The skies above Cambridge were filled with purple messages of hope and inspiration as the end of recovery month saw more than 60 representatives from service providers, partnerships and service user groups come together to release purple balloons with personal messages of recovery.
The balloon release marked the end of a month which saw more than 100 events across the region involving a range of people including MPs, Directors of Public Health, Prison Governors and members of the armed forces, which were designed to celebrate recovery and show the benefits of living a life free from addiction.
Earlier in the afternoon they had recognised the outstanding work carried out by individuals, partnerships , treatment services, local communities and other organisations at the region's first ever Recovery Awards ceremony.
Speaking before the awards, NTA regional manager, Emma Pawson said it had been an amazing month and she had been overwhelmed by the dedication and passion shown throughout the month. "It's been an amazing month and I am very impressed with everyone's determination and commitment to the cause," she said. "We've handed out more than 6,000 purple recovery ribbons at more than 100 fantastic events from recovery walks and recovery days to official openings of recovery centres, art competitions and barbecues. We've even had a recovery bus! We also had a great response to the recovery champion recruitment campaign attracting new and old recovery champions. It has been a truly remarkable month and without your commitment and enthusiasm it would not have been such a success. Let's hope it provides a platform for a successful recovery orientated year!
With more than 50 nominations for the four awards, the awards were difficult to judge. "There were so many outstanding examples of the great work that is going on in the Eastern region that it made it very difficult to choose" Emma added.
In the end, four winners and four highly commended runners up were chosen and presented with their certificates and prizes, which, for a representative from each winning category, included high tea at the House of Lords in Westminster as the guest of Baroness Doreen Massey, chair of the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse.
On receiving the award for Best Partnership/Service for their criminal justice recovery partnership, Essex DAAT strategic manager, Ben Hughes, said "Recovery is very important to us. We take it very seriously and we've been talking about it for some time. In Essex we have one single service providing care in the community and prison and now we are focusing on the recovery journey rather than just the treatment part of it, because we believe that treatment is just the beginning of the recovery journey."
Rob Davis, Governor of HMP Chelmsford added "It is very much a team effort. Without passion and dedication, this partnership wouldn't work and I am lucky to be blessed in my prison with passionate dedicated people who believe in what they are doing."
On receiving her highly commended individual award for Best Recovery Champion, Peer Mentor, Claire Grainger said "Recovery is fantastic. I love it! When I started my journey just over 13 years ago I was told there was only a 2% chance of recovery but they were wrong and we're all here to prove them wrong. Recovery is possible and it's worth it and we need to get the message about recovery out there!"
At the end of the ceremony all the attendees wrote personal messages of recovery designed to inspire, bring hope or just remember loved ones and released them to spread the message of recovery far and wide.
View the eastern recovery month
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