Paisley will host a national event aiming to change perceptions of people recovering from alcohol and drug use.
The Recovery Walk Scotland event, organised by the Scottish Recovery Consortium, will take place in the town centre on Saturday, September 24, between 11am and 4pm.
The event opens with a poignant ceremony of placing roses into the White Cart river in remembrance of friends and family lost to addiction, then there will be a procession through the town, starting at Bridge Street and coming back round to Abbey Close.
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Free food, tea and coffee will be available throughout the event, provided by humanitarian charity Rapid Relief Team.
In the afternoon, there will be live entertainment in Abbey Close on the main stage, hosted by Vic Galloway.
Councillor Jacqueline Cameron, convener of the Fairer Renfrewshire sub-committee and the chair of the now concluded Renfrewshire Alcohol and Drugs Commission, said that hosting the national event in Renfrewshire helped shine a light on the work that partners are doing locally to change how people with lived and living experience of alcohol and drugs are supported.
She said: “Through the commission, we heard from people in recovery, people with lived and living experience, and they told us the difficulties in getting support within their communities when they needed it.
"Having this national event that brings people together is important to breaking down taboos and showing the wider community that we are working hard to change things for people.
“Our ambition is to build a strong recovery community here in Renfrewshire and we are developing a range of activities as part of a Connected and Caring Renfrewshire programme to promote recovery.
"A huge part of that will be strengthening social connection as well as reducing stigma and changing how we talk about recovery as a community.”
The Alcohol and Drug Partnership is a strategic partnership of the council, health, police, fire and rescue and the voluntary sector, and the council’s Alcohol and Drug Change Programme.
It continues to work with communities, ensuring people can get peer-to-peer support as well as investing in mental health programmes and education and health improvements, and increasing capacity for local groups and organisations who support recovery through the Recovery Change Fund, to provide help and support at every stage.
Jardine Simpson, chief executive of the Scottish Recovery Consortium, said: “We are thrilled to be able to run this year’s Recovery Walk Scotland in Paisley.
"This decision was made to support the larger project of Connected and Caring Renfrewshire; a collaborative campaign aiming to encourage and develop sustainable recovery in the Renfrewshire community.
"We want to show that through connecting with each other and cultivating compassion for one another recovery can exist and thrive. Recovery Walk Scotland 2022 is just the beginning, and we look forward to continuing to support the wider Renfrewshire area in this mission.”
Visit scottishrecoveryconsortium.org for more information on the event and the procession route.
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