Posted by Martin Preston
on
04 Oct 2024
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Call Us: 0330 111 2015
Call Us: 0330 111 2015
We’d been open at Delamere a few years when a colleague of mine first suggested we welcome previous guests back for an Alumni event. We assembled an operational team and opened a new project, to plan the proceedings, one that was quite a departure from the day job. We worried somewhat about hosting so many people on site at Delamere. 365 days of the year, Delamere is a deliberately a very tranquil setting – a sanctuary – that is the reserve of the guests who come to stay here, and the colleagues that care for them. How would we maintain that for our guests in residence and welcome our alumni back at the same time?
The planning of our first alumni event which we held in September 2023 was meticulous and the weather was glorious. We hosted a respectable number of former guests, our chefs laid on a BBQ, we invited some of our alumni to say a few words about how life has changed thanks to them being in recovery. The day was a remarkable success and for guests and colleagues there was a palpable feeling of community and a very joyful celebration of recovery.
Many colleagues remarked that the day encapsulated everything that matters to them, it symbolised why they come to work in care of people who have struggled with addiction and associated conditions. And so, our alumni events became a regular, annual fixture and something we really look forward to.
Last Sunday we hosted Delamere’s second Alumni Event. The format from year one remained, yet we went bigger with a few aspects, adding confetti canons (see the video) to the proceedings and given our alumni has grown considerably, even more thought to car parking, wet weather plans and alternative activities for current guests who mightn’t want to join in on the day.
The morning of the event, the heavens opened. Undeterred and adamant we were going to throw the best celebration of recovery we could, we rolled out our wet weather contingency plans installing the band and stage in our group room and talking kindly to our chefs who’d planned for a BBQ in the sunshine.
The day was a very special one indeed. Seeing people recover is the great privilege of the work we do here at Delamere. On a daily basis, my colleagues and I are fortunate to witness the profound transformations that people who come to stay with us make. We see this as an anxious guest settles in and starts feeling part of; they might share in group or simply begin to start making eye contact or start smiling. It might be the point at which someone completes their detox or has that first break through in group therapy. It is often in ‘Graduation ceremonies’, where guests share what they have learned during their time here and what their aspirations and plans are for returning home and embarking on a life in recovery. We love welcoming guests back to aftercare and for Bloom sessions; it’s always a joy to see people getting well and reintegrating everyday life after the safe and cosseted confines here on Forest Road.
When former guests return for Alumni events though, we are gifted an abundance – an outpouring – of inspiration, joy and a deep sense of pride and humility for the part we as a team have played in people getting well.
The sense of community and positivity is something everyone gets to share in – existing and former guests, and colleagues here too.
Standing at the entrance of the clinic, greeting our former guests as they arrived for the event was so very uplifting. Guests enjoy coming back to where it all started for them and reconvening with colleagues and their peers from their time in Delamere is very special indeed.
Many bound down that path, grinning from ear -to- ear, looking healthy, full of life and ready to celebrate recovery; their own and the recovery of others.
In receiving former guests, the team here can’t but remember the first time they walked down the path, on the day of their admission at Delamere. The contrast, the change is remarkable.
And that – the outcomes guests achieve – is what it’s all about.
Martin created Delamere in order to provide exemplary care in first class facilities. Find out more about Martin on our team page.
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