Tom Woodcock, Director of Partnerships and Collaboration at The Calico Group, attended the Creative Waves event at HOME in Manchester. Reflecting on the evening, Tom shares his thoughts on the importance of lived experience and creativity in recovery…
The Calico Group’s Creative Waves event earlier this month was a finely curated burst of music, story-telling, and imaginative thinking about mental wellbeing, substance misuse, and recovery.
Like all powerful works of art, the various films, recitals, and readings had the authenticity of personal experience and channelled passion and energy into a compelling and thought-provoking set.
It was a collaborative event with contributions from a wide range of people and, whilst there were shared experiences and recurring themes around poor mental health, addiction, and personal chaos, there was also a consistent theme about recovery and a sense of optimism and hope.
A large proportion of the creative contributors have been, or still are, involved with Acorn Recovery Projects which was established in Stockport in 1997.
Acorn is built around lived experience and our managers, counsellors, support workers and volunteers are role models for people using services. For the last decade, Acorn has been part of the Calico Group and provides a range of residential rehab, supported housing, and community services in partnership with numerous treatment providers and commissioners in the region.
Acorn is the longest established Lived Experience Recovery Organisation (LERO) in Greater Manchester and has been a constant resource in the local recovery communities for over two decades.
The recent surge of interest in lived experience is a great development for the substance misuse sector but in the rush to define, categorise, and classify LEROs, long-established models, like Acorn’s, should not be overlooked.
This event showed in compelling ways how organisations like Acorn can nurture creative art drawn from the wisdom of lived experience.
Want to learn more about the Creative Waves event? Watch it here.
