Sarah Rake

I first encountered Rite to Freedom in 2018 when I was a participant on their autumn residential retreat. I have been in recovery from addiction for 20 years. 

Very shortly after that I became a volunteer and have been part of the team delivering weekend retreats ever since. I have participated in mentoring days, attended residential staff training weekends, and supported events at Exeter Respect Festival that have included Rite to Freedom as well as other organisations and individuals that are working to provide wider community mental health resources through the arts. I joined the Community Council in 2022. I have also been voluntarily helping others find recovery from addiction through 12 Step programmes for 19 years. 

My focus is to carry the message that recovery from trauma and addiction is possible and help others devise and develop their own practical tool kit to achieve and sustain this. The role of the Community Council is vital to the good health, evolution, and growth of the organisation through discussion and debate of new ideas, methods of delivery, and any difficult issues. It supports the personal development of individual members, cultivates a strong team, promotes the development of the organisation as a whole, and the effectiveness of our work. 

Steven Clucas

My Residential was in the Autumn of 2017 and have been free from drugs and alcohol since 2015,

Since then I have been actively involved in a number of activities through Rite to Freedoms' tribe structure and the Creative Pathways umbrella. These activities include:

• Volunteering on residentials in multiple roles.

• Scoring music for short films which are designed to promote the ethos of Rite to Freedom and the Creative Pathways movement in an artful and thought provoking manner.

• Technical Supervisor for events in various locations including The Phoenix Centre in Exeter earlier this year.

I am now a member of the Community Council to help oversee and collaborate upcoming and present developments.

Amanda Pugsley

My Rite to Freedom (R2F) residential was 7th June 2017. I have been free from alcohol since March 2017.

Since then, I have attended Rite to Freedom mentoring days, which led to volunteering and being a member of the delivery team on weekend residentials.

I have supported on other weekends with Momentum, staff training and experience days.

I became a member of the Community Council in 2022. This was formed initially as a bridge between the Trustees, staff and volunteers when R2F was a registered charity.

As a volunteer, I bring my experience from participation and delivery and seeing what works.

This is communicated to the CC to try and bring a deeper understanding into the work involved and what support and change may be needed.

Keeping the vision flowing and growing is key to my role. I feel this is vital for us moving forward as a social enterprise, governed by the Community Council and Company Directors. I aim to keep our work grounded in sustainable, dynamic development and not lost in idealism.

It is so valuable to be able to discuss and debate any issues that might arise or any new ideas that we think would work and how we could integrate them into our work effectively.

Heather Harden

Psychotherapist and Trainee Facilitator

I'm an integrative psychotherapist based in North Wales, where I work in private practice with individuals and couples. I was lucky enough to get involved with R2F through Ben Ford, one of our other team therapists, and I've been working as a training facilitator since 2022. 

My work is trauma-informed and tends to focus on relationships with the self and important others. Working with addiction recovery builds on my relationship focus by helping people to rebuild their connections with themselves and the greater world.

R2F provides a chance for staff and participants alike to break away from the daily grind in order to experience the self, the other, and nature. The organization drew me in with their unique combination of ritual, nature connection, and awareness-building practices. Although I came for the experience, I stayed for the people. The R2F community is chock full of wonderful staff and participants, and I'm so happy to be a part of it. 

Catt Kinsey

Partnership Development and Philanthropic Outreach

My journey with Rite to Freedom began when I participated in a New Tribes retreat in March 2023. The weekend of magic gave me a restored sense of connection and a deep longing for more. 

My career has centered around helping others and my personal experience of addiction led my focus to recovery communities. I am grateful to have co-produced alcohol-free events, led teams of lived-experienced volunteers and created safe spaces for those in recovery. 

I bring with me a passion for creativity, having spent many hours dulling fine liners and feel most connected when lost on the moors. I truly look forward to embarking on this next chapter and working with R2F.

Liz Cirasuolo

Rite to Freedom Trustee

I have worked in health and social care for 22 years for non profit organisations, housing associations and local government supporting victims of domestic abuse, people affected by dependency issues, young people and ex-offenders requiring support. My own life experiences have motivated me to want to dedicate my professional career to supporting those that face the hardest challenges in life and try to make a difference either by directly supporting them, in the early days, or by being able to influence strategic system change, in my current role.

I became a trustee for Rite to Freedom because I experienced first hand the amazing impact of their work, I share their core values and feel I can help and support the organisation deliver against these with my experience and expertise.

Massimo D'Alessandro

Bristol Programme Coordinator and Outreach

COURSE PARTICIPANT 2021

My life has been a journey of change.

