Rite to Freedom in Ireland

Rite to Freedom goes to Ireland

I travelled to Ireland in 1998, living on the Dingle Peninsula for almost a year, looking for a new adventure; new life. The contrast from the streets of central London to the west coast of Co. Kerry couldn’t have been more dramatic and life changing. My recovery from drugs and alcohol had found solid ground. The mountains and ocean of the Dingle Peninsula gave me a new compass point and grounding to go deeper, beyond the chemical recovery I had established. The emotional impact the landscape had on me kickstarted the long journey into my addictions around sex, love, work and food. The land that surrounded me day and night, reshaped me. 

I created a regular cabaret night in Dingle’s oldest pub, Tigh Mac Cárthaigh. We told stories and played traditional music out the back of this fine old bar. The wind howled and the rain hammered down on the old corrugate iron roof pretty much every night.  

I took this creation back to England and turned it into a professional touring outfit. This in turn led to a number of commissions to write radio dramas for the BBC. That led to my first publishing deal and the publication of my memoir. This book became the springboard for Rite to Freedom.  

A few years back, two fellers from the west of Ireland came over to England to attend one of our residentials on Dartmoor. They were passionate about the work. They were keen to bring Rite to Freedom to Ireland. After the restrictions of the pandemic were lifted, we headed over to deliver our first event in Co. Mayo. A beautiful gathering on a cold February day. I was touched that so many of our Irish sisters and brothers turned up. I’d been holding a quiet vision for over twenty years to bring something back to the land of my ancestors, a country that had given me so much support in my recovery. 

The energy began to flow. A private donor gave us some seed funding. We began to look for a site to hold the residentials. We employed someone on the ground to get the word out.  

And now, at last we’re about to begin our first retreat at The Boghill Centre, Co. Clare, our ‘New Tribes’ residential for those in established addiction recovery.

This feels like an auspicious start to what we hope will be a long-term unfolding of our work in Ireland. We’ll follow the same model of inviting and training previous participants to become future staff and facilitators. The feedback we’re getting is that this is wanted and needed. Coming back to Ireland to offer this gift after all these years on the road, learning and healing, is a real privilege; something I’ve been waiting and wanting to do since that beautiful season of storytelling and music in Tigh Mac Cárthaigh in Dingle.  

~ Caspar Walsh

‘New Tribes’ Residential - October 21-23 - https://ritetofreedom.org.uk/newtribe-retreats

Photos by Colm Mahon

Facilitation Training

Our First Facilitation Training this September

We ran our first facilitator training this month. The aim, to support deeper healing for the trainees and encouraging them to bring their lived experience to support others on similar paths. The more we heal, the more we know ourselves, the better we are placed to support others.

The two days we spent together at High Heathercombe led each of us into our learning and healing edges. A rich mix. I felt alive, engaged and inspired. My skills as a facilitator were stretched to the limit. Leading the training with Freddy Weaver was an amazing experience; a real honour, as ever. Over the last few years we’ve found a rhythm and synchronicity in our joint facilitation.

It was moving to see the willingness of the trainee facilitators to go deeper, take risks and be open to new ways of being in the world and in our work together.

The final process of the weekend invited each trainee to step across a threshold, into their official facilitation journey; where they will find support, experience, challenge and with luck and love, deeper freedom. Every single trainee took the step across. Here’s to honouring that courage and heart and to the journey and adventures that lie ahead.

 ~ Caspar Walsh

Summer 2022 Newsletter

High summer, we've had a busy few months and almost ready to head out for a couple of weeks holiday, and time to let you know what we've been busy with! One of the most exciting things we have been up to (amongst many) is launching a new line of merchandise and an online shop with the beautiful archetypes illustrations we have developed recently.

We will all be away from emails from Friday August 12th until Tuesday August 30th.

New Online Shop!

We’re super proud to be offering our first line of merchandise in our new online shop with T-shirts, cards and posters. This comes from two years developing the four archetypes images as part of our Creative Pathways to Healing and Meaning programme. These images (see below) were conceived and designed by Caspar Walsh and brought beautifully to life by Devon based artist, Philip Harris.

