Recovery Fund Project No Longer Invisible – Our Journey on the Road

to Recovery Presented by Emily Turner, Adult Outreach Worker, Genesis

12th December 2014

The Recovery Fund

The Recovery Fund was set up to promote visible recovery from drug/alcohol addiction & mental Health issues in Leeds. Research shows that for people in treatment, or thinking about going into treatment, having visible role models or ‘recovery champions’ can greatly enhance the belief in and reality of recovery. (The Scottish Government (2010) ‘Research For Recovery: A Review of the Drugs Evidence Base’ Available online at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/321958/0103435.pdf). The Recovery Fund was set up to support service user groups in Leeds to plan, run and deliver projects or events which raise the profile of recovery in the city. Applied in Nov 2013 for a small grant to make 300 copies of the ‘No Longer Invisible’ booklet.

What’s the Project?

Name: “No Longer Invisible – Our Journey on the Road to Recovery”

What? A booklet telling the stories of up to 10 women’s experience of recovery from substance misuse and mental health issues.

Why? • As well as being a self-discovery process to aid women’s own recovery, we hoped the booklet could help the recovery of others, by reading it and seeing that recovery is possible. We hope they will be inspired by our stories.

• To inspire future participatory creative/arts based projects with active involvement and leadership from service users.

Who? A range of women were consulted and asked for their contributions. 9 women were involved in the project. 8 told their story, 7 of which were included in the booklet. All women were consulted regarding how the idea will work, the name, and how the booklet would be presented. Recovery stories were recorded on a 1:1 basis with myself due to confidentiality and confidence.

Quote “The idea is all about telling our story, in our own way, for ourselves and for others in similar situations. We want others to understand the truth for us, and we want to be able to communicate this, as we often feel so hidden and anonymous. “

How does this aid recovery in Leeds & beyond?

• SHOW OTHERS RECOVERY IS POSSIBLE

“By showing others who are in recovery, at any stage in the process, that your life can change and there are services out there to help you. We sometimes feel invisible and that we have no self-importance. This project will help others to see first-hand that recovery is possible and self-respect can be gained. I remember myself when the realisation came that I was going to be ok. It was like a light bulb moment.”

• TO HELP OUR OWN RECOVERY

“We think this idea will help not only others who can learn from our stories, but also ourselves, as the road to recovery is one that has its ups and downs. As sex workers, the issue is quite taboo and often hidden and we don’t get to tell people what life is really like, the problems we face and to show people we are much more than sex workers and to break the stigma.”

• GET THE BOOKLET OUT THERE

Distribute the booklet to street based sex workers across the city, through casework, outreach or drop in sessions at Genesis. It can be distributed to other partner organisations that could also share it, whilst also promoting our service and raising awareness

Important points

• The booklet tells the recovery experiences of street working women from substance misuse & mental health issues.

• It is important to say that this is only a section of the women we work with. It doesn’t represent the views of many indoor working women, and not all street working women experience substance misuse issues.

• Participation and service user involvement was key – very important that this was a client led project that included service user ideas, images, stories and quotes. E.g. Quotes are in their own handwriting & stories are transcribed word for word.

The images we used…

Spring Flowers

Red Shoes

Quotes

Key Themes

Having a voice

Misconceptions (Pg.44)

Link between street sex work and drug use (Pg.31)

Exploitation (Pg.16)

Assault and violence towards sex workers (Pg.25)

Key Themes continued

Child issues – dealing with the pain from having children removed (Pg.12)

Domestic Violence (Pg.13)

Recovery & hope (Pg.36)

Experiences of being in local authority care as a child. (Pg.15)