I started my career in 1990 as a software engineer in the research team of an Italian company, but a growing call to work with people, rather than machines, eventually took over.

In 2000 I trained in Community Psychology and qualified as a Biodanza teacher (music - movement and contact in groups) and after creating my own tiny charity, I worked for it as a group facilitator in various settings for several years.

Being baffled in my private life by entrenched compulsive behaviour in the areas of sex and relationships, I made a really bold choice and I left my work and my country in 2006 in search of spiritual healing.

I spent many years living and serving in spiritual communities and monasteries in the US and UK and partially in India and Sweden, mostly within Buddhist traditions.

I have been involved with the 12 steps movement since 2008 and I still serve as a sponsor for SAA and SLAA fellowships.

Finding my way back to a normal life I got a qualification in horticulture and I worked as a professional gardener in stately homes in the Cotswolds area for about 5 years.

Eventually, my desire to work with people pushed me back to undertake a professional coaching qualification which I got in 2021.

Having invested all my life in healing my own issues with intimate relationships, I consider my current ability to co-create intimacy and fulfilment with my partner the highest achievement of my career.

For this reason, I chose Intimate Relationships as my area of intervention as a coach, helping both individuals and couples to create fulfilment in their love life. My work is informed by the Internal Family System paradigm of Richard Schwartz.

I currently make my living working as a relationship coach, a part-time gardener and running my family house in Italy as an Airbnb.

I also volunteer for various charities engaged in addiction recovery and community mediation.

https://www.spellunboundcoaching.com

Sally Thompson

Evaluation and Evidence Base Lead Facilitator

I am an environmentalist with a Masters in Global Sustainability Solutions. Within the sustainability sector, my main area of interest is in sustainable food systems – addressing both food waste and food insecurity. I have always been involved in various community projects, and increasingly participate in environmental activism and LGBTQ+ support.

I support Rite to Freedom through evaluating the impact of their work using qualitative research methods. Prior to this, I used the Most Significant Change Technique to evaluate the impact of Community Action Groups Devon – in collaboration with Devon County Council. During my time living in India, I conducted interviews and facilitated focus group discussions in order to understand the perceptions of Indian youth on gender inequality.

My knowledge of the addiction recovery process has significantly developed through my involvement. I feel I have become part of the tribe, and extremely fortunate to work with such compassionate and committed individuals. Alongside my evaluation work, I have also had the opportunity to apply my musical ability by writing songs based on the stories told by Rite to Freedom participants, which I performed during a Recovery Cabaret.

Miri de Villers

Video and Media Assistant

I recently joined Rite to Freedom to support the team in their video and media output. I assist with the video production, editing and filming process and will be helping to develop new ideas and content.

I first became involved with R2F in September 2022 after being invited by a friend through a very vague and intriguing introduction to the programme. It came at the perfect time, as it was coming to the end of a summer of recovery and discovery, so I knew in my gut that something magical was going to happen. I learnt so much about myself over that weekend in Dartmoor, it was an emotional whirlwind and one that threw some clues towards me about the mystery of life and healing. 

Being a part of the Tribe has brought a softness into my world. Having experienced what it was like to be held in a space with such loving open arms, it confirmed my decision to quickly get involved with the programme on a deeper level. Soon after my Dartmoor residential I volunteered on R2F's first Ireland residential in The Burren - the rest is history.

Whilst practicing my own recovery, I'm currently studying Journalism full-time and working freelance in video production which has been my bread and butter for the last eight years. 

Charice Bhardwaj

Charice is a poet, performance-maker and mover based in Exeter. Playfully bold, with sharp edges, she has a love for devising new works which attempt to explore sticky social topics with gravy and punch. Previous and current projects speak to food, queer collaboration, and Devon’s imperial history. Charice has worked with bodies such as University of Exeter, Quirk Theatre, Beyond Face, Spork! Poetry, and Out & About: Queering the Museum. Mixing rhythm, music, comedy and multi-layered identities, Charice’s work is fresh, responsive and alive. She recently co-wrote Rhia and the Tree of Lights, a family show about a British-Indian girl’s relationship to her ancestors, the Jurassic Coast, and the festival of Diwali.

Virginia Compton

Rite to Freedom Trustee

I am passionate about embracing a more creative and inclusive way of approaching any difficult emotional issues, particularly in order to to support those who will benefit from a sense of community and belonging where they may previously felt that they struggled to fit in. I have a unique 360 degree view on many aspects of addiction, of the human condition and of how to work with people who are seeking some kind of support and sense of belonging.

