Summer Reunion 2023 at Delamere

Posted by Martin Preston
on 25 Sep 2023

Earlier this month, we welcomed former guests back to Delamere for our first ever reunion. Re-connecting with guests who came through Delamere, and hearing how their lives have changed since, was very special indeed.

In many ways the day felt like a celebration of recovery and, reflecting on why September 3rd 2023 felt like one of the best days we’ve ever had at Delamere, I feel compelled to capture some thoughts.

As a team, we have the great privilege of working with guests who come to stay with us, and we bear witness to the profound transformations they undergo as they recover during their time with us. When the fog of active addiction starts to lift, and guests begin to heal and look forward to living a life beyond addiction people start to look healthier, feel more positive and start to look the world in the eye again.

Whilst we are then able to stay close to guests in their first year of sobriety, while they attend weekly aftercare sessions, we will often only have very light contact with guests thereafter.

Happily, many guests will share their news with us, and we punch the air when they celebrate a recovery milestone or reach out to let us know how their lives have changed since they left us.

Some of our alumni stay connected to Delamere by applying to offer peer support to current guests and we’re so very proud that to date, two former guests have become colleagues here at Delamere.

Recovery often goes ‘full circle’ and the recovery adage ‘we only keep what we have by giving it away’ rings true.

However, having been open now since March 2020, there are many guests that we hadn’t seen for too long. Reconvening with guests who stayed with us several years ago at the reunion was very special indeed. Seeing how much people have changed and listening to how their lives have opened as they have grown beyond addiction was inspiring.

As one participant, Jerome, a guest who completed the Delamere treatment model in 2022, said, the event was a ‘wellspring of joy’.

Our alumni seemed to enjoy coming back to where their journey started, colleagues lit up when a former guest we hadn’t seen for ages walked down the drive and existing guests fed-back they felt inspired that recovery is possible.

On the day itself we heard from four guests who spoke to the gathering about how their lives have changed since they left Delamere, we gifted signed copies of Mike Delaney’s book ‘Beyond the smile’, we enjoyed live music and BBQ and many alumni had their photo taken in our sobriety frame.

Everyday here is special, whether it is welcoming a new guest, listening to a guest graduate, or getting a sense that a penny has dropped for someone in a session.

We love helping people recover and we insist on celebrating it.

We can’t wait for next year.

Summary