H
olding the Celebrating Recovery East Midlands Event (CREME) marked
a day of firsts for the East Midlands Recovery Forum (EMRF). It was
the first showcase for the newly formed forum and the developing
Quality of Life (QoL) service, the first regional event of recovery
agencies from across the East Midlands, and the launch of a new recovery
booklet Hope on the horizon.
For QoL, as a new and innovative recovery based treatment service in Leicester
city which only started in July 2011, it was a chance to show what can be achieved
by members in recovery in such a short space of time. Governed mainly by service
user members, its board has had genuine decision-making power to set QoL up the
way members think best, which has led to a successful service being developed.
QoL provides a wide variety of recovery activities including structured group
work, recovery groups, complementary therapies, information, advice and
guidance (alongside NACRO), peer mentoring and various activities such as arts
and crafts, music, poetry and drama. QoL also provides support for the family,
friends and carers of members through the Drug and Alcohol Family and Friends
Support (DAFFS) service. All aspects of QoL are run as a partnership between
professionals in conjunction with ex service users, many of whom have become
peer mentors and employed members of staff.
Many QoL members volunteered their time and effort to make CREME a great
day. Around 350 guests, including professional workers and service users from
throughout the region, attended and there were 48 different exhibits from
counties across the East Midlands, as well as the UK Recovery Federation.
Agencies promoted the recovery agenda through the range of different
services they had on offer, relating to housing, harm reduction, mutual aid, holistic
therapies, mindfulness, wellbeing and much more. Every room in the QoL building
was packed with people explaining, through briefings and workshops, what they
do and sharing best practice on achieving and maintaining recovery.
Also on show was the brand new basement gym, which will be ready soon for
members to use, and the new recovery café, which was up and running on the day,
with Rachel’s cakes proving to be a big hit. As well as live performances in the QoL
car park from the music group, visitors were privileged to see an inspiring and
powerful premiere performance by the drama group. A recovery play Just for today was
developed as a joint project between QoL and Off the Fence theatre company, ready
for a full production at De Montfort University’s PACE theatre.
The CREME event also saw the launch of the new recovery booklet Hope on
20 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| August 2012
Community |
Events
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
A recent event showed the recovery community in the East Midlands to be buzzing
with ideas and activity, as Vince Williams reports
QUALITY TIME