In Listen UP Episode 20, bestselling author of Euphoric Recall, The Scheme charity co-founder, and 8.5-year recovery advocate Aidan Martin shares how he rebuilt his life from one of Scotland's most deprived communities — left school with nothing, nearly lost his life, and still found his way out — highlighting the hidden mental warning signs of relapse most people miss, and the five specific pillars that finally made sobriety stick.

Aidan Martin exposes how a volunteer counsellor's single question — asked without pressure — did what years of crisis couldn't, unlocking the moment of self-recognition that started everything:

--Hear the one word Aidan says transformed his first terrifying recovery meeting into his greatest support

--The two conditions that must both be true before recovery actually works (and why one alone isn't enough)

--Why being in a group not built around substances quietly rewires your sense of what normal feels like

--One warning sign that appears in the mind six months before a relapse — and how to catch it early...

...and shares five counterintuitive recovery insights throughout.

Why Listen UP matters:

- Discover how others found strength when they thought they had none
- Learn personal insights and approaches to breaking free from addiction's grip
- Understand the comprehensive support system that makes lasting recovery possible
- Hear from experts who've helped thousands rebuild their lives after addiction

Abbeycare provides comprehensive 28-day residential rehabilitation programmes at our facilities in Scotland and Gloucester. Our holistic approach combines medically-supervised detoxification, cognitive behavioral therapy, counselling, and aftercare planning to address the physical, psychological, and emotional aspects of addiction.

Our programmes are personalised to meet individual needs, with comfortable en-suite accommodation, nutritious meals, and a supportive community environment.

Beyond your stay, our dedicated aftercare team remains connected, ensuring you're supported at every step of your recovery journey.

Whether you're considering taking the first step toward recovery or supporting someone who is, Listen UP provides the insight, inspiration, and information you need to move forward.

Connect with Abbeycare:
Website: ...

In Listen UP Episode 19, Harley Street therapist, traumatologist, author, and 30-year recovery veteran Mark Dempster shares how childhood attachment patterns hijack the brain's reward system years before first use, and why toxic shame is the one thing standing between suffering and getting help.

Mark Dempster unveils the single dopamine deficit that turns choice into compulsion — transforming the belief that you're too broken to be helped into the clearest reason why recovery is possible for anyone:

- The specific pattern in early recovery that causes more relapses than any substance (confirmed across 30 years of clinical work)

- The easy way to turn your inner critic into your most powerful asset

- How to redirect the obsessive drive that fuelled addiction, into the thing that rebuilds everything

- One hard truth about the addicted mind that clinical practice confirms — and few people hear until it's almost too late

...and uncovers the specific patterns behind sustainable, long-term recovery throughout.

Why Listen UP matters:

- Discover how others found strength when they thought they had none
- Learn personal insights and approaches to breaking free from addiction's grip
- Understand the comprehensive support system that makes lasting recovery possible
- Hear from experts who've helped thousands rebuild their lives after addiction

Abbeycare provides comprehensive 28-day residential rehabilitation programmes at our facilities in Scotland and Gloucester. Our holistic approach combines medically-supervised detoxification, cognitive behavioral therapy, counselling, and aftercare planning to address the physical, psychological, and emotional aspects of addiction.

Our programmes are personalised to meet individual needs, with comfortable en-suite accommodation, nutritious meals, and a supportive community environment.

Beyond your stay, our dedicated aftercare team remains connected, ensuring you're supported at every step of your recovery journey.

Whether you're considering taking the first step toward recovery or supporting someone who is, Listen UP provides the insight, inspiration, and information you need to move forward.

Connect with Abbeycare:
Website: ...

In Listen UP Episode 18, 20-year recovery advocate and prevention worker James Docherty shares the biological reality behind every failed attempt to cut down or stop, highlighting why detox must come before any psychological work can land, and how the 12-step programme removes the obsession — so you stop thinking about drinking, not just resist it.

James Docherty reveals the single biological fact that explains every failed attempt at control, transforming the shame of "why can't I just stop?" into a clear, actionable picture of what recovery actually requires:

- Why switching from spirits to beer, quitting briefly, or white-knuckling it is wired to fail — and it has nothing to do with willpower

- The petrol tank explanation that made 20 years of confusion click in one sentence

- Feel the difference between being stopped and being free, and why only one of them keeps you safe long-term

- The real reason most relapses happen (and what ACTUALLY helps to prevent relapse...)

...and reveals what a man who went through every system imaginable discovered that no professional had ever put into words for him.

