DDN
: Dear Albert – it’s a great name,
where did you get it?
DA
: It’s part of the story – if you want to
knowmore, then you best see the movie!
DDN
:
Can you tell us anything about the
film?
DA
: Well, after the world premiere at
the Calgary International Film Festival,
it’s now available for UK screenings.
Nick Hamer from Intrepid Media began
the project over four years ago with
backing from Sarah Hancock-Smith
from LIFt (formerly Leicestershire and
Rutland Probation Trust).
Whether launching an initiative,
making recovery more visible in local
areas, or bringing associated sectors
together, the shared experience of such
an emotional and homegrown recovery
film really illustrates what’s achievable,
while capturing the fragility of the
journey. We want the
Dear Albert
film
to bring different approaches within the
field together.
David Best kindly invited us to play
the film to support the launch of the
Sheffield Addiction Research Recovery
Group, and it was fantastic to witness
the great work going on there. The film
went down a storm when hosted by
Coventry Recovery Community recently,
and there is a promotional screening at
UKESAD this May.
Greg Williams, who made
The
Anonymous People
, said that the film
‘humanised the essence of recovery in
such a deep way’ and it was wonderful
to read that.
If you go to
,
you can have a look around our website
– and book a screening from there.
DDN
:
We hear Dear Albert is also involved
in creating its own recovery programme.
DA
: Well, that’s really what I want to
talk about and why we decided to be
involved in one of DDN’s promotional
features. The organisation Dear Albert
is a social enterprise, governed with the
support of a voluntary board made up
of people living in long-term recovery
themselves.
Our new peer-led programme is called
You do the MAFs (mutual aid facilitation
sessions) and we want as many people to
start looking at this as possible. It’s a
successful approach, with completers
having experienced mutual aid for
themselves, leaving the programme with
a clear understanding of how different
mutual aid approaches can help.
You do the MAFs facilitates
meaningful engagement and empowers
participants to make the right decisions.
DDN
:
How does it work?
DA
: After several years’ hard work, the
programme has brought a number of
different facets together. Sitting
alternative philosophies side by side in
a therapeutic setting invites exploration,
with participants facilitated into deciding
for themselves how best they can resolve
their substance misuse problem.
The six-week programme is complete-
ly peer-led, has a great incentive package
and introduces participants to existing
recovery communities and other positive
social networks.
Obviously, it helps that the sessions
are run and managed by those living a
life of abstinence-based recovery them-
selves. The achieved objective is to
promote abstinence-based approaches,
April 2015 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 13
Promotional feature
‘Our new peer-led
programme is called
You do the MAFs... It’s a
successful approach,
with completers having
experiencedmutual aid
for themselves, leaving
the programme with a
clear understanding of
how different mutual aid
approaches can help.’
JON ROBERTS
Making
recovery
visible with
Dear Albert.
Dear Albert’s Jon Roberts talks to
DDN
about film screenings, mutual
aid facilitation, and their new,
innovative recovery programme
making recovery the viable option from
the very beginning of treatment and
instilling a sense of personal
responsibility for getting well.
A six month evaluation by Phoenix
Futures’ research department has
recently been completed and is
undergoing peer review to be published
in a top academic journal, co-written by
King’s College London. How cool is that?
The findings of this comprehensive
review highlight how the programme
really works, with impressive figures to
match. The support of Phoenix Futures
has been really valuable in getting this
initiative up and running, and we now
want others to take advantage of this
great programme.
To see the Impact Report, and for more
information, visit
woRking out what's best foR you
RecoveRy in
Now available in the UK,
maKe a booKiNg
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