Outside of KRC, I’m usually found exploring Cornish beaches and spending time exploring my passion for rugby, whether its playing myself or watching local matches with the odd trip to Sandy park and Twickenham too! Im really passionate about women in sports and finding ways to connect with new people in the community.

I’ve worked in the substance use field for around 6 years, supporting people at all stages of recovery and all with different goals they’ve wanted to achieve. When making any type of change, its important to think about the reasons you want to make these changes, your end goal as well as smaller milestones and most importantly get the right help around you…. Journeys walked alone are often the hardest!

At the KRC, we are here to celebrate every milestone and help you along the journey to achieving your goals, even when we are taking one day at a time. Spending my time with people wanting to make changes and working hard at recovery is truly motivating, I’m sure we can all think of a time in our lives when we’ve wanted to make changes in our lives, but after a few days we are back to the old routine and feeling guilty! in my experience the change has stuck when I’m on the journey with other people, for example the early Sunday morning trips to the gym were always easier with my best friend and having a coffee in the sun afterwards!

Recovery month is a great way to celebrate the changes we’ve made but also what the new lease of life has given us. Ive spent time over the past few weeks discussing ‘what recovery means to me’, and this has opened my eyes to what an amazing group of people we have here in the KRC; the possibilities are really endless! From reconnecting with family, to travelling the world, each person has achieved a milestone which they never thought was possible, and came into our space ready to share this with the people of the recovery journey with them.

As well as celebration, recovery month also gives us a scope to start the conversations around real recovery journeys and the highs and lows that come with this. When we have a bump in the road its easy to give up, but I think the important message is we all have the ability to make real changes, no matter how big or small and we are worthy of something better, we just need hope and support. The road to recovery is rarely a straight path, but is the journey worth it? Absolutely!

During recovery