- This Episode - https://www.abbeycarefoundation.com/listenup/episodes/episode-18-james-docherty/
- All Listen UP Episodes - https://www.abbeycarefoundation.com/listenup/episodes/
- Listen UP Podcast - https://www.abbeycarefoundation.com/listenup/

Why Listen UP matters:

- Discover how others found strength when they thought they had none
- Learn personal insights and approaches to breaking free from addiction's grip
- Understand the comprehensive support system that makes lasting recovery possible
- Hear from experts who've helped thousands rebuild their lives after addiction

Abbeycare provides comprehensive 28-day residential rehabilitation programmes at our facilities in Scotland and Gloucester. Our holistic approach combines medically-supervised detoxification, cognitive behavioral therapy, counselling, and aftercare planning to address the physical, psychological, and emotional aspects of addiction.

Our programmes are personalised to meet individual needs, with comfortable en-suite accommodation, nutritious meals, and a supportive community environment.

Beyond your stay, our dedicated aftercare team remains connected, ensuring you're supported at every step of your recovery journey.

Whether you're considering taking the first step toward recovery or supporting someone who is, Listen UP provides the insight, inspiration, and information you need to move forward.

Connect with Abbeycare:
Website: ...

In Listen UP Episode 17, senior addiction worker at Glasgow ADRS, and Humanizing Healthcare co-lead, Allan Houston shares his recovery journey and what two decades on the frontline of Scotland's drug crisis actually looks like.

Allan lays bare the uncomfortable truth about addiction services that nobody says out loud, and maps the exact route from chaos to 33 years clean — starting with one meeting:

- The one sentence a stranger said that gave Allan his first real glimpse of hope

- One thing 99% of medical students say they wished they'd known five years earlier

- How Glasgow's MAT standards mean you can go from crisis to prescription in under an hour today

- One overlooked reason why most people don't reach out for help — and what actually gets them through the door

...and reveals counterintuitive insights throughout.

- This Episode - https://www.abbeycarefoundation.com/listenup/episodes/episode-17-allan-houston/
- All Listen UP Episodes - https://www.abbeycarefoundation.com/listenup/episodes/
- Listen UP Podcast - https://www.abbeycarefoundation.com/listenup/

#addictionrecovery #glasgowrecovery #drugdeaths #sobrietystories #livedexperience #substanceuserecovery #recoverysupport #humanizinghealthcare #recoveryispossible #recoveryjourney

Why Listen UP matters:

- Discover how others found strength when they thought they had none
- Learn personal insights and approaches to breaking free from addiction's grip
- Understand the comprehensive support system that makes lasting recovery possible
- Hear from experts who've helped thousands rebuild their lives after addiction

Abbeycare provides comprehensive 28-day residential rehabilitation programmes at our facilities in Scotland and Gloucester. Our holistic approach combines medically-supervised detoxification, cognitive behavioral therapy, counselling, and aftercare planning to address the physical, psychological, and emotional aspects of addiction.

Our programmes are personalised to meet individual needs, with comfortable en-suite accommodation, nutritious meals, and a supportive community environment.

Beyond your stay, our dedicated aftercare team remains connected, ensuring you're supported at every step of your recovery journey.

Whether you're considering taking the first step toward recovery or supporting someone who is, Listen UP provides the insight, inspiration, and information you need to move forward.

Connect with Abbeycare:
Website: ...

In Episode 16, CEO of the Scottish Recovery Consortium and 30-year sector veteran Tracey McFall shares what Scotland's drug and alcohol crisis actually looks like from the inside, highlighting why treatment alone isn't enough to keep people in recovery, and why the thousands of unpaid volunteers across Scotland are quietly saving lives every day:

-The five-part CHIME framework that shifts how you see yourself — and why that shift changes everything

-The one thing that makes someone more likely to say "I relapsed yesterday" — and actually get help

-The "kaleidoscope effect": why women get harmed faster — and need a different way out

-One right every person in addiction has — that almost nobody tells them about

...and reveals what Scotland's new 10-year drug and alcohol strategy gets right — and where improvements can be made throughout.

Why Listen UP matters:

- Discover how others found strength when they thought they had none
- Learn personal insights and approaches to breaking free from addiction's grip
- Understand the comprehensive support system that makes lasting recovery possible
- Hear from experts who've helped thousands rebuild their lives after addiction

Abbeycare provides comprehensive 28-day residential rehabilitation programmes at our facilities in Scotland and Gloucester. Our holistic approach combines medically-supervised detoxification, cognitive behavioral therapy, counselling, and aftercare planning to address the physical, psychological, and emotional aspects of addiction.

Our programmes are personalised to meet individual needs, with comfortable en-suite accommodation, nutritious meals, and a supportive community environment.

Beyond your stay, our dedicated aftercare team remains connected, ensuring you're supported at every step of your recovery journey.

Whether you're considering taking the first step toward recovery or supporting someone who is, Listen UP provides the insight, inspiration, and information you need to move forward.

Connect with Abbeycare:
Website: ...