Your purchase supports long term addiction recovery through Rite to Freedom. All sales go towards the running costs of the charity. We hope you enjoy these magical illustrations and that they support you in your journey as much as they have us in ours.

Our recent New Tribes Residential, from Ali Chapman

Our July New Tribes Recovery Residential was an extremely powerful and moving event in so many ways - we were blessed with the most fantastic weather which gave spectacular sunsets and sunrises. As I was camping up on the moor the joy of walking to my tent with the others and drinking in the colours and star lit sky just blew me away.

Our participants were an amazing bunch who really threw themselves into the whole experience, an extremely tight and slick staff team giving a real sense of holding, which allowed for trust and confidence to be felt by all.

Our staff training events prior to the residential meant that there was a real sense of cohesion in the team, beating with one heart.

It was a particularly poignant residential for me as I stood in circle with Ben, Caspar and Chris who had led me through my own residential in 2016 – and here I was staffing with them! The pride I have for the work we do and all the beautiful souls we meet is huge.

A significant, subtle shift of energy and realignment of roles saw Caspar stepping into the position of Ritual Elder – it felt so right, with his love of mentoring, joy of imparting knowledge and holding of the vision of the work. Yes!

This truly was a special one....

Our very first Creative Pathways residential, from Caspar Walsh

There is a part of the monomyth or Hero/Heroine’s adventure, where we finally return to the village after our time on the dangerous and winding roads of our healing journey, and with that return we bring something back. Something that represents a core part of who we are, what we discovered, what we fought dragons to win back – our treasure.

The four archetype illustrations I conceived and brought to life with the amazing artist Philip Harris over the last two years, are my treasure. A gift to the community to help us each find even deeper healing and meaning. Deeper adventure. Deeper connections with ourselves, with each other and the wider world.

Creative Pathways to Healing and Meaning is something I’ve been visioning for some years now. My work with the four key archetypes began in 1999 as part of my initiatory work in The Mankind Project. They’ve held a fascination for me ever since. They provide an imaginative, internal compass to navigate both the challenges and celebrations of life. They are at the heart of the our work in Rite to Freedom.

Watching the Creative Pathways programme flower into life has been one of my greatest senses of achievement.

The first residential in July of this year was the culmination of our work bringing it to life over the last three years. It was incredibly moving and empowering to see the community stepping so deeply and courageously into their healing.

This next stage will give us all an opportunity to create art works together, to celebrate this journey. Watch this space for events toward the end of the year.

Watch for dragon's treasure, brought home.

Next Dartmoor Residential

Our next Dartmoor 'New Tribes' Residential runs September 30th - October 2nd.

We have had a lot of interest already but please put in an application to join. A clean time of 6 months is required. More details and application here >>

First Ireland Residential

We are running our very first 'New Tribes' Residential in County Clare, Ireland this October 21st - 23rd.

A clean time of 6 months is required. More details and application here >>

Ireland Family and Friends Weekend

We are running our very first Family and Friends Residential in County Clare, Ireland this October 28th- 30th.

"The family members who are dealing with the everyday chaos that addiction brings are often left unsupported. R2F offers a deeply restorative and healing place where those family members can come together, and spend nourishing time with expert addicts in recovery, who share lived experiences of relating with addicts, and all the traumas that come along with it." ~ Ben Ford

More details and application here >>

Creative Pathways Archetypes

The Archetype illustrations below are from our Creative Pathways to Healing and Meaning Programme.

Original artwork by Philip Harris. Concept and design by Caspar Walsh. Click an archetype to see their overview and poem.

Available in our new online shop!

This latest film introducing our work with the Sovereign Overseer Archetype completes our set of four archetypes films.

Click here to watch all four of our Archetype films.

Support

We have different ways that you can support the work that we do at Rite to Freedom. We rely on a variety of income streams and are working hard to diversify these to ensure the longevity and sustainability of our work. Every little bit helps enormously with what we do.

See our Donate page here where we have an easy new facility to make a monthly donation, for as little as £2 a month - the price of a cheap cup of coffee!

For 2022 we are one of the Co-operative Group's charities. If you are a Co-op member you can choose for your dividends from your shopping to go to us (still registered under the old spelling of our name, but change in progress!!) More here >>

"What lies before us and what lies behind us
are trifles to what lies within us.
And if we do what is in us,
carry that out into the world, miracles happen."

