Welcome to the first newsletter of 2021! This month, we're bringing you recipes, an interview with one of our team, and more. The links below will take you to specific parts of the newsletter:
The Inside
In each edition The Inside aims to get the lowdown on Recovery from those of us in and around RESET and Change Grow Live - from staff, volunteers, people engaging with the services and beyond. This month we’re talking to a person who is definitely in the know and at the forefront of Treatment and Recovery in the community - our very own Alan Briggs!
Interviewer: Faure Perez.
Hi Alan. Here at RESET you’re our new B-R-I-C Team Leader. The only brick I know round these sides is good old Brick Lane. Can you tell us what B-R-I-C stands for and its relevance to those of us in and around Recovery?
Yes, B-R-I-C stands for Building Recovery In Communities. This means approaching Recovery as a topic which positively impacts the community as a whole. We try to promote awareness within different sectors in Tower Hamlets, and in turn, encourage engagement between the people that use our services. It’s about helping people develop the tools and confidence to engage with local resources.
There has been a bit of excitement about the new building at the Alma. For those of us using RESET’s services, what does it give us that we didn’t have before?
It’s a brand new, state of the art space which has Recovery at its heart. I could tell you about the layout and the decor, but that’s something you’ll be able to judge for yourselves in the near future. What it gives us that we didn’t have before is an exclusive space for Recovery. The Treatment service will continue to be based on Whitechapel Road, but the Alma building will help RESET concentrate mainly on Recovery. You could say that the Alma’s all about Recovery!
RESET is now one of the largest Treatment and Recovery service providers in London. Are you guys ready to take on the challenge?!
The short answer to that question is yes. We are in a position where we have the experience and the passion and now, having Change Grow Live working within RESET we have even greater resources. I am confident that we will be able to achieve our current and future goals.
You mention Change Grow Live. What’s the significance of RESET using Change Grow Live to help deliver local services, and what new potentials does it open up for us engaging with RESET?
Change Grow Live’s values are in line with the values of Tower Hamlets council, and thus complement RESET’s outlook and vision. The fact that we are on the same page means the people using our services will get a much more streamlined experience. We really appreciate Change Grow Live’s outlook as a provider. In pooling our resources together we can apply the dedication to Recovery in the community that we all feel it needs and deserves.
Tower Hamlets is a diverse community. Can you give any examples of what RESET are doing to cater to this demographic?
Working within other Tower Hamlets resources such as DAAT (Drug and Alcohol Action Team) we are building links with the community leaders and other groups representing Tower Hamlets. Via this, we are attempting to reduce any stigmas that may be associated with accessing Treatment and Recovery services. We are currently providing translations of our leaflets into, for example, Bengali, Somali, and Polish. We are well aware of, and I like to feel in tune, with our demographic here in Tower Hamlets. The need for Treatment and Recovery access spans all communities, and we’re here to provide for as many people as we can.
That’s great Alan. It sounds like the staff at RESET have a full workload. But Recovery, in my experience, is not all work and no play. What do you like to do in your spare time?!
To be frank, I try to spend what free time I do have on my own Recovery! I attend Mutual Aid Groups and Conventions. I also enjoy running and trying to live a healthy lifestyle. I enjoy simple things, such as watching box-sets on Netflix. Oh, and playing Xbox whenever possible! I’m playing Ray Man at the moment - it’s driving me nuts!
I know how that feels! Now, the last question. The name Briggs has most of the letters in it that make up the word B-R-I-C. Did you change your name so that it was similar to your job title?!!
Haha! Well, I’m passionate about my job, but not that passionate, lol!
Well, that’s that for this edition of Q&A. We’re always looking for new people to interview, from all walks of life. Got something to share? Get in touch!
Me & Meditation
The scholars have declared meditation hard to define, but it generally involves using a technique to focus the mind and train attention and awareness so you can achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm state. It has been around since the 5th century BC and is practised in almost all the religions in some form, as well as by many atheists and agnostics worldwide. I have been doing it regularly for the last 15 months and would like to share with you my experience of it.
If you asked me to list the things that have helped me most to keep my mind distanced from the kind of thoughts that might lead me to a place where alcohol and drugs seemed like a solution or a tempting vision, I would have to put meditation at or near top of the list. I was introduced to it in my rehab where it was a voluntary part of the daily program. I went first in the hope of getting some sleep as I was getting about 3 hours most nights suffering withdrawals, something I’m sure many of you will identify with. So, I staggered into my first session where a few of the other ‘clients’ were sprawled about on the carpets and sofas with shoes off and looking relaxed. The counsellor who was taking the session told us to make ourselves comfortable and I sat down cross legged on the floor with a cushion behind my back and leant back against the sofa and closed my eyes.
