On the 30th of November 5 WAYS to Wellbeing @ the Recovery Academy, the centre in Leeds for those in recovery from alcohol and/or drugs, ran its first Open House and was busy throughout the day with over 100 visitors.
As well as a chance to look around the recovery centre, visitors could enjoy taster sessions of the Mindfulness and Self-Recovery groups, have guitar lessons, learn about music production, arts and crafts activities and the Grow Together gardening group.
Partners organisations such as Northern College, Hyde Park Source, University of Leeds Lifelong Learning Centre, WY-FI, OneYouLeeds, LearnDirect, Behind Closed Doors, Narcotics Anonymous and Cloth Cat all had stalls to talk through opportunities for further development both inside and outside of 5 WAYS.
Lifelong Learning Centre from the University of Leeds
Jo Byrden, 5 WAYS Manager said: “It was great to see so many faces new and old coming down to find out the full range of what we have on offer”.
Jo continued: “We now have over 230 members using 5 WAYS and we would love to have even more members accessing our groups and activities.
“In the New Year we would also really like to encourage family and partners to visit 5 WAYS alongside members. We want to build stronger links with organisations such as Carers Leeds and Al-Anon”.
5 WAYS were pleased to see so many of their recovery service partners attend such as Spacious Places, Growing Rooms and Learning to Live Again. They are all now looking forward to their joint Christmas party on the 18 December.
Guitar Lesson
Grow Together Group
Northern College
Jo Byrden and Helen Mason presentation
Arts and Crafts group
Jo Byrden with visitor
Learning to Live Again