In Listen UP Episode 15, creative lead Kate Black of In Cahootz and participant Paul Byrne share a clear path from anxiety to action, highlighting simple entry points with no referral, and steady peer support that keeps you showing up:

- Structure your week with consistent creative activities to replace isolation with accountability
- Rediscover talents addiction buried to rebuild confidence and purpose in recovery
- Volunteer your time to give back to others on their journey
- Invest in creative hobbies to create self worth long-term

...and reveal field‑tested recovery insights throughout.

#addictionrecovery, #recoverycommunity, #creativearts, #drama, #music, #wellbeing, #aftercare, #ukrecovery, #abbeycare, #healingjourney

Why Listen UP matters:

- Discover how others found strength when they thought they had none
- Learn personal insights and approaches to breaking free from addiction's grip
- Understand the comprehensive support system that makes lasting recovery possible
- Hear from experts who've helped thousands rebuild their lives after addiction

Abbeycare provides comprehensive 28-day residential rehabilitation programmes at our facilities in Scotland and Gloucester. Our holistic approach combines medically-supervised detoxification, cognitive behavioral therapy, counselling, and aftercare planning to address the physical, psychological, and emotional aspects of addiction.

Our programmes are personalised to meet individual needs, with comfortable en-suite accommodation, nutritious meals, and a supportive community environment.

Beyond your stay, our dedicated aftercare team remains connected, ensuring you're supported at every step of your recovery journey.

Whether you're considering taking the first step toward recovery or supporting someone who is, Listen UP provides the insight, inspiration, and information you need to move forward.

Connect with Abbeycare:
Website: ...

In Listen UP Episode 14, Scottish Drugs Forum CEO Kirsten Horsburgh shares frontline, human-first insights - highlighting how showing people their lives matter can shift everything, and why meeting people without judgement becomes the starting point for real change.

Kirsten reveals how a simple 15-minute naloxone conversation led to a life being saved within days - transforming harm reduction from theory into something immediate, and deeply human:

- Choose non-judgemental spaces to reduce shame and keep showing up
- How to spot when support options don’t fit your situation
- Build small safety habits that can protect you day-to-day
- One overlooked barrier stopping people accessing life-saving treatment

...and reveals practical, real-world harm reduction insights throughout.

LISTEN NOW: lk2.app/luep14

ALL LISTEN UP EPISODES: lk2.app/lueps

Why Listen UP matters:

- Discover how others found strength when they thought they had none
- Learn personal insights and approaches to breaking free from addiction's grip
- Understand the comprehensive support system that makes lasting recovery possible
- Hear from experts who've helped thousands rebuild their lives after addiction

Abbeycare provides comprehensive 28-day residential rehabilitation programmes at our facilities in Scotland and Gloucester. Our holistic approach combines medically-supervised detoxification, cognitive behavioral therapy, counselling, and aftercare planning to address the physical, psychological, and emotional aspects of addiction.

Our programmes are personalised to meet individual needs, with comfortable en-suite accommodation, nutritious meals, and a supportive community environment.

Beyond your stay, our dedicated aftercare team remains connected, ensuring you're supported at every step of your recovery journey.

Whether you're considering taking the first step toward recovery or supporting someone who is, Listen UP provides the insight, inspiration, and information you need to move forward.

Connect with Abbeycare:
Website: ...

In Listen UP Episode 13, recovery advocate May Riddell shares a straight‑talk roadmap for early abstinence, highlighting the daily structure that cuts through fear, and honest group work that turns shame into relief:

- Phone the helpline, take the first meeting offered, and sit down front
- Stack one meeting nightly for 90 nights, to keep momentum when motivation dips
- Sit near people who look well and copy what they do
- Replace isolation with one honest share that unlocks honesty round the whole room

...and shares field‑tested recovery habits throughout.

#addictionrecovery #recoveryjourney #soberjourney #sobrietyjourney #womeninrecovery #sobrietytoolkit

- This Episode - https://www.abbeycarefoundation.com/listenup/episodes/episode-13-may-riddell/

Why Listen UP matters:

- Discover how others found strength when they thought they had none
- Learn personal insights and approaches to breaking free from addiction's grip
- Understand the comprehensive support system that makes lasting recovery possible
- Hear from experts who've helped thousands rebuild their lives after addiction

Abbeycare provides comprehensive 28-day residential rehabilitation programmes at our facilities in Scotland and Gloucester. Our holistic approach combines medically-supervised detoxification, cognitive behavioral therapy, counselling, and aftercare planning to address the physical, psychological, and emotional aspects of addiction.

Our programmes are personalised to meet individual needs, with comfortable en-suite accommodation, nutritious meals, and a supportive community environment.

Beyond your stay, our dedicated aftercare team remains connected, ensuring you're supported at every step of your recovery journey.

Whether you're considering taking the first step toward recovery or supporting someone who is, Listen UP provides the insight, inspiration, and information you need to move forward.

Connect with Abbeycare:
Website: ...