Addicts share how Red Rose Recovery saved their life as the Preston based charity wins national award

30-year-old Simon Griffiths and 38-year-old TJ French came to Red Rose Recovery in February 2020 and February 2023 respectively, after both suffering from multiple substance addictions.

Simon, from Chorley, first attended Red Rose meetings after he was arrested for drug supplying offences, and he volunteered for numerous charity events over several months before beginning his sentence in September 2021.

Explaining how the charity became his lifeline, Simon said: “I think I would have been remanded sooner if Red Rose hadn’t given me the confidence to do things in the community, and the volunteering knocked my sentence back a bit. When I was in prison, Red Rose helped me a lot with safeguarding issues, and they helped my mum with stuff too, so I give as much as I can back to them because I owe them a lot.

“When I came out of prison, I went straight back to them and the rest is history, I've even done my life story at the Lancashire User Forum. Stability has been a massive thing for me since coming out of jail, and Red Rose has been a massive part of that. If it wasn't for Red Rose, I don't know where I'd be, I'd probably still be using if I'm honest and I would be in a revolving door for prison, so it was vital that I got back involved. If it weren't for Red Rose intervening, I'd either be in a box or in prison.”

The charity was last week recognised for its work supporting the physical and mental health needs of people affected by substance abuse throughout Lancashire and Cumbria.

Out of over 400 charities, Red Rose Recovery was chosen as one of the 10 winners of the 2023 GSK IMPACT Awards, delivered in partnership with health and care charity The King’s Fund. The winners receive £40,000 in funding as well as support and leadership development from The King’s Fund. 

The judges were particularly struck by RRR’s pioneering, ‘peer-led’ approach to sharing the experiences of people in recovery to inspire others, and to improve recovery services. 90% of the charity’s staff and most of its volunteers have personal experience of addiction, mental health issues, homelessness or trauma.

Indeed, Simon is undertaking training to improve the support he can provide to other service users, whilst TJ, a new service user himself, already knows he wants to give it back.

TJ, who has struggled with addiction and been in and out of jail for the past 20 years, said: “There's a lot of benefits that I get from Red Rose, I connect with people, feel part of a bigger group, and it’s helped with my addiction massively, it’s given me stability and structure for the day.

“I’ve been here for 7 weeks now and had a lot of support, I want to give it back to other people. I’m a volunteer for them, and I’ll be doing more training to become a lead volunteer so I can give back to people that way, become a mentor. A year ago I wouldn't think I’d be sat here talking about volunteering and looking forward to the future-they’re just an amazing charity.”

The Team Leader for Red Rose Recovery in Central Lancashire, himself a former convict who started off as a service user in 2018 before climbing up the volunteering ranks, said: “We need to get humble and have a massive gratitude for these volunteers and service users because without them, Red Rose Recovery would be limited, and the lived experience that these guys hold, it’s priceless, they can come in and speak to somebody who's sitting there with complexities to the roof and deal with them within 10 minutes.

"If you were to take them out of recovery and put them back into their reality, they’ve got fantastic communication skills, confidence, problem solving skills and we ask them to use those skills in a positive way, and the outcomes are phenomenal. So I would justlike to say a massive thank you to all the people who are involved in recovery, especially the volunteers that come through and give their time to help others where they've been.”

Red Rose Recovery (RRR) was created with the support of Lancashire County Council in 2012 by a small group of individuals who were affected by addiction but felt they had no say in how local recovery services were run. Since then, the reach and range of activities offered by the charity has grown dramatically, with 5,163 people supported by its services in the year ending March 2022.

Each week the charity runs 50 different groups across Lancashire and online, including sports and art activities, walking groups and training on public speaking. RRR also runs ‘Puzzled Productions’, a weekly soap opera written by and starring staff and service users, and offers an accredited leadership programme, with some of those who complete it going on to receive paid work with the charity as Peer Support Workers.

The GSK IMPACT Awards, now in their 26th year, are a mark of excellence in the charity sector, designed to recognise the outstanding work of small and medium-sized charities working to improve people’s health and wellbeing in the UK.

Michael Wearden, Managing Director of Red Rose Recovery Lancashire, said: “We’re all extremely proud and honored to receive this award. It’s been an incredibly challenging few years for the majority of our society, not the least those already facing significant disadvantage. The award goes a long way in celebrating and recognising the unwavering efforts of our amazing team of staff and volunteers. Each and every day they go above and beyond to ensure that those most in need within our communities continue to receive support.

“Most importantly however, the award helps us to highlight the pressing and growing need for alternative pathways of support for people facing multiple disadvantage and how we must involve people with lived experience more in developing, shaping and delivering services.”