Academics from the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice are spearheading two events as part of Social Justice Week, which will build on research published last year that highlighted the importance of volunteering and community-led support in maintaining recovery journeys.
Recovery and drug legalisation, taking place at Collegiate Hall on Monday 9 March, features a number of leading figures in the addiction and recovery community including Professor of Criminology David Best, Superintendent Jayne Forrest from South Yorkshire Police and Fiona Gilbertson, co-founder of Recovering Justice, a charitable organisation set up by people in long term recovery from substance use.
Joining them are Danny Kushlick and Jane Slater from Transform Drug Policy Foundation, Suzanne Sharkey from Recovering Justice and Ian Sherwood, a member of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.
The following day’s Desistance and Recovery event at Sheffield Workstation will showcase some of the research being carried out at Hallam in conjunction with Sheffield Addiction Recovery Research Group (SARRG). The two events follow research published by the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice last year that suggested those recovering from drug and alcohol addiction were using social media and mobile phone apps successfully to combat and maintain their recovery.
The research also demonstrated the impact of recovery on families, health and finances from a sustained and successful recovery from addiction with 79.4 per cent of participants reported that they have volunteered in community or civic groups since the start of their recovery journeys.
For more information on Social Justice Week visit the Hallam Events page.