Identifying and Recruiting Recovery Champions: Exploratory Action Research in Barnsley, South Yorkshire

Abstract

The UK Drug Strategy has embraced the philosophy of recovery as an “individual, person-centered journey” (Her Majesty's [HM] Government, 2010, p. 19) and is supported by a local network of recovery champions. The purpose of this article is to examine proactive attempts at establishing such networks based on training and working with a mixture of people in recovery and professionals, supported by a local recovery leader. What is presented in this article is a case study of an initiative attempting to access and link recovery champions. The early stages of the initiative were planned in advance, but the later stages were evolutionary and were based on the decisions of the emerging recovery champions group. The initiative started with a series of workshops to raise awareness about recovery, and from this, to recruit an initial group of candidate champions. Small groups were successfully recruited to participate in subsequent champions workshops, and they have since translated that commitment to a range of actions and directions, which have attempted to generate a visible recovery community and to challenge stereotypes and stigma perceptions. The final section of the article will review the utility of the label of “recovery champion” and will examine the role of such networks in enabling and supporting the emergence of a local culture of recovery.