I heard his voice telling me to breathe in deeply through my nose and out through my mouth and concentrate on the turn of the breath. That was all he said literally and the next thing I knew was I woke up. Everyone had gone apart from the counsellor who was gathering his stuff together. I had had my first undisturbed sleep and I felt ever so slightly better which was enough to find me there for the next session in the same position. Again, I went out like a light and only woke up once the session was over, and so it was for the whole of that first week.
On the 7th session things went a bit differently. I woke up with tears inexplicably falling down my face and with a great sadness and sense of loss which magically disappeared a few minutes later but again I felt slightly different. I felt a little rested and a little clearer somewhere in my head. I think I had actually got in touch with some proper emotion for the first time in years. After a few more days of teardrops, I began to find my way around my head. I can’t find another way of saying it. I would close my eyes and imagine myself somewhere else, standing alone in a desert feeling warm dry wind on my face and with miles of sand dunes reaching into the distance, walking through a jungle crawling down in the earth among the snakes and the spiders and then at the top of the trees screaming with howler monkeys or walking alongside a stream with fish swarming around my ankles... I could place myself anywhere — places I had been to and places I imagined, all in full Technicolor. I would walk into these strange worlds and watch myself stepping through weird spaces and doing strange things like planting seeds, lighting fires, making strange marks on cave walls, shouting at the sky, sharpening weapons and watching worlds from high places. All very weird and wonderful trips into an imagination running wild.
It’s a very odd sensation. I know where I am and I am still connected to the physical world outside of me, but at the same time I’m super connected to this crazy internal world which I navigate without premeditating or thinking. It’s like I just find myself in these places doing these things. It’s the oddest feeling to be at home on my sofa… and at the same time travelling in these wild places in my head...
And then the timer goes off on my phone and it all stops and dissipates and is gone, kind of like water disappearing down a plughole. I’m back in my physical body in my physical world… but something has changed in my own perception. I’m feeling refreshed and seeing myself from a different perspective, more rational and with more distance and in sharper focus.
Spend Spend Spend!
I have been collecting Time Credits for time I spend on the RESET newsletter for a while now. I’ve managed to accumulate nearly 50, so two weeks ago when I saw that the new TEMPO website was up and running, I decided to have an online Time Credit spend-up. I have to say it was remarkably easy to use the site and the credits were easy to spend by sending a code to my email which I could use online.
Of course, once lockdown finishes, you’ll be able to use Time Credits for a lot of things that are temporarily paused, like gym memberships, martial arts sessions, live sport and cultural visits and tickets to shows and performances. I’m looking forward to seeing inside Tower Bridge, learning Tai Chi and going up and down the Thames on the Uber boat, as well as some dog training sessions for my dogs (they really need it!)
Here’s what I managed to spend, although sadly they are all one time only offers but I gather there are more coming:
- £10 in Asda (5 Time Credits) – I just took the code with me and applied it at the checkout. I got the £5 Asda deal of 2 pizzas and a Sky movie and £5 worth of groceries.
- £10 in Tesco (5 Time Credits) – I applied the code online and filled in my address and the following week I received a £10 voucher in the post, which can be spent in any store like cash.
- £25 on Netflix (15 Time Credits) – Added to my account, so no direct debit going out for the next two months. It was very easy, I just typed the code into my Netflix account.
- £11.99 (5 Time Credits) A healthy box of really fresh fruit and veg from Streetbox delivered to my door! Great service! Great Value (blueberries, melon, apples, mango, lychees, pears, green and red grapes, potatoes, celery, spinach, carrots, parsnips, red cabbage and more). I really liked this one, the fruit and veg were super fresh and tasty as well as being healthy and it’s a local business so only available in Hackney and Haringey.
If you are interested in earning some Time Credits and contributing to the RESET newsletter please get in touch. We are looking for all kinds of contributions and open to ideas. Email us at [email protected].
Alfie’s Food for Thought… Bite-Sized Nuggets of Food Philosophy
Food, our fuel source, has always fascinated me; whatever we are doing, wherever we are in our lives right now, I think we can safely say that food is a big part of it.
Food is fundamental for us and we can safely say that it has a huge impact on our physical and mental health.
In my personal experience healthy eating has helped me throughout my recovery and still does today by keeping me focused and developing a routine that keeps me physically and mentally healthy. The energy that comes with a balanced diet enables me to concentrate better on the daily mental and physical challenges that are part of my building blocks of recovery.
