I am the CEO of Recovery Connections, a lived-experience recovery organisation based in the north east of England.
In 2017 I was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to visit collegiate recovery programmes in the USA, an entity that is not considered in the UK. My first introduction of collegiate recovery programmes was whilst watching The Anonymous People in 2013, a film that influenced the visible recovery movement. Having led on an abstinence-based residential rehab, it seemed obvious that students in recovery would benefit from peer support on campus owing to the hedonistic lifestyle of student life and stressors of study.
Since completing my Fellowship in 2017, I have successfully established a collegiate recovery programme at Teesside University and influenced the development of others nationally.