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November 2014 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 25
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
A letter from
Prof David Clark
, author of our hugely
popular series of Background Briefings
DEAR CLAIRE AND IAN,
Firstly, a huge congratulations for
DDN
’s tenth birthday! Can you fly me back for
cake and champers?
Do you remember approaching Simon Shepherd (FDAP) and me (WIRED) all
those years ago and asking whether we thought the
DDN
concept would work?
Our answer was brief – ‘Yes!’ – and our enthusiasm obvious. Not that you needed
much encouragement. You saw a niche and have taken
DDN
to where it is today.
I’d started WIRED (later Wired In) as a way of empowering people to overcome
substance use problems at the end of the millennium. I left a successful 25-year
neuroscience career and started working with real people.
I knew that quality information and education was key to helping people
recover and to improving addiction treatment. I knew that we needed to create
hope and connect people.
My colleagues and I started the news portal Daily Dose in 2001 and over the
years a variety of other Wired In community based initiatives – personal stories,
research, an online recovery community (Wired In To Recovery). Sadly, we always
struggled for funding, so were limited in what we could achieve. Mind you, I’m
very proud of what the Wired In team (Lucie, Kev, Sarah and Ash) achieved.
One of my favourite activities was writing an educational column, Background
Briefings, for
DDN
. It was fun and stimulating. I still remember Claire’s calls saying
the deadline was an hour away! I was touched by the amount of positive feedback
I received and still have each briefing in my study drawer.
Gosh, we had some good times then, didn’t we Claire and Ian? You were a
very stimulating duet to work with… but I sometimes had to watch my health in
the evening!
When I look back, the real highlight for me during this time was seeing people
recover from their addiction. Their joy and gratitude was beautiful! So many of these
people overcame great adversity... and then went on to help other people. Amazing!
They were exciting times and I feel really proud being part of that early
recovery advocacy movement in the UK. Mind you, they were tough times as well,
because there was shit flying around. The addiction care system is very resistant to
change, in part because of vested interests. Ironic really, when people working in
and overseeing the system were being paid to help people with addiction
problems change their behaviour!
For those of you wondering what I am doing now, I took early retirement from
Swansea University in 2006 and moved to Perth, Australia in 2008. Last year, I
started Recovery Stories (www.recoverystories.info) and Sharing Culture
(www.sharingculture.info). The latter is focused on helping indigenous people in
Australia (and further afield) overcome historical trauma and its consequences.
I am very excited by this latter project. It will be my toughest challenge, but I know
that my close colleague, filmmaker Michael Liu, and I can make something happen if
we can attract funding. I am appalled at the way that indigenous people in Australia
are treated – and what they still go through – and I am very determined to help make
a difference. They are beautiful people and their culture special.
Maybe I can do another
DDN
Background Briefing one day?
Professor David Clark’s Background Briefings are available in our back issues at
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
‘It’s hard to over-
state the impact
that
DDN
has
had... there really
wasn’t much of a
field back then.’
SIMON SHEPHERD
‘They always
tried to present
all sides of the
argument, even
at times when I
wished they would
be more biased!’
DR CHRIS FORD
‘One of my
favourite activities
was writing an
educational column,
Background
Briefings, for
DDN
.
It was fun and
stimulating.’
PROF DAVID CLARK
REFLECTIONS