At the end of August, we welcomed not one, but two notable visitors to the charity. Firstly, Dame Carol Black joined us at 131 The Venue for lunch, and an introduction to the Building Recovery in Middlesbrough project, and the work of the wider charity.
Dame Carol produced the now influential document, ‘Independent Review of Drugs‘, from which the government’s response was formed. At the core of the two-stage document is the aim that ‘vulnerable people with substance misuse problems’ get the support they need. This independent review later fed into additional allocations for charities like ours, and the development of programmes such as Project Adder.
Naturally then, plenty of people amongst our staff and community were intrigued to meet and greet her, and introduce Dame Carol to our work. Professor David Best also presented the BRIM programme during the event, demonstrating how the ongoing work, in itself, can be measured effectively, and perhaps shape future studies and reviews in the future.
Minister for Drugs Policy in Scotland, Angela Constance, meets with staff at Fork in the Road Cafe.
The following week, the team welcomed Angela Constance, who was looking into the progress made and processes behind local recovery services. Angela not only met with staff, but also headed to our community building, Bedford House, to meet with volunteers and ambassadors, too.
These two notable visits occurred just as Recovery Month was beginning once again, and set the team and community up for what’s proved to be a brilliant September, once again.
