Press release
Reducing Harm and Supporting Recovery in action: Minister for the National Drugs Strategy officiates at graduation ceremony
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
Minister of State for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy Frank Feighan TD has officiated at the graduation ceremony for five people who have trained as recovery coaches with lived experience of drug and alcohol addiction.
Minister Feighan said:
"I am grateful to be here at this graduation ceremony to support the work of the Recovery Academy and to mark the qualification of five people in recovery coaching. The Recovery Academy supports the objective of the National Drugs Strategy to build the recovery capital of people affected by substance use and to make recovery visible to other people who are going through addiction."
The Minister also highlighted new guidance that is available for drug and alcohol support groups and treatment programmes during COVID-19.
He said:
"I fully recognise the vital role played by drug and alcohol support groups and treatment programmes in reducing the harms of substance use and supporting rehabilitation and recovery. They help people to avoid relapse into harmful patterns of substance use. This guidance will ensure that they can operate safely, including at Levels 3 and 4 of the government's framework."
Professor Joe Barry, Chair of the Recovery Academy and the North Inner-City Drugs & Alcohol Task Force commented:
"The Recovery Academy of Ireland has been established to promote recovery from addiction to any psychoactive substance. It seeks to promote recovery capital, means helping people who make the choice to take back control over their lives. We work in conjunction with state agencies, primarily the Drug Policy Unit of the Department of Health and our funders the Health Service Executive, but also education and training bodies, and a wide range of non-governmental organisations who provide support to individuals, families and communities struggling with addiction.
“The Recovery Academy works with drug and alcohol task forces, community development and support organisations. We run training for peer support workers, known as recovery coaches. This approach is very effective in providing guidance to people who have embarked on their recovery journeys. We are grateful to the Programme Implementation Board of Dublin’s North East Inner City for funding the current recovery coach training programme.”
Paul Duff, project coordinator of the Recovery Academy of Ireland, said:
"It gives me great pleasure to highlight the work of the Recovery Academy with particular emphasis on the recovery coach training. The recovery coaches have been visible vehicles of change within the services and communities in which they work.
“To see the recovery coaches utilise their own lived experience as a way of showing others that recovery is possible has been an honour. Even during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, they turned a positive into a negative and worked to produce a document that contributed to helping people in recovery. This is the essence of the role of a recovery coach - helping others to find a way to overcome the obstacles they may find along the path of their own journey of recovery.”
ENDS
When going through recovery from Drug & Alcohol addiction, some people may face additional barriers to accessing treatment because of their own personal circumstances or because they belong to a particular group or community. In addition, some people do not have the internal and external resources needed to achieve and maintain recovery from substance misuse, as well as make behavioural changes. Internal resources may include their resilience, whereas external resources may be their social networks, family or community supports. These resources are also referred to as “recovery capital”.
The Recovery Academy is a forum to:
They want to give a voice to people in recovery, their families and allies, and offer a vision of hope for the future. They want the academy to be a place where people can learn about recovery from others who are ‘loud and proud’ in their own recovery. Ultimately, they want to see a re-orientation of addiction services toward a recovery model (and not simply harm reduction) as in other countries.