We are a community-based recovery centre that has an “all addictions” approach.

Thanks for asking about what we do. At the Living Room we believe that all human beings are in recovery from something or other. Ordinary people who live in ongoing misery do so for largely the same reason as dependent people. In essence we’re all perfectly imperfect and cracked. It just seems that the crack is much wider in those dependent on alcohol, drugs and harmful behaviour, mainly because of the consequences. It just so happens that their drug or behaviour of choice is an aggravating factor.
 

The roots of addiction do not lie in the physical addictive nature of a substance (though this is a powerful factor when the dependent person is in active addiction). The emotional support that a drug gives the dependent person is far more the cause of relapse once physical cravings have subsided. This can be an emotional illness and most of us have differing degrees of emotional pain and distress in our lives. The Living Room embraces everyone, physically addicted or emotionally in need, to find the fullest expression of themselves. In other words, we want to help people to live “… a meaningful and satisfying life, as defined by the person themselves, whether or not there are ongoing or recurring symptoms or problems.”
 

Recovery isn’t a set of externally imposed values. As the above quote suggests, it is helping someone to find meaning or satisfaction beyond addiction – in terms defined by the dependent or suffering person themselves. The role of the addiction specialist (which is what I am) is that of a ‘skilled helper’, someone who can guide, suggest and, when necessary, challenge ideas and behaviours, but we do not come to the scenario with prefabricated solutions or one-size-fits-all life plans.
 

Recovery in a medical sense is often seen as the restoration of some faculty that has been lost, such as sight or hearing, for example. This paradigm is misleading in the addiction context; it suggests a person in recovery starts out as an emotionally well person, becomes physically addicted to a substance and, through abstinence, can return to the original situation. Most empirical and anecdotal evidence suggests that when they find recovery, that is the first time they find emotional wholeness and wellness. The sense of sadness or incompleteness that they sought to rectify or to medicate with alcohol and other drugs is resolved by the experience of recovery.

The Living Room process, therefore, is about far more than simply abstaining from a drug or dysfunctional behaviour; it is about embarking on a journey to a deeper knowing of self and a deeper connection with universal life energy and trying to find a sense of spiritual and emotional wholeness free from dependency on a substance to provide it.

Come and visit us. We provide ongoing one-to-one counselling and group therapy support as well as aftercare. Go on – open the door to a new life.
 

With my every best wish,

Wynford X