Five days to go to help bring UK Recovery Walk to Shropshire
People across Shropshire and the West Midlands are being reminded that there’s still time left to vote for Shrewsbury to host the 2018 UK Recovery Walk.
Recovery Walk
Shrewsbury is one of just two places in the UK who have put in a bid to host the 10th anniversary of the walk. The town is competing against the City of Bradford.
National Recovery Walk is now in its ninth year and takes place each September, in line with ‘Recovery Month’, to raise awareness of substance use disorders and recovery from addiction.
The walk organised by the charity Faces and Voices of Recovery (FAVOR UK), is a national event which celebrates the achievements of individuals in recovery from substance abuse. It also acknowledges the work of prevention, treatment and recovery services and offers individuals, their families and friends to share their stories and show that recovery from addiction is possible.
Lance Newland from Shrewsbury is one of the hundreds of people across the county going through recovery and is keen for the town to host the national walk. You can hear about Lance’s story at BBC Radio Shropshire here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p056b478#playt=2h37m05s.
Lance said:
“The UK Recovery walks show that, with the right attitude, treatment and support recovery is always possible.
“Apart from Shrewsbury, having loads of beautiful walks and lots of places to visit, it would be a great opportunity for us in Shrewsbury to meet other recovering people from other parts of the country.
“It would give us a chance to talk about our recovery and things we have learned so far and pass our experiences on but also for us to learn from other people’s experience.
“I am a great believer in health and well-being in recovery, and really feel that anything that promotes this in Shrewsbury can only benefit myself and others in recovery. I also feel it would be a great opportunity to break any barriers and stigma that comes with addiction and show people that we do recover.”
Voters will have up until 12pm this Friday (28 July 2017) to cast their vote, and the results are announced on Saturday 29 July at this year’s host winners party in Blackpool.
Voting is really easy and literally takes just a few seconds. To cast your vote, all you have to do is use your own personal device, whether it’s your mobile phone, laptop or computer, and go to the Healthy Shropshire website at www.healthyshropshire.co.uk.
You can view Shrewsbury’s Bid for the UK Recovery Walk 2018 at: http://www.facesandvoicesofrecoveryuk.org/vote-2018/
If you or someone you know is affected by or worried about alcohol and or drug use, call Shropshire Recovery Partnership on 01743 294700 or visit www.shropshirerecovery.com.
Further information
You can also view a film about the experience of those who have or going through recovery here httpv://vimeo.com/220287475
Shrewsbury’s Bid for the UK Recovery Walk 2018 has been supported by the Shrewsbury Recovery Walk Steering group a partnership made up of representatives from:
- Shropshire Recovery Partnership
- Team Shrewsbury
- Shropshire Council
- Shrewsbury Town Council
- Public Health England
- Shrewsbury Business Improvement District.
- Shrewsbury Street Pastors
- West Mercia Police
- Shropshire Community Leisure Trust
- University Centre Shrewsbury
Each year FAVOR UK members guided by the bidding process choose one UK city or town to host the national Recovery Walk event.
Shropshire Council’s Cabinet agreed to back Shropshire drug and alcohol action team in bidding to host the UK Recovery Walk in June this year.
The focus of the UK Recovery Walk is a public education and outreach campaign that communicates by offering living proof of the reality of long-term addiction recovery. It also highlight the many pathways and styles of such recovery to the public, policymakers, the media and communities.
The good news now is that you no longer need to be a member of FAVOR UK to cast a vote – it’s open to everyone.
