A charity that aims to help people impacted by drug use has held its official launch event.
The Scheme Livi was founded by Aidan Martin and Mark Deans and was officially kicked-off at West Lothian College recently.
The pair deliver creative group workshops for those affected by drugs and the issues that accompany addiction, made possible by a £100,000 grant from the Corra Foundation.
Aidan and Mark grew up together in Ladywell, Livingston and both identify with the issue of addiction and mental health issues, having lived through the experiences themselves.
They decided to form a charity using creativity as an alternative source of support.
They will be delivering weekly creative workshops and drop-in sessions at West Lothian College from next month, along with outreach and partnership work.
Creative group workshops will be available to people residing in West Lothian impacted by drug use and all other variables such as mental health, trauma, social deprivation/isolation.
They will also be offering outreach of creative workshops into places such as HMP Addiewell and more.
Aidan said he was delighted to see so many people turn up to support the charity at its launch.
He said: “Mark and I did opening speeches to thank everyone for coming and to thank everyone who supported us in getting to this point.
“We then showed a short film called ‘X-mas in Rehab’, which was written and created by people with lived experience.
“We used it as a platform for discussion.
“First there was a Q&A conducted by Donna Boyd, who is well known in the recovery scene for running a recovery themed events under her banner ‘Making Recovery Visible’ and this created rich discussion on both the creative processes, as well as the themes from the short film. Those themes included addiction, rehab, recovery, relapse, creativity as a form of recovery.
“It was then opened up to the audience who were very active and vibrant in their participation. They asked great questions and a very raw, open, healthy discussion was had between the cast and crew as well as the audience. It was highly emotive and poignant.
“Lastly we left time for mingling and networking. It was a total sell-out and a massive success. Tickets were free but it was a full house.
We also had Neil’s Hugs, 1st Step Cafe and Yoga Your Day there with stalls.
“West Lothian College, as usual, was so supportive and the presentation and set up was as professional as it comes. It was such a huge success and we are so very proud of it.
“Our MP Hannah Bardell was also in attendance and full of support and encouragement which we are equally grateful for.
“In my co-CEO Mark’s words, ‘the groundswell of support has been amazing. We look forward to creating positive changes in our community.’”
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