Welcome to our next Weekly Bulletin. There was no weekly bulletin last week as we didn’t have any news to share. However to make up for it, this week is a special bumper edition!
If you would like us to include something on our weekly news, please get in touch by emailing [email protected]. This weeks latest news is….
We are still recruiting and the deadline for applications is next Thursday, 30th June at 5pm.. See below advert for information on our new roles which are available.
The bulletin provides SMART Country Affiliates with information pertinent to the operations of their organizations. It summarizes progress reported and decisions made at the SRI Board of Directors meeting held on 17 May 2022 and is organized under the SRI areas of strategic activity.
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Joel Broadbent to our Board of Trustees. Joel is our new Digital Marketing & Communications Trustee. Joel works for Ezy Raise, the company we worked with for our Take On Addiction Campaign and she curated the website together all social media content for the campaign. Joel’s job will be to review all of our digital assets and create a strategy for improving and enhancing them over the coming years, whilst introducing us to key contacts in her network. Look out for her photo and biography which will be found here https://smartrecovery.org.uk/meet-the-team/ as well as our social media pages.
(FAVOR) have invited our CEO and Veteran Co-ordinator to give a talk at their annual conference in Newcastle on the 16th September and the recovery walk is on the 17th where we will have a stand. You can find out more here https://www.facesandvoicesofrecoveryuk.org/
Recovery month in September – our plans are emerging and there are x things we want to do this year 1) Launch an ART in SMART competition for greeting card designs 2) Launch a text to donate function for small, individual donations of appreciation 3) Do an abstinence based challenge campaign by asking people not in recovery to be sponsored for abstaining from something that they use or rely on regularly. This could be a morning coffee, sugar, clothes shopping, watching TV. Anything that is used on a regular basis to help people feel good/better. We hope to chip away at addiction stigma by challenging people to give something up so they can appreciate how hard it is.
Heads up about face to face training – both webinar and in person. Our face to face training capacity is full until September this year. Please book well in advance if you require this.
Johnny Alison our veteran coordinator in Scotland organised a weekend away wild camping and foraging for veterans in recovery. An article about it will be published here next week. Johnny was invited to HMP Edinburgh where they hosted a coffee morning within one off the work areas. There were 13 veteran prisoners there as well as other 2 agencies SACRO, CAB AND department of work and pensions. They all saw a presentation by Johnny which was so well received he’s been invited back for 2 more dates which means he will have seen every veteran prisoner in HMP Edinburgh. We are in liaison with Paul Elliot the national recovery champion within HMP Scotland about upscaling the veterans programme so it is available in every Scottish prison.
We have submitted our extension proposal to the Scottish Government via the Corra Foundation for funding to continue our work with veterans in Scotland over the next 4 years. We will know the outcome in late July. Scotland is really leading the way forward with respect to how, when and where veterans need addiction support.
Location change for meeting held in Kintore. This meeting can now be found in Kemnay
New SMART Recovery Meeting in Fraserburgh
New SMART Recovery Meeting in Macduff
New SMART Recovery Meeting in Pembroke Dock
New SMART Recovery Meeting in Perth
New Family and Friends Meeting in Perth
New Family and Friends Meeting in London