- Albert Jay Nock

Celebrating Recovery in the Widest Sense

In Celebration of our 2022 Recovery Festival

We’d been talking about wanting to put on a series of events to celebrate recovery in the widest sense for a good few years.

We heard about the money available from Devon Communities Together (DCF); called the Covid Outbreak Management Fund (COMF). We spent many hours discussing whether we had the capacity to offer a winter recovery festival at such short notice over a such a short time frame - the money had to be spent by the end of March 2022. Working wisely, making sure we don’t burn out from our passions for recovery and life, is a continuing conversation and focus.  Addiction has a way of finding its way back into our lives in many different guises. Activity and work addiction is something I and others in R2F are recovering from. The need for ever increasing productivity in the world is one of the few addictions our society rewards with kudos and cash; it’s a hard one to kick and requires a fine balance to stay healthy and on track.

We got the COMF money; just over 20K. The intention behind the festival was to celebrate our work; to open the doors to the whole of the recovery community and reach out to the wider world; to build bridges and new connections.

Our community was heavily impacted by the pandemic. We stayed connected through online meetings and retreats. This worked for a time. After 2 years online, Zoom fatigue began to kick in.

The funding for the Recovery Festival was offered to support those of us impacted by Covid as we emerged blinking into the light after lockdown. The Recovery Festival celebrated this emergence and all the beautiful work we do on the ground. We’ve put on Experience Days, online meetings, gatherings on the moor and much more. The centre piece of the festival was our Recovery Conversations Weekend at the Ashburton Arts Centre in Devon. See here for recordings of the amazing conversations, artists and musicians who shared and performed over the weekend.

The emotional landscape we work with and support, by its nature has heartbreak and loss at its core. Healing can take many years. Emotional pain decides when it’s time to rise and call for attention. Support for these difficult times are at the centre of why we do what we do. Celebrating our recovery is also at the heart of it.

As the years roll on, our levelling out continues. ‘Normality’ becomes the predominant experience over the insanity of our addicted days. And we celebrate this; within and beyond our community. Sharing our talents and passion and commitment to recovery and life. This is a passion, a desire to create meaning out of our lives. More and more we find expression for our healing through our creativity. The Recovery Festival brought this vision together in a powerful and inspiring way.

Active addiction is about disconnection; from self and others. Recovery is about connection, to ourselves and others in recovery and the wider world. The Recovery Festival has been a way of marking what feels like the end to a deeply challenging time for the addiction recovery community. It’s been about connecting and celebrating the beauty of being alive and the shared wisdom and creativity of so many hard roads travelled so well.

Big thanks to DCF for trusting us with the cash and giving us a chance to show the world the incredible things that can be born out of challenging lives. These past few months we’ve grown a little more, found a good number of ways to reconnect and shine and let the world know that there is a way through addiction into a meaningful, nourishing life.

Spring 2022 Newsletter

Spring is here, the clocks have changed, April is almost upon us and we've been having the classic extremely changeable seasonal weather. This Spring Newsletter is mostly in celebration of the incredible 2022 Winter Recovery Festival that we have been running over the past three months, supported by Devon Communities Together and reaching out to the recovery community in Devon particularly impacted by the pandemic.

Sharing the joys of the Festival, from Ali Chapman

Spring is sprung, little shoots popping up and emerging instilling us all with hope and joy – when feeling overwhelmed with the craziness and horror of what is going on in the world, I find solace in the quiet places and reflect on how I can make a difference in my community if nowhere else.

I wanted to write a little piece for this newsletter celebrating what a fantastic Winter Recovery Festival we have had. Giving thanks to all in the community who helped to make it such a special time. We had an Experience Day on the moors after storm Eunice, a glorious day in Hakeford Woods in North Devon where the land was just coming to life and our new online Multi Addictions meetings amongst other events.

The weekend Recovery Conversation and evening cabaret / spoken word event was a highlight for me – I felt so proud to be part of a community that attracted so many inspirational speakers and guests. For many years Caspar has dreamt of putting something like this on and to see it come to fruition was such a joy, the tribe made such an awesome job of welcoming in guests, the public, managing stalls, catering, ticket sales and more. Thank you!! The feedback from the event reflected what a truly welcoming group we are, building bridges between the recovery community and the wider community. Our professionalism shone through and is instrumental in changing perspectives, breaking down stigma and highlighting the need for this kind of work. Thank you all – with a massive commitment from our community and staff team we really did a beautiful thing.

