In the UK each year, there is volunteers’ week from 1-7th June. This year, we were able to provide a session each day that covered various topics: The UK Strategic Plan, The Art of Good Facilitation – lessons learned and How the Family & Friends Programme Works. Our CEO, Charlie Orton, dropped in on as many online meetings as she could throughout the week to say Hello and give a personal message of gratitude. The online meetings provided a way to say thank you for all you do for SMART UK on behalf of the Board of Trustees.
The timetabled sessions were recorded and can be viewed on our You Tube channel which includes a video of thanks from the team.
https://www.youtube.com/c/UKSMARTRecovery/playlists
We are already planning next years volunteers’ week in June 2022. This means we want to collect stories, BLOGS, pictures and videos – starting now! If you would like to get involved, have a story you want to tell or something about volunteering you would like to celebrate please get in touch. We would love to know more about what motivates you to volunteer for SMART Recovery, and we can help you write it up or create the content with you.
If we didn’t get to see or speak to you we will try to do more in the run up to it next year. In the meantime we want you to know that we are eternally grateful for the time and energy you give to helping the SMART recovery community. We simply couldn’t achieve our mission without you!
ss in SEPTEMBER and Recovery Day is on the 30th. This year we want to hook onto as many local and national events that may still be happening. We are aware that many organisations are waiting for the next Government announcement on the 19th of July to confirm if events will go ahead. However we are on the look out for any recovery walks, community or online/virtual events or anything our partners are planning that we can attend on behalf of UK SMART.
If you know about anything happening in your local area or within the organization(s)you volunteer for please inform us so we can add it to our Recovery Month Calendar.
Also… watch out for our competitions to win a SMART Hamper and some of our new merchandise.
Our ongoing support for your local meetings
In June, Angie sent out guidance, advice and a set of documents to support anyone wishing to explore resurrecting a face to face local meeting. The documents provide a checklist and a risk assessment for identifying/using suitable venues and how to reduce the risks of C-19 transmission. Please feel free to contact us at any time if you want to discuss your plans, or seek more advice/help from us. Likewise, if you would like to try setting up a local online meeting to reconnect with your recovery community as we emerge from lock down.
If you volunteer for SMART via one of our partner organisations you can begin talking to them about their plans to reopen venues and what the access arrangements are like. It is really important that we are aware that your meetings are happening. Please remember to tell Matt about them so we can record them on our database and/or add them to our meeting finder and, more importantly, provide you with support when needed.
To help with fundraising for any venues/rooms that incur a charge we are exploring the Co-Operative Local Community Fund and a text-to-donate function. Any funds we raise in Recovery Month we will prioritise providing you with the materials you need for your local meetings.
And finally………
We are seeking nominations for Kelly’s new SHOUT OUT FRIDAY messages where we celebrate the achievements or good news about our participants and facilitator’s, on social media.
If you know someone who you feel deserves a virtual high five or if you want to give a message out please let us know. You can send them into
[email protected] and Kelly will do the rest for you!