This free one-day session is for people in recovery from drug and alcohol use, who have already referred to us, and are waiting to start our longer courses. 

We introduced this taster session to give people a chance to experience our approach, as well as begin to fire up the flames of learning. 

Why is the session about patriarchy? 

We explore systems of power throughout all our work - one of the main ones being the patriarchy! 

We hear from men and women in recovery how stereotypes and expectations connected to being male or female have been incredibly harmful to them throughout their lives. 

This is one of the main reasons we have a whole day dedicated to thinking systematically and critically about what the patriarchy is, and the different ways it harms us all. 

It is also our way of bringing feminist theory to men as well as women, to unpick the complexity of power dynamics related to our sex and understand the realities and impacts of living in a patriarchal society. 

These conversations are vital to our work, which supports people to see and understand how systems of power like patriarchy have shaped their lives, and identify ways they want to challenge this going forward. 

A high level of expletives tends to accompany the many penny drop moments throughout the day. 

“This is the most excited I’ve been without drugs” - Stephen