 
 

More on the Recovery Conversations Weekend, from Dave Perrin

During the weekend of the 26th/27th of February, I was very privileged to be able to volunteer at the Rite to Freedom’s “Recovery Conversations Weekend”, held at the Ashburton Arts Centre. For me the highlights of the weekend were the wealth of speakers, who were able to share their considerable knowledge in their area of expertise. There were conversations about plant-based foraging, connecting to nature, a biologist and presenter, Daoist philosophy, poetry and performances.

I would really like to thank Caspar for the amazing conversations he held on stage with the guest speakers. I came away from this event brimming with enthusiasm for the insightful knowledge I had gained. My road to recovery has been enriched by joining the Rite to Freedom organisation. The love and care I have received from this group is second to none. Rite to Freedom is a family, always there when you need them and always willing to accept new people into their family. My heartfelt thanks to this amazing team.

 

"From arriving to the warm room of artists and volunteers breaking bread together around the table, to the live experimental music that sent us dancing freely between the pews at the end of the night, the Recovery Festival Cabaret Evening was a truly joyful and transformative experience throughout. This was no doubt down to the excellent team of organisers and volunteers who even drove me 23 miles home at the end of the night. It is so rare to attend, let alone perform at, cultural events that are held with the clear ethos of care and playfulness which Caspar Walsh has cultivated at Rite to Freedom. It is even more rare as a young artist of colour working in Devon, to be met with such immediate respect and good feeling. Even the most highly-funded cultural bodies elsewhere in the South West are not operating at this high standard of producing and delivery.

The variety and quality of work programmed made the evening thoroughly fun and rich with emotion, including the very generous (and hilarious!) MCs. I was also blown away by the successful live streaming of top artists I would not otherwise be able to access and experience.
The event as whole was a total success, not only in its delivery, but in doing the vital work of bringing otherwise unconnected communities together through the arts. Rite to Freedom is a shining light in the South West doing the real work of healing, uplifting and connecting people together. I certainly look forward to seeing what they do next." ~ Charice Bhardwaj

All the incredible talks from our Recovery Conversations Weekend are now available to (re)listen to here >>. Our weekend guest speakers were Robin Harford, Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa, Emma Cunis, Gillian Burke and George Thompson. These talks are freely available until the end of April.

Next Dartmoor Residential

Our next Dartmoor 'New Tribes' Residential runs April 29 - 1 May.

We have had a lot of interest but still time to put in an application to join. A clean time of 6 months is required. More details and application here >>

Creative Pathways to Healing and Meaning

Our first full Creative Pathways weekend residential will run 8-10th July. Our Creative Pathways to Healing and Meaning programme explores addiction recovery through the Jungian Archetypes and is open for those in established recovery. Bookings will open soon. More information here >>

Have a look at our latest film introducing our work with the Lover Creator Archetype. The Sovereign Archetype film will be available soon.

The Archetype illustrations below are from our Creative Pathways to Healing and Meaning Programme.

Original artwork by Philip Harris. Concept and design by Caspar Walsh. Click an archetype to see their overview and poem.

Available to buy at our events, and online very soon.

Support
We have different ways that you can support the work that we do at Rite to Freedom. We rely on a variety of income streams and are working hard to diversify these to ensure the longevity and sustainability of our work. Every little bit helps enormously with what we do.

See our Donate page here where we have an easy new facility to make a monthly donation, for as little as £2 a month - the price of a cheap cup of coffee!

For 2022 we are one of the Co-operative Group's charities. If you are a C0-op member you can choose for your dividends from your shopping to go to us (still registered under the old spelling of our name, but change in progress!!) More here >>

 
 

Addiction Recovery Festival, January - March 2022

Devon based charity awarded £20K to deliver increased access to digital and face to face support for those struggling with addiction* during the pandemic this winter.

