want to find out more, do check out Jo Kenworthy’s series of blogs on this approach. She raises a range of intresting ideas which have real resonance. A warm welcome to the community Jo.

David tells us about the The Mental Health Foundation (MHF) have launched a new website called Be Mindful and gives links to additional resources – there is evidence that minfulness can help people deal with a variety of physical and psychological problems, including addiction – and Rowdy adds to the previous debate on appropriate treatment interventions for female ex-addicts who have been abused.

You may have noticed a temporary addition to the site i.e a round up of up-coming conferences, seminars, meetings and events in general, that Wired In has received notification of. This is temporary, in that one of the areas we will be exploring as part of Wired In’s development is a section outlining activities of interest that are coming up – watch this space.

And a reminder to any of you that may have possibly missed it, although I’m not sure how, that the National Recovery Walk planning meeting/Emerging Recovery Organisations workshop will be held at the SDF offices in Glasgow on 22nd January from 10.00 to 4.00.

Ann Marie gets the ‘quote of the week award’ in her blog to all mums deciding that, if there isn’t a support group in her area, she will ‘damn well start one!’” Benx, gets the ‘brilliant poem should be a song, get recording award’ and Phil receives ‘analogy to make a point about letting go of old behaviours with a sense of dignity knowing that they did serve a purpose in my life award’ for a hero’s tale.

In this flurry of new and entirely fictional awards I have not forgotten the prize, that jewel in the crown that every blogger yearns to have on their virtual mantlepiece – yes, it’s Blog of the Week. And the first winner of 2010 is Claire for her bravery in blogging, despite only learning how to switch on a computer a month ago (a lesson to us all in the bravey stakes) and for her courage in starting her recovery journey.

Onwards and upwards!

Michaela