You too could be a Churchill Fellow 2013 applications now open

Applications arec now open to all UK citizens over the age of 18 to apply for a 2013 Churchill Fellowship. http://www.wcmt.org.uk/
Watch the film clip below to find out more and please pass the message on to others who might benefit. Thanks

This year categories include Health, with a specific focus on Alcohol rleated issues, a new category of Prison Reform, and even an open category for projects which don’t fir the Trusts 13 specific categories.
So go for it and in Churchill’s famous maxim “Action this day!”
Please spread this information to anyone you think might benefit.

Other Churchill Fellows who investigated addiction recovery

Sarah Davies

Sarah Davies looked at Community & self help grass roots treatment & policy around addiction recovery in the USA.
You can read her blog on the website of the charity she helped to found It’s called Recovery Cymru. http://www.recoverycymru.org.uk/blogs.html

Wynford Ellis Owen, who I met whilst I was in the USA, looked into Non- clinical addiction recovery techniques in the USA. Here’s a link to his Fellowship report: http://www.wcmt.org.uk/fellowships/fellows-reports.html?option=com_reports&task=listReps&Itemid=13&rep_search=1&year=&cat=&country=&author=owen&phrase=Phrase
Wynford is Chief Exec of the Welsh council on Alcohol and other drugs: http://welshcouncil.org.uk/

Hope this is useful Please spread these links to anyone you think may find them useful. Thanks.

Churchill Fellowship Awards Ceremony London 30th May 2012

 

 

I was proud to be one of the Churchill Fellows presented with their Fellowship medallions at the 2012 awards ceremony at Church House Westminster on 30th May. I was also honoured to be presented with my award by Dame Tanni Grey-Thompsdon multi Partalympic gold medalist an inspirational figure and a personal heroine of mine.

You can see me pictured with my Churchill Fellowship Medallion, and chatting to Tanni after the ceremony.Official photo’s of the actual presentation ceremony to follow later.

It was great to meet other Churchill Fellows, including others who studied addiction Recovery. I’ll be sharing links to their reports later on this blog.

Churchill Fellowships are open to any UK adult to apply for. applications for travel in 2013 are now open. just vist www.wcmt.org.uk if you want to find out more and please spread the word to anyone you think might be interested.

This was a proud day for me and it was great to be able to take my dad as my guest. Here he is enjoying some London sightseeing

 

 

 

 

 

Off to London for Award Ceremony

Off to London this afternoon, with my dad as my guest, ready for the Churchill Fellowship awards ceremony tomorrow morning in Church House Westminster. Looking forward to being presented with my Churchill Medallion by Dame Tanni Gray-Thompson multi gold medal Paralympian, and a pesonal heroine of mine.

Thank you to everyone here and in the USAl who made my journey possible, and please keep using the results of my fellowship, and this blog, to influence the future of Recovery for addicts in the Uk.

With love and gratitude- Peter

Fellowship Report & Findings

This blog is a record and report of my Winston Churchill traveling fellowship to the USA in 2010.
The purpose of my traveling fellowship was to look at Recovery and Recovery Advocacy in US cities and find out what lessons we in the UK might learn from them.

During my 35 days in the USA I was able to visit more than 40 recovery projects in 6 US cities.
The findings from my Fellowship are set out in this blog which incldues both a category and keyword search facility (see column on the right of this page)

Please do add your own posts and comments on any of the material in this blog report. Alternativley you can contacy me by e mail at peterjrainford@yahoo.co.uk

You are free to use any of the material on this blog and to share it with others. All I would ask that you aknowledge the source and mention the Churchill Fellowship. Thanks
I am extremely grateful to the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust for funding this project,
and to all the people and organisations in the UK and USA who helped to make it happen.
Thank You

Peter Rainford

Oxford House – Recovery Housing with an 80% Sobriety Rate

You can download the CBS 60 Minutes film clip about Oxford house at:

http://www.oxfordhouse.org/userfiles/file/oxford_house_video.php

I met with Paul Malone the founder of Oxford House in Silver Spring Maryland.
Ox ford House began when Paul and other residents of a halfway house that the state was going to close, rented the house themselves with help from others in Recovery for the first month rent. “Pay us back when you can” their friends said.
The house was abstinence based with no time limit on residence democratically self run by residents in recovery with each paying an equal share of the rent and other bills.
36 years later there are 1,425 Oxford Houses across 44 US states housing 11,137 people.
76& residents were addicted to other drugs as well as alcohol
73% have done jail time as a result of their addictionThe average length of stay in an Oxford House is 6 months, but the “Oxford House sobriety effect” lasts much longer.
A randomised control study by De Paul University Chicago looked at sobriety rates 2 years post treatment where half the group were placed with an Oxford House and half went onto other forms of housing.
The sobriety rate for those not placed with Oxford House was 35%
The Oxford House rate was 80%.
So when people tell you there is no real scientific evidence for recovery – tell them about Oxford House. Recovery Housing works!

2012 Churchill Fellowship applications are open -Travel to Make A difference

You too could benefit from a Winston Churchill Traveling Fellowship.
Applications for 2012 Fellowships are open until 4th October 20011 under a rang of categories.
Find out more at:
www.wcmt.org.uk