Grants awarded to help combat drug and alcohol dependency

Grants totalling £184,000 have been awarded by Derbyshire County Council to five organisations that will provide alcohol and drug recovery support projects. 

The Recovery from Alcohol and Drug Dependence Grants programme was set up in 2015 to fund projects that provide recovery activities across Derbyshire. Organisations which apply for the funding must demonstrate how the project would help Derbyshire residents throughout treatment and into long-term recovery. This could be things like, improving their physical and mental health, providing purposeful activity and building their confidence and self-esteem. 

Grants of up to £40,000 were available for recovery projects to be delivered in 2022 and 2023.  

Those successful were: 

• Derbyshire Alcohol Advice Service (DAAS) – Stand to Project. Awarded £38,951. The Veterans' Positive Pathways will provide support to ex-armed forces veterans across the whole of Derbyshire who have experienced mental health and substance misuse. Individuals who attend the project will engage in meaningful activities to support their continuing recovery.
   
• Padley Group. Awarded £38,303. Padley Kitchen Derbyshire will offer cookery classes across four different localities in Ripley, Chesterfield, Ilkeston and Swadlincote. The sessions support substance misuse clients to learn how to cook, prepare meals and to build new positive social connections.
   
• The Brook Community Church and Centre. Awarded £38,520. Recovery Plus will offer recovery support groups, one to one sessions and peer support sessions for people in recovery as part of a wider offer to help people with complex needs from their base in Shirebrook.
   
• Helping Hooves Derbyshire CIC. Awarded £39,470. Carrot Club Wild will offer a range of outdoor activities, including equine coaching, animal welfare, gardening, allotment development, orienteering sessions and bee keeping, to support substance misuse clients in recovery across the whole of Derbyshire. This will increase social connections, improve mental health and increase confidence.
   
• Go Wild in Wirksworth CIC. Awarded £28,960. The Countryside Kitchen, based in Wirksworth, will provide substance misuse clients from across Derbyshire with skills to prepare, cook and serve meals in an outdoor environment, including setting up their own workspace inside a marquee to increase social connections, improve diet, and increase self-esteem and self-worth.

Derbyshire County Council Cabinet Member for Health and Communities, Councillor Carol Hart said: “There is clear evidence that people with alcohol and drug dependence are much more likely to recover if they can get a range of support alongside their treatment. This can be help with employment, accommodation, relationships and improving diets for example.  The five organisations that we are supporting with grants are going to provide this sort of support by helping people to recover and thrive in their local communities.”

To be eligible, projects must be for at least two years duration with the county council funding the first year. 

Applications to the Recovery from Alcohol and Drug Dependence Grant Fund will open again in August 2022 for organisations looking to start delivering a Recovery Project in Derbyshire from April 2023.  Find out more Recovery from alcohol and drug dependence grant – Derbyshire County Council.