My life and work path is rich and diverse, incorporating NHS addiction services, prison work and mot recently (since becoming self employed in 2016), more holistic health approaches. My life and experience offers a unique combination for me to offer support to Rite to Freedom. In return I feel that the trustee role enables me to focus upon issues about which I feel committed and passionate. I have lived experience of a partner with addiction and everything that this encompasses. The opportunity to be involved with Rite to Freedom gifts me some purpose to my own journey and offers myself and others a positive focus in terms of a unique and effective approach to supporting those in recovery as well as their family and friends.

My strengths are communication, creativity, compassion and an ability to think outside of the box.

Boris Hallvig

Video Editor and Graphic designer

Using my experience in web and graphic design, photo and video editing, I help in producing Rite to Freedom’s digital content. I am excited to be able to turn my expertise in these fields toward a good cause, and am keen to aid the charity in growing and spreading the amazing work that they do.

Phil Nelson

Staff Volunteer

COURSE PARTICIPANT 2019

I have been in recovery for nearly 7 years.
I am a member of a twelve step fellowship and that is one of the elements that supports my recovery. I have also found great fellowship and connections in R2F since attending a residential in April 2019 and supporting the staff team since then.

I have been involved with Five Lives - an organisation that goes into schools with people in recovery who tell their stories to the kids, and I have worked in a recovery house as a support worker. Amongst my different interests and hobbies is being out in nature. I like mountain biking and swimming in the sea and generally being out in open spaces.

Colm Mahon

Staff Volunteer

COURSE PARTICIPANT 2019

When I came into recovery from alcohol addiction in 1989, I realized very quickly that I could not communicate very easily with people. You would not have noticed this as it was cleverly disguised behind a veil of, either aloofness or over friendliness, both of which left me numb with self-loathing and terror. I was anchored into a twelve step programme for recovery. This supported me and helped me with acceptance of myself, through honest disclosure and identification with others.

At this point I was also beginning to make a deeper connection with the natural environment. I moved out to the country and experienced real darkness; the kind that when you turn out the light you can feel it’s alive and thick, like treacle. I planted a vegetable garden and harvested turf for the open fire.

More and more I moved out into the surrounding hills, where time is lost to the seasons and the rhythm of the rising and setting sun. Sometimes I got lost so I learned to navigate with map and compass as well as naturally. I realised that I often felt safer on my own out there, than in a crowd of people. Today I know how wonderful it is that I can choose to be with others or remain alone in the richness of the natural world.

I returned to education in 1997 to further develop my outdoor interests. At this point I was living in an established relationship with Sam, my partner to this day. Sam supported me on different outdoor projects. Our family quickly grew and became six. They were reared on camping and outdoor living. They are mostly grown up now but still keen on coming along when an opportunity arises. My focus in recovery has always been on introducing people of all abilities to outdoor living.

I heard about Write to Freedom from a friend in recovery. I decided to check it out and came on a residential in April 2019. It was obvious from the staff team, the care and kindness, as well as the number of volunteers on the weekend that this was something special. I knew the importance of the natural world in my own recovery. Now I am exploring this with friends and continue sharing these experiences with others.

Colm. 

Ben Ford

Lead Facilitator

Hi I’m Ben, one of Rite to Freedom’s Lead Retreat Facilitators, and an integrative Psychotherapist based in North Wales.

My story with Rite to Freedom began in January 2014, on a blustery High Heathercombe. For me it was a time of great discovery, experiencing the healing and transformative benefits of melding wild nature and inner exploration. After each weekend up there on the moors, I always left hungry for more. By the end of 2016, I became the charity’s administrator. At that time, we made the decision to solely focus our efforts with adults in addiction recovery. Growth for us all ensued. We delivered many residentials, integrated new leadership methodologies, and nurtured the buds of the thriving recovery community that we have today. As the years and number of retreats stacked up, my responsibility within the organisation grew and moulded to fit my skills. Amazing new staff joined us, and I was a core part of the weekly office work until the summer of 2021.

A dull roar began to rumble in me. I noticed my skills refine, and my desire to work one on one grow. Maybe I didn’t have to wait until I was old, to be a therapist?!  I was blessed to work with a flexible team, who allowed me the cognitive and physical space and time to study a Master Degree in Counselling, whilst I still worked for the charity. Now my primary work is working in private practice. I mainly see adults with complicated upbringings, and those with experiences of adversity who desire someone to walk alongside them for a while, as they explore difficult content in a safe and professional space.  

In 2018, for my bio I wrote:

“Rite to Freedom has the ability to encourage and nurture people’s passions and talents, which then ripples out into the community.  At it’s core, I see that the community is about nurturing healthy, grounded relationships. Not only with others, but with ourselves.”