Rite to Freedom have been awarded £20k funding through Devon Communities Together to create a series of innovative, targeted interventions for the Devon recovery community.  Some events will be open to family, friends and anyone interested in supporting the wider possibilities of addiction recovery in Devon.

“Rite to Freedom is not just an event, it is a way of life.”
— Peter. Participant.

Stress and loneliness throughout the pandemic has had a huge, detrimental impact on addiction and addiction recovery. Increased consumption of alcohol and alcohol specific deaths increased by 20% by end of 2020.

Isolation from traditional support networks in Devon during the pandemic has significantly damaged mental, emotional and physical health, in some cases leading to relapse back into active addiction, in some cases, death. Rite to Freedom work with people in recovery from all addictions* including drugs, alcohol, food, work, sex, love, gambling etc; offering opportunities for creativity, nature connection and mindfulness. This award winning charity supports a thriving, growing community to live free from active addiction with meaning, purpose and happiness.

“I felt held and supported. Everybody was heard and included. Connection to people and nature, creativity and mindfulness - nothing more is needed.”
— Participant

There will be online and face to face events including recovery retreats, experience days, a spoken word and music cabaret, workshops, addiction recovery meetings and interviews with experts in the fields of nature connection, the arts and mindfulness. For those in need, there will be financial support with travel, digital connectivity and a festival prize to win up to 4 refurbished laptops.

Click here for a list of the Rite to Freedom Winter Recovery Festival 2022 events.

“Rite to Freedom offers a reliable and highly effective service; delivering a vibrant, pioneering model for change. A radical intervention, enabling a growing community, positive role modelling, active leadership and resilient citizens.”
— Independent Evaluation
“Rite to Freedom has given me healing meaning and purpose, far beyond what I imagined possible.”
— Caspar Walsh. Recovering Addict. Creative Director & Founder - Rite to Freedom.

Winter 2021 Newsletter

As we reach the darkest time of the year, many seasons greetings to you all from Dartmoor, for a warm, safe and nourishing turn of the year.

Here is news of our latest events and developments with Rite to Freedom and what's coming up for us as we look towards 2022.

Winter News
At the end of November we held the second of our in-person Dartmoor Residentials this year. 19 of us gathered for another transformative weekend of opening to and deepening our journeys of recovery, through the three pillars we use for our work, of nature connection, mindfulness and creativity and deeply supported by the wild landscape of Dartmoor.

It was a wild and windy weekend as Storm Arwen passed through the country, and we hunkered down at High Heathercombe in its dramatic situation high up on the side of the open moors. We braced ourselves for heavy snowfall which (sadly and fortunately) didn't come to pass, and instead had incredible dawn skies and howling blustery winds.

Our wonderful bell tent came into its own with its new woodburner fitted creating a lovely cosy place for fireside storytelling, meditation and general quiet space.

 
 
 

2022
We are putting together our programme for 2022 as we speak, and we plan for our next in-person Residential to be in April. Watch this space for more details.

Funding
We had the fantastic news last week of a successful grant application from Devon Communities Together to fund a series of events in the New Year, including our Online Retreat and a new Recovery Conversations Weekend later in February. See below for more details.

Trustees
We are on the look out for new trustees to join our team. If you feel a call to supporting the running of the charity in this way, find out more about what it takes here.

Support
We have a few new ways that you can support the work that we do at Rite to Freedom. We rely on a variety of income streams and are working hard to diversify these to ensure the longevity and sustainability of our work. Every little bit helps enormously with what we do.

See our Donate page here where we have an easy new facility to make a monthly donation, for as little as £2 a month - the price of a cheap cup of coffee!

We have been recently selected as one of the Co-operative Group's charities. If you are a C0-op member you can choose for your dividends from your shopping to go to us (still registered under the old spelling of our name, but change in progress!!) More here >>

 

Announcing the Rite to Freedom 2022 Recovery Festival

We are excited to be hosting a series of events and retreats from January through to the end of March 2022. The focus will be on supporting those in addiction recovery impacted by the pandemic this winter.

Our first festival event will be an Online Experience Day on Saturday 22nd January, 11am-4pm. We will be exploring the three pillars of nature connection, creativity and mindfulness. There’ll be time together online and time away from the screen. A nourishing, fun day to connect, get support and find out more about the festival and our work.

