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It’s payback time and you’ve got a hangover. This time, though, you’re feeling anxious as well as ill. Why is that? Cumbria Alcohol & Drug Advisory Service volunteer Steve Russell explains. You’re suffering hangxiety or, to give it its uncontracted title, hangover anxiety. Essentially, you’re experiencing a chemical imbalance in your brain. In fact, you’re… Continue Reading
Surely breathing is one thing we all know how to do, right? Well, maybe, up to a point – but the benefits of being aware of how we breathe, and learning to use our breath in the right way are really worth having, says our Health & Wellbeing Coordinator, Jacqui Wallace. Building breathing awareness Sometimes… Continue Reading
As you know, CADAS has been a partner in Active Cumbria’s ‘Walking for Health’ project for quite a while now, training staff and volunteers to lead short group walks for people of any level of fitness around the county. Whilst Covid restrictions were in place, these had to be halted, but with spring in the… Continue Reading
Sandra Marshall is currently one of the trainees on our recovery support worker training – Understanding and Working with Addictive Behaviours – and she is also a Master Practitioner in NLP who runs her own coaching business (the-key). Here she looks at the topic of memories and how we can reframe negative memories in order… Continue Reading
In the last few months on the Helpline, we’ve noticed that quite a lot of callers, either clients themselves or, perhaps more often, their loved ones, are interested in detox and rehab. That’s completely understandable. It sounds like an easy way to get someone else to ‘fix’ your ‘problem’. If you could be taken away… Continue Reading
Over the last few months, we’ve talked to all sorts of people on the Helpline. Most of them feel that they have become dependent on drugs or alcohol and have made a decision that they want to free themselves from that dependence. But most of them are also, quite naturally, concerned about the withdrawal process.… Continue Reading
CADAS has been a partner in Active Cumbria’s ‘Walking for Health’ project for quite a while now. They have trained our staff and volunteers to lead short group walks for people of any level of fitness in Barrow, Workington, Carlisle and Kendal. However, most of these walks cannot run at the moment and some of… Continue Reading
At CADAS, we appreciate every penny that supporters give us. If you’re making a donation as an individual we may ask you to fill out a Gift Aid form to make your donation go further – and if you’re a corporate sponsor, you may be wondering whether there’s a way to get more out of… Continue Reading
The first thing I want to say is that I feel very lucky that I have still been able to work – and that my work is within a fantastic team providing holistic care and support for vulnerable people. The demand for our service could not be greater and being able to access guidance, support… Continue Reading
In tricky times, we all need to keep our ‘happy tracks’ close to hand but research has shown that music can affect much more than your mood. Here are just a few fascinating facts… Emotion oxytocin – the ‘cuddle hormone’ – hormone related to bonding cf mothers singing to their babies dopamine – reward/pleasure hormone… Continue Reading
In March 2020, as the coronavirus lockdown took hold in the US, Yale University decided to make its most popular course ever – The Science of Well-Being, taught by Professor Laurie Santos – available for free, online. We heard about it at CADAS back in April from Alice, one of our new volunteers in the… Continue Reading
Under the restrictions of coronavirus the members of CADAS Carlisle’s Creative Writing group have been carrying on via email. Normally we meet at the office one morning a week, but it’s just not possible at the moment. I live alone and have been taking advantage of government guidelines to make myself get out for exercise.… Continue Reading
It’s a great aspect of being a recovery support volunteer for CADAS that I get regular opportunities to refresh, or add to, my skills or knowledge, in order to be able to support clients better. Since I trained I’ve also attended workshops at CADAS’ 40th birthday celebrations and taken a course in ‘tapping’ (emotional freedom… Continue Reading
We asked Maddie Poynter, who’s been a loyal supporter of our work in Carlisle for over 10 years, to reflect on what volunteering with CADAS has meant to her. I first came to the CADAS offices in Carlisle as a volunteer client for someone else’s taped counselling session on the recovery support worker course. (This… Continue Reading
‘Hey, Rich,’ says Lois. ‘How about a few words for the website for Carers Week? How about you answer one simple question: What’s lockdown and working from home been like for you?’ So many words race into my head: weird, lonely, isolated, empty but also busy, routine, communication, ‘tech dinosaur’ (see below)… My work colleagues… Continue Reading
Now more than ever, after the trauma caused by the coronavirus pandemic, schools need to concentrate on delivering high-quality Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE). The Department for Education (DfE) has made it clear that PSHE is an ‘important and necessary’ part of children’s education – indeed it was to become a mandatory element of… Continue Reading
During times of financial strain, gambling activity increases within society. This happens during financial recessions and is likely to be happening during the current coronavirus pandemic. In times of uncertainty, many people with gambling issues increase their gambling or revert back to gambling if they are currently abstinent. Others who haven’t had a gambling problem… Continue Reading
Much as we avoid generalisations at CADAS, I think it’s fair to say that human beings struggle with change, and so we also struggle with uncertainty – which might be described as knowing that things are likely to change but not knowing how. And that gives me the break I need to admit that I’m… Continue Reading
In spring 2017 someone contacted CADAS to let us know about a group of Year 6 pupils (age 10-11) in the Barrow area inhaling butane gas. We quickly developed a Volatile Substance Abuse (VSA) awareness workshop and took it out to local schoolchildren and also to professionals including teachers, police and other support services,… Continue Reading
One of our clients wrote this wonderfully insightful piece about the power of journaling. Continue Reading
Sleep is one of the most important factors in physical and emotional health, wellbeing and healing. Continue Reading
Here are practical ideas from SMART Recovery on how to cope with urges and cravings Continue Reading
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