Introducing a good food routine within my everyday life has somehow helped me to organise and plan my days. Plus, the introduction of simple ingredients such as fruits, berries and nuts have become a fundamental part of my daily life and are great for energy and mood boost, as well as a healthy way to snack throughout day without feeling guilty ;)
In the upcoming editions I hope to share with you some tips and tricks around food that I have learned throughout my recovery so far, and of course continue to learn every day, as we all do.
We’ll look at things such as “Snack Alternatives”, and how different foods affect and interact differently with our minds and bodies.
ArtArticle
I always enjoyed art at school and did better at the more creative subjects. n fact I was pretty useless at science and maths. Numbers frightened the life out of me and I never managed to learn my times tables. Once I left school I worked in fashion and design for a while but eventually as I got more into drugs and alcohol my world shrank and I lost touch completely with any desire to create or appreciate color and beauty in any form. Then, just over ten years ago a close friend suffered a brain injury. He survived against all odds but was never going to fully recover. He stayed in Royal London hospital facing months or years of rehabilitation in the hope he would be able to walk and talk to some degree.
I noticed a sign on the hospital wall while visiting him one day about a day center for people with brain injuries. It was just up the road from my house, and they were looking for volunteers. I thought I might learn about brain injury and be able to understand and help his recovery, so I applied and to my surprise I was accepted. I went one day a week just to provide a helping hand to the staff in the center where they run all kinds of activities like art, music, cooking, meditation and exercise. It is a fantastically friendly place, and they have a great art room where I immediately felt at home. I spent most of my time working with and alongside members encouraging them to discover and extend their creative skills.
Even though most of my life was chaotic and unhealthy (I was still misusing various substances to get by) I always turned up to my volunteering and literally forgot my problems on entering the gates. I spent the day happily painting, sculpting or joining in with whatever project was happening. Similar to Reset where we help each other by communicating with each other about ourselves, working alongside these people had a healing effect on me. I rediscovered my own interest in and ability to create.
Although my friend sadly passed away having caught a chest infection in the hospital after 8 months of rehabilitation I continued to volunteer at the center.
I can’t tell you how privileged I feel to be still working with these very special people and how gratifying it is to produce some really impressive work with them.
I did this picture in October 2019 while I was in Rehab. I called it Monsters. It represents how the world appeared to me then and serves as a reminder of a place that is for now safely in my past.
We are looking for creative content and art in any form (including digital) e.g. painting, sculpture, poetry, photography, spoken word, music, to keep our newsletter relevant and up to date with our readers.
Wherever you may be in your recovery journey we would love to hear from you about how you get creative and what you get out of it, along with an example of whatever you do - and earn yourself some Time Credits! Email us at [email protected].
Muay Thai, the art of 8 limbs
I used to be a musician and with that came a very hectic, active and busy lifestyle. Because of my musical background, I decided to cut that lifestyle out during my recovery.
When I stopped the music and my substance misuse, I felt a gap in my life. I also felt that I needed something else that would give me that rush, that excitement, that would keep me active and stay focused, so that's when I stumbled on the art of Thai Boxing or Muay Thai.
Muay Thai, the art of 8 limbs, is very technical, fun and absolutely stunning to watch and also it is all tied in with incredible fitness.
The fitness side was the first thing that got me hooked. You see exercise in general releases endorphins as well as dopamine and serotonin, all-natural chemicals that made me feel incredible and super happy. I really believe that exercises have played a big part in my recovery.
When I started Muay Thai though it wasn't only about fitness and a natural burst of chemicals. It was also about the spiritual side of it; the human connection, developing new friendships, being humble, helping each other out and finally being part of a family that works together to develop and push through any obstacles.
It has become an important part of my life, fundamental for my sobriety and recovery. It has helped me to relax, it keeps me happy, and it has been such an important pillar all through lockdown keeping me strong and focused.
In future editions, we will look at some other forms of exercise that have helped me and others through their recovery.
Film Review: Flight
This film, Flight, directed by Robert Zemeckis and released on 1st February 2013 carries a 15 certificate. It is a powerful film and compared to the standard of Hitchcock and Scorsese. The film is both entertaining as well as having a serious message. It includes mild nudity, drug use, swearing and above all tension and drama.
Denzel Washington puts in a brilliant performance (nominated for an Academy Award for best actor in a leading role) and is well backed up by Nadine Valasquez and Kelly Reilly.
The opening scene starts with Whip, the pilot and the main character. He is a very talented airline pilot but he also is a heavy drinker and uses drugs. In the opening scene, Whip is seen in bed with a woman and smoking a cigarette while he has an angry conversation with his ex-wife about his son. The scene is full of tension, Whip is still under the influence and is due to take off in two hours. Denzel is a very believable character and goes through all the emotions and the motions.
Read the full film review here. Please note, there are spoilers!
