Each September in the UK, tens of thousands of people in recovery, recovery projects and services celebrate their successes, and recovery itself, by organising and taking part in events throughout the country.
The largest event during Recovery Month, the Recovery Walk, took place in Durham on Saturday 12th September. Forward Leeds staff, volunteers and service users attended the event to promote the new service and meet people in the recovery community, to learn, connect and give.
Recovery Champion for Forward Leeds, Carla, who is in recovery herself said “It is a great event, I have been for the past 3 years and it just gets bigger and better. It is such an inspiration to see all of these people coming together to celebrate recovery and show that recovery is possible.”
The event was a great success with thousands of people attending from all across the UK. The walk took the crowd through Durham centre city, past the magnificent Durham cathedral and back to the venue location at The Sands on the River Wear. Live music, stalls and activities were on offer for the event attendees and despite the rain people had a great time. Highlights were the performance by the UK Recovery Choir, over 100 people sang on stage, and a live performance from rap artist Ben SOS Riley.
Forward Leeds also welcomed Le Tour de Recovery who cycled all the way from Leamington Spa to Durham for the Recovery Walk. The ride fund-raised for UK Faces and Voices of Recovery as well as raising awareness of the importance of communities building effective and visible responses to sustaining recovery from alcohol and/or drug misuse.
Forward Leeds invited Le Tour de Recovery to stop at their Armley hub on Wednesday 9th September and partnered up with The Real Junk Food Project Armley to cater for the hungry cyclists! This was a great opportunity to connect Leeds Recovery Community with the wider UK Recovery Community over some tasty food, originally destined for landfill.
Recovery Month is an international campaign that takes place in September across the world celebrating people’s recovery from addiction. It is also much more than that – it is an opportunity to celebrate and promote the passion, wisdom and strengths within families, neighbourhoods and communities.
There are an estimated 17,000 people in Leeds who are dependent in alcohol and over 5,000 users of opiates and crack cocaine. Leeds aims to reduce the harm caused by substance misuse and addiction through its Drug and Alcohol Strategy, Forward Leeds (the city’s new alcohol and drug service) contributes to this by celebrating diversity within Leeds and demonstrating that people can and do recover.
The development of a visible and accessible recovery community in the city is integral to helping as many people as possible recover from addiction and reduce the number of people becoming dependent on alcohol and/or drugs.
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