My story, which is still unfolding and growing, really is a case in point for what I wrote back then. I attribute much of where I am today to the nurturing and challenging environment that is Rite to Freedom. It still brings me great joy to head up on to the moors and run retreats with the tribe. It is a regular touch stone experience that I hope will be there throughout my life.

See you there!

Ben

info@ben-ford.co.uk

Bethan Evans

SHADOW WORK COACH AND WORKSHOP FACILITATOR

I am a certified Shadow Work® coach, Alexander Technique teacher and workshop leader, working with individuals and groups since 2008.

For most of my life I believed I was broken and was looking for ‘the answer’ to make me ok.  My experiences over the last twenty-five years have convinced me that no-one is fundamentally broken and no-one needs fixing; that there is a wholeness to us all, even if it’s not visible from the outside, or to ourselves.  It has also given me the perspective to see how the biggest challenges and most difficult situations hold gifts, even when it takes time to find them.  My approach is to empower, encourage, support & add options to help you expand your self-knowledge, self-acceptance and the options available to you.

I have always known for myself the healing power of being outdoors, back in the original connection of inner nature with outer Nature, so it’s exciting to be involved with Rite to Freedom, where this is acknowledged and fostered.

Doug Pike

COURSE PARTICIPANT 2018

Like many who are healing from trauma and addiction I experienced a repetitive cycle of relapse and recovery over many years. In 2018 I discovered Write to Freedom and its unique offering of Nature Connection, Mindfulness and Creativity as a pathway to recovery immediately resonated with me. My experience on the residential weekend in Dartmoor helped to unlock a part of me that had been calling for some time but had remained just out of reach. With a focus on self empowerment. re-writing personal stories that keep us stuck, and the encouragement to take risks and grow whilst being held by a safe and supportive community, Write to Freedom offers a potent crucible for change, and personal and interpersonal re-connection..

My journey with Write to Freedom and my passion for nature connection, mindfulness and compassionate inquiry continues to develop and grow as the cornerstone for my recovery. Through nurturing a deeper connection with myself and the Write to Freedom community, and through continued engagement with the mentoring program, I have moved on to staff on two residential programs in 2019, helping to deliver this unique program to others. The journey continues on and I have recently joined the Write to Freedom staff team as a Co-ordinator, helping to the support the community, as it too continues to grow and develop. I bring hope, strength, focus, and passion to this work.

Michael Densham

Staff Volunteer

COURSE PARTICIPANT 2018

Now aged seventy I have been in recovery since my sixty eighth birthday. I learnt about Write to Freedom when I attended Rise and then trained as a volunteer for Together. I applied for a Write to Freedom residential in March 2018. I enjoyed the experience so much and it changed my life. I then got the chance to staff a residential in September 2019, an experience that blew me away. Dartmoor is such a beautiful place and the Mentoring Days spent walking on the moor are so rewarding and peaceful. I have made so many new friends through Write To Freedom, it has been the best experience of my later years.

Denise Clarbull

Staff Volunteer

COURSE PARTICIPANT 2018

Until March 2017 I was broken mentally and spiritually and it took me to a very dark place. Through the help of my brother (my guardian angel) I was taken to rehab and there I was given HOPE and accepted I had an addiction and that I could and would move forward.

Through word of mouth I was told about Write to Freedom. As my love of the moors is so great, I applied for the residential in March 2018 and was accepted. Admittedly, I was very anxious and out of my comfort zone on arrival, but those fears were soon to evaporate. That experience was beyond my dreams.

It has give me an opportunity to start writing again on my feelings and thoughts which I had blocked for many years through my addiction.

I was given the privilege to staff on a residential in March 2019 and I didn't think it could get any better - watching other people on their recovery journey. And now given another opportunity in September 2019.

I now go on every opportunity to the moors with Write to Freedom to be with my 'Tribe’ as it lifts me mentally and spiritually and I am at peace with myself once again.

Jo Isaac

Staff Volunteer

COURSE PARTICIPANT 2018

I have been in recovery for just over two years, I was told about Write to Freedom by a friend who had been on one of the residentials. I applied myself to go on a residential in June 2018 and I was lucky enough to be picked. The experience opened up a whole new meaning of life for me spiritually, mentally and physically. Write to Freedom has played a big part in my recovery and still plays a part in my recovery as I was lucky enough to staff on a residential in 2019. Write to Freedom holds Mentoring Days each month on Dartmoor giving participants the chance to reconnect, I find these days very helpful. The people I have met through Write to Freedom have become family. I will continue to volunteer my time to support Write to Freedom in anyway I can.