What is Recovery Month?
Thousands of events and activities happen across the world each September to celebrate the recovery of people struggling with drugs and alcohol. Recovery month is a very busy exciting time for the international recovery community. This year’s theme is ‘Recovery is for Everyone: Every Person, Every Family, Every Community.’ Services like Turning Point’s Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service in London come together to celebrate by organising events like Dinner with DAWS and Real Recovery Stories to challenge stigma, break down barriers and increase access to treatment.
If you visit our hubs this month, you’ll see we have decorated them with bunting and banners. We wanted to make our clients feel extra special this month. For the first time this year, each hub will have a Recovery Guestbook. We are encouraging the people we support to leave messages and tips for future people accessing support. We’re excited to share the contributions at the end of the month!
Why celebrate Recovery Month?
Around 3.2 million people in the UK had taken a drug (2018/19), which equates to 1 in 11 adults. Any one of these people could have had a negative relationship with a substance, causing adverse impacts on their life, and the lives of those around them.
There has been an increase in the number of deaths from drug poisoning in recent years and not enough people are accessing support or getting the help they need. Currently, in the UK, there are around 275,000 people in treatment for substance use.
We want to use recovery month to raise awareness of our client’s stories to break down barriers and raise awareness of what we offer to help get more people the support they need in central and west London.
What do our staff say about Recovery?
We asked some of our staff what they thought about recovery month and what the word recovery means to them.
Ezra, a service manager shared his thought, “Recovery is about rebuilding our lives, it’s about taking back the authority and control of situations and circumstances that often kept us down and bound. It’s about living the fullness of your potential.” He continues, “Recovery is about being willing to look at yourself and address whatever comes up with that. It’s also about trusting others, especially those that have the skills and expertise such as our services. It’s also about taking it a day at a time.”
Holly and Georgia, two of our new recovery workers said, “Recovery means a journey to wellbeing and becoming a better version of yourself.”
Our deputy operations manager Charlie says, “For me, the essence of recovery, is really about healing, evolving and mending. I think recovery is really individual to everyone. Recovery can be whatever you want it to be.”
Our bi-borough operations manager shared his thoughts, “Recovery month is really important to us as a team, we are incredibly proud of the positive changes service users make and that we get to be part of their journey. We also recognise the value that visible recovery plays, and our peer mentors are proof that recovery is possible and achievable and inspire others in their recovery. This month gives us the opportunity to celebrate recovery in all its forms, showcase the stories and achievements of the people we support, that people can live meaningful and fulfilling lives independent from substance and alcohol use.”
Join us in celebrating recovery this month
- Register for our real recovery stories webinar on 19th September and hear our peer mentors tell their stories.
- Register for our Dinner with DAWS on 26th September to enjoy entertainment from people who have completed treatment with us and learn more about what we do
- Tune into Portobello Radio on Friday 22nd September from 4-6pm to hear our peer mentors tell their stories
- Help us break down stigma, follow us on social media and share our stories and events. We're on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.