Followed by our next Online Recovery Retreat - click on image below for more details.

 
 

25th-27th February
We are proud to announce our first, online Recovery Conversations Weekend. Each day we will have very special guest speakers exploring nature connection, creativity and mindfulness. You’ll be able to sign up to free, with follow on workshops after the weekend. Speakers to be announced in January.

Bookings will open in early January. Check back on our website, or email jo@ritetofreedom.org.uk to express your interest.

For those unable to join online events due to lack of equipment, there will be some support available with free computer and internet access - first come first served. There will also be a free competition entry to win one of 4 refurbished laptops at the end of the festival.

Our offices will be closed for a couple of weeks as we take a well needed break through the darkest days. We will be back the first week of January. Many best wishes for the Christmas period and into the New Year. May you stay safe, connected and nourished.

Autumn 2021 Newsletter

These are exciting times here for us as these Autumn winds blow in new change. You may already have noticed a new look website and beautiful new logo to go with our name change, dropping the 'W', to Rite to Freedom.

Caspar writes... "We’ve been shifting into a new shape and name over the last 5 years, finding our feet in a firmer even more focussed way. As a community of volunteers, paid staff and trustees, we are now fully on track for the foreseeable future, supporting recovery in the widest sense. We achieve this through our three pillars of healing and meaning: nature connection, creative practice and the mindful life. With this shift, it’s time to change the name of our organisation to represent more widely and clearly what we do."

Read the full blog post about our name change here >>

Big appreciation to DesignKind for working with us on this beautiful new logo design!

Autumn News, from Ali

All things Conker! It feels as though we should celebrate all that has been going on in the community through September and October. Too often I can just keep going with the what’s on next information without actually giving a huge whoop to what amazing things we have done.

I would like to say a massive thank you and acknowledge the energy and enthusiasm that different members of our Tribe are bringing – Dave planned a beautiful Home Turf day in September just outside Plymouth, where we walked, swam and just had time to connect. Amanda P, Paul and Laura have been doing amazing service for the tribe in giving lifts to people which enables them to participate.

Although our early October camping weekend did not go ahead as planned due to the foul weather Caspar and Amber opened the doors to their house and we had a lovely day connecting, sharing food and acknowledging in circle those people who had made an impact on our recovery. Moving and poignant...

The Recovery Conversations are really proving to be a rich resource, Phil Harris and Caspar walked us through the collaborative creative process in their work together for the Archetype images and films. The informality and flow of the conversations allow for a truly immersive experience for all. Come along!! Share far and wide … open to outside our community. If you have any suggestions of people you would like to see on a Recovery Conversation please message Ali.

Blessed with sunshine, and our new tent, the Magician Archetype Day was a real joy. Caspar and Bethan created a beautiful day that not only served the participants' learning but allowed our wonderful volunteer staff Amanda P, Laura, (me too..) to step up, hold space, and deepen our own learning. Saturday night round the fire fell into Sunday morning round the fire, watching the mist lift and sun play on all the cobwebs in the meadow. A special day of connection, process and honouring.

Busy months – thank you all for what you do and bring, for being part of this wonderful community.
- Ali

Trustees

We are looking for new trustees to join our team. If you feel a call to supporting the running of the charity in this way, find out more about what it takes here.

Upcoming Recovery Opportunities

Creative PathwaysThis year our Creative Pathways to Healing and Meaning cycle has been running over four weekends, delivered both online and face to face focusing on Addiction Recovery through the Archetypes.

Each of the cycles takes a deeper dive to explore the inner and outer terrains of the four Jungian archetypes of the Lover, Warrior, Magician and Sovereign. You can still apply to attend the remaining Sovereign archetype cycle, beginning on December 11th (in person) and December 12th (online).

Find out more and apply here >>

Our latest Creative Pathways film, introducing the Magician Archetype.

Dartmoor Residential Retreat

Our next New Tribe retreat will run on November 26-28th. We are really looking forward to gathering once again before this year is out, inviting new participants to join us on this recovery experience.
Below is the link to find out more and to make your application. Participants need to be in established recovery with at least 3 months clean time.

Find out more and apply here >>

Events Open to All - Recovery Conversations

Click here to book your place