Third Stage Community

The real challenge of addiction is not giving up the substance abused and quitting the addictive behaviour, instead, it is the re-wiring of all the factors that have paved the way for any kind of addiction to take hold in the first place. Stopping the unhealthy behaviour serves as an ideal platform from which a desirable and fulfilling life can be built on. This takes time, support, guidance, patience and compassion. Through all of this, we can reconnect, restore, recharge and along the way regain inspiration towards a different way of ‘being’. One that empowers and encourages you to live life with joy and positive goals.

Changing behaviours are difficult because most habits whether good or bad serve a purpose, they become familiar as we grow accustomed to them. Soon enough, they help define who we think we are and how we are perceived. The change has to be equally forceful in its purpose and convincing to you, before anyone else, that this new page in your recovery is the most rewarding gift you can give to yourselves as well as those you love.

The immediate environment you enter in early recovery can be one of the most powerful catalysts for positive change and long term recovery. In contrast, going back to an unstructured, dysfunctional and stressful environment right after treatment can be a serious obstacle to recovery and sobriety even for highly motivated people.

The Recovery Village at Withersdane

The term ‘being in recovery’ signifies neither pain, mistakes nor the battle wounds but how someone turned their lives around. It signifies constant growth, the ability to change, perseverance and something ‘found’.

We have invested heavily on this crucial aspect of recovery and dedicated the former postgraduate accommodation of our Campus grounds as a sober living village to ‘being and living in recovery’. Upon completion of secondary care, and having completed a two month period in treatment, clients can immerse themselves in an active recovery community assembled to celebrate life with its ups and downs, embracing and overcoming its challenges.

As the old saying goes, ‘practice makes perfect’, learning new skills expands our horizons, however it is putting them in use which helps us excel and overcome the difficulties we are faced with. Recovery is no different! We witness the experiences gained in such an environment can solidify the tools you have acquired during primary and secondary treatment.

“It has taken me a while to decide what it is I want to do with my life, but I think that I have now settled on a career. It is great to have an opportunity to live in a supported environment, whilst doing what I love.”

With 8 houses designated as the living quarters for third stage community, each of them comprised of 6 large en-suite rooms, communal dining rooms and kitchens, our campus can host a large recovery community. The houses benefit from a strategic location within the campus, which draws parallels to being at a halfway point, as one pathway leads down to the village of Wye and the other to the community.

All clients graduating from secondary treatment are invited to make the recovery village their home for the first month or two, or even longer as they transition back to taking responsibilities, manage their time and day-to-day lives.

A positive environment to find recovery support

Tertiary care is the training ground in which you put your recovery into practice as you welcome each day as it comes, find out what truly motivates you, get involved as much or as little as you feel ready to, reassess your responsibilities, make friends who have been through similar struggles and share a common goal.

Those members of the community who would like to take on voluntary work are often provided with opportunities within the campus to make meaningful contributions, develop new passions and skills to build new lives. They are also encouraged to get involved in local meetings, courses and activities.

“Myself and the other volunteers have a very powerful sense of camaraderie and fellowship, which has been lacking in my life until now.”  JT

Do not make a goal of escaping the possibility of relapse, a shadow that follows you throughout life, do one better, make it a less likely probability, one that does not consume you! The lack of a stable, safe and drug free environment as you transition back into daily responsibilities can be an obstacle to long-term recovery. This is your time to heal so get entrenched in that healing process.

For more information and to learn about eligibility, please get in touch with us!