The Cape Town Recovery Community, Addiction Recovery Community in Cape Town

Addiction Recovery

Community in Cape Town

The Cape Town Recovery Community

I am always saying this but I really do believe it to be true, The Addiction Recovery Community in Cape Town is really amongst the best of it's kind anywhere in the world. It may well be because I came over here to Cape Town from the UK where any recovery communities are watered down and spread out and the only meetings or social events that I ever really experienced were few and far between and often a little bit uninspiring in comparison to the vast variety and the enthusiasm for them here in Cape Town. The specific meetings that I regularly refer to, bearing in mind that the process is different for everyone and there is no one standard way to 'do' recovery, are usually Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) though there are also a number of other fellowships here, ones for process addictions, specific addictions and eating disorders, dotted around the city. I have had the pleasure to personally get to know and become friends with a great number of the people in the Cape Town Recovery Community during my five years spent here in recovery from a long and difficult addiction to alcohol and many other drugs. To this day, the number one thing that continues to spur me on and that keeps me doing what I'm doing now, every single day, is the brilliant people here in recovery. Someone once asked me what is the most important thing in my own personal recovery journey and I answered, as I always do, it is simply the people. Humans helping humans is the base platform for what we do here and the foundation on which to build momentum in a persons recovery. The old adage of one addict helping another, coming from the fellowship groups, is a simple yet extremely poignant notion. It is, in essence, a mutually beneficial relationship and being a part of it and just seeing people overcome adversity and do great things with their lives is incredible. These people are then also willing to give something back and this builds up the hope and trust in the human race that is so often taken away from us during our active addiction. This hope breeds confidence and the confidence in us pushes us on to achieve incredible things. It really does steamroll from there and remarkable changes begin to take place. This entire concept of addicts helping addicts is the model from which Rehab Cape Town with CapeRecovery began and we have many big plans ahead for our continued engagement within this vibrant group of individuals with some exciting new projects that will contribute towards our ultimate goal of recovery for everyone, regardless of socio-economic factors.

The Cape Town Recovery Community, Addiction Recovery Community in Cape Town

The Cape Town Recovery Community - People in Recovery

I’ve met lots of vastly different people in recovery and as I said before, I believe that it is these people who are the real answer to the frequently asked question ‘how do I get, but more importantly remain, clean and sober?’. There are other aspects to a full recovery, of course, like quality intervention from counsellors and the period of time spent in a supported environment, but ultimately, it doesn’t really matter how you actually get there or which route or direction you take, the thing is to get there and continued engagement with these remarkable people who want a new way of life is by far the biggest factor. This means that recovery really is for everyone who wants it! Meet the addiction recovery community in Cape Town today with us here at Rehab Cape Town with CapeRecovery and you won't regret it! Share ideas about recovery, socialize and more importantly, just spend time around them. These are some of the marvellous people I have met in the recovery community during my own personal recovery journey:

The person who struggles and relapses on a regular basis but keeps returning to try again.
The newcomer, fresh in recovery and excited about the prospect of what's to come.
The person with years more clean time than myself who is successful and happy and I can look up to as a role model.
The person who's had many years of sobriety behind them but slipped up and still has the courage to come back to the rooms.

I learn something new from every single one of these people in equal measures and above any other factor, these people in recovery and specifically the addiction recovery community in Cape Town, are the single most important thing that continues to keep me clean and sober today. It certainly is a very mixed bunch of people as well, because addiction doesn't discriminate at all. Amongst these people there are so many differences yet the one comforting and plainly obvious similarity that they all share is the one thing that ultimately keeps them functioning well as a unit and as individual people. They are all addicts of one kind or another but they are all addicts working together and they all suffer from this debilitating and life threatening disease, together. They ultimately recover together too and that is the key to the CapeRecovery journey. Because of these people and because of the program that they follow, the end for anyone who really has that overwhelming desire to get and stay clean and sober is not the previously inevitable, jails, institutions or death but it is a new life full of friends, happiness and, most importantly, some hope. I never chose to be an addict, let's rid ourselves of that strange old myth from the beginning because nobody chooses a way of life that is based on fear, misery and self hatred. Yes, some people choose to use a drug or to have a drink and can take them or leave them as they wish. In the case of the addict this is not possible, the addiction chooses them. The way of acting out because of the disease of addiction takes on many different forms, drugs and alcohol being symptoms of the bigger picture. So, by no choice of my own, I was just thrust into this totally confusing world. A world where nothing ever felt right, every single thing was a long and uphill struggle and the search for a way out began. I selected alcohol or any other substance that I could possibly get hold of, others take different paths but we are all one in addiction, we have all felt that familiar and foreboding hopelessness and that emptiness that could never, ever be filled, whatever we did to try. So what is the answer then? Certainly, I believe, it is dangerous to rely upon medical opinion alone, as many in positions of authority simply do not know what it feels like to be an addict and that, to me, is where the problem lies. I was ‘diagnosed’ a great many times with various mental illnesses because people were just looking for an answer to a problem, they wanted to find some logic and they wanted closure but there was none. My suggestion and the CapeRecovery way to treat addiction is based on five special ingredients that I believe are vital for a prolonged recovery, get these right and I believe that every client of ours has the best possible chance ever.

At CapeRecovery we believe strongly that recovery is available, as it should be, to every single person who truly desires it and that's why we try to help anyone and everyone who ever contacts us and it is also why we involve the entire addiction recovery community in Cape Town as an active part of our service. Some people are very fortunate to have the funds to attend luxury treatment centres and they do a really wonderful job at starting the person off in the rehabilitation and recovery process but without that crucial desire and desperation to truly fight this disease they have the same chance as anyone who lacks desire, sadly that is no chance, because this desire really is the only thing that you truly need. Support is always available because of the incredibly large numbers in the Cape Town recovery community and some people need more support than others do at the initial stage of the process, that's why we tailor all our treatments to the individual persons requirements in order to guide each of them through those early days of recovery, at the end of the day, the rest is up to them. We can then advise on how best to surround themselves with the right, likeminded and helpful individuals and that, in my experience, is where the real recovery begins. The Cape Town Recovery Community is an incredible and supportive group of people where those who are experienced in recovery are happy and willing to help the newcomer. Whatever a persons budget, the recovery community is always an integral part of any of our CapeRecovery Experiences, because they are what makes Cape Town the best place in the world to find authentic and fully supported recovery from any addiction (alcohol or drugs), process addiction, dual-diagnosis issue or eating disorder!

CapeRecovery South Africa

CapeRecovery UK

CapeRecovery International