Conference Feedback

This is a turning point – I hope.

Thank you so much for being brave enough to put this conference on, but don’t settle here, let’s keep pushing the boundaries.

Anyone who is seriously connected to work they do in the field of addictions cannot afford to miss this sort of conference.

So useful to have a reflective space in which to consider concepts and ideas – to really question what it is we do on a daily basis. There’s been so much to take in that I want to go away and reflect further. I hope and imagine that the conference is just the beginning – that it will lead onto further research, activism and developments in practice, etc. The conference also had a real (and v. unusual) feel of genuine interest and content, rather than surface bullshit and people plugging their own organisations and products. Real broad, open and unhooked thinking in some areas. Thank you!

Saw it more as an ideas conference – flying kites.

Great conference – thoroughly enjoyed the 3 days. Been a reflective space – refreshing and enlightening. I take away renewed hope and insight.

I’ve enjoyed the whole conference.

Very enjoyable and worthwhile.

Thank you for another fantastically stimulating conference – I look forward to next year.

Thoroughly enjoyed the conference – encompassed a diverse range of both speakers and subjects, majority of which I feel I can relate to practice. My brain was both stretched and strained – never exhausted.

As an addict and a practitioner I found the 2 days I was able to attend challenging and stimulating on a personal and professional level.

It has shaken up my process of thought and I now will go back to thinking out of my box – treatment process will be revisited.

So glad I was able to come – amazing!

Prior to attending this conference, I felt quite isolated in my beliefs around substance use as a way of filling the spiritual void. There have been wonderfully confirming moments in this conference for me. Also, it is the only conference I have ever been to where my heart didn’t sink looking at the choice of breakout sessions – I wanted to attend them all! Thanks so much.

Excellent conference, thank you! Beautiful venue, shame about the acoustics! Refreshing to come to a drugs conference that wasn’t about ‘treatment’ & govt. policy/targets & statutory bullshit! Was struck many times by the convergence of discussions & Buddhism/Eastern religions – matters of the spirit which are largely neglected in current ‘treatment’.

Stimulating speakers from a wide variety of disciples – it was extremely interesting and useful to me (and I’m not in the addiction/treatment field!) An open, enquiring atmosphere. Having reflected upon the conference with my colleague Dr. Crawford, we very much agree with your findings. Something has touched (infected?) us and we have been talking about the different speakers and topics since. The focus of the conference was about our own limited understanding which resonated and made that we connected emotionally and felt we were part of a journey. I would very much like to be involved in a future (unhooked) event as I enjoyed doing the presentation and feel strongly that this awakening to our ’stuckness in old paterns’ is what we need now.

…the conference will be remembered as the start of something huge..

The concept of the conference. Courage to do it differently. The variety in approach. The quality of speakers (generally) and the range/variety. The forum for airing and exploring ideas. The quick response to things that were not working (e.g. lack of drinking water on first day).

I thoroughly enjoyed the conference. I profited from most of the plenary sessions, but was also pleasantly surprised by the quality of the breakout sessions. I wound up taking 17 pp. of notes – the sincerest form of compliment, pace Oscar Wilde.

There is a real need to bring together eclectic approaches and views, both to share ideas and challenge assumptions. Great location; beautiful venue. Thank you to William – a very engaging, thoughtful man. T he film presentations were a great draw for me – thank you. Fantastic to have the precious time of Julien Temple and to hear his thoughts and responses to questions.

I’d an absolute ball and would love to attend further events. I go to rather a lot of conferences and usually wish I was going home by the end of the first day: not the case with Bath.

Informal, conversational style, audience participation. Challenged accepted concept of addiction. Speakers were knowledgable, erudite and explored areas usually not explored in addiction conferences: spirituality, eco-psychology, etc. Overall, the most thought-provoking and challenging conference I have attended for many years. Many speakers confirmed my own experience of working with homeless street drinkers and injecting drug users.

Good venue, great food. Films in the evening. Title of conference. Making it an international event. Focus on interaction.

Its also hard to find words to adequately express how incredibly valuable the Unhooked Thinking conference was for me A big thank you to you and Alan for this unique experience. If you need help, and I’m available, you can count on me to assist with another Unhooked Thinking conference. It would be a pleasure.

May I congratulate you on a wonderful event, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire 3 days & look forward to attending the next one! Maybe I’ll be able to spend some time networking next time!

The whole notion, the speakers, the range of ideas and approaches. The food, the location. The organisation, which despite its seemingly chaotic nature at first, all makes sense now and I can’t fault in the slightest!

Excellent speakers; good/interesting concepts explored; excellent facilitation; wonderful to intellectualise and ponder theories rather than look at targets; time to think about what we do; film screenings; focus not always on drugs/substances.

I enjoyed the conference. It felt like being in a different time zone for two days. Even the deserts were out of this world. I so wished I did not have to go back to London on Friday.

Interesting issues; interesting people speaking, new aspect of addiction; nice place.

Just a quick note to say ‘well done’. I was impressed that you pulled the whole thing off and I take my hat off to you. It was a great endeavour and I think was very thought provoking and a great event to be involved in.

Excellent, thought provoking, innovative way to test out ideas; good format of speakers, audience participation, chat format and talks. Great range of speakers. Stimulating event! Fantastic food.

Food & setting were fab. The monologues were much better than the chat-show rubbish. This has been one big boy’s-club, full of intellectual one-up-man-ship. The male combatants lacked humour which made their interactions quite barbed. I didn’t learn anything I didn’t already know and couldn’t have figured out myself (although I did find William Pryor and David Courtwright’s presentations interesting) and Stanton Peele was great. Interestingly, the male members of the audience took themselves far too seriously.

I enjoyed it, nice to do something relatively straightforward and politics-free for a change. Some very good presenters and good presentations.

Everything! Fascinating speakers for plenary sessions. Chat shows a great idea. Long tea breaks are right for networking. Concentrating on the right issues, i.e. addiction or not, linguistics, ethics, metaphysics, etc. Great food even!

Thanks for a really good day at your conference. I thoroughly enjoyed your talk. Thought it was both poetic and inspiring.

I want to thank you and your team for the vision and enthusiasm that resulted in an excellent three days. I found the conference in turns stimulating, interesting, occasionally impenetrable and also downright irritating – congratulations!
An entirely necessary event. Inspiring, useful, pleasurable for me as an individual, for us as a community (I hope) and will effect my work with homeless people. An antidote to the drugs industry and its impact on us all.

Provided opportunity for a very stimulating dialogue. Offered interesting and thought provoking ideas. Challenged practitioners to expand and develop their ideas and methods.

I hope you are feeling a great sense of satisfaction in a job well done in moving the Unhooked Thinking conference to such a successful conclusion last week. I’m sure that so much good is going to flow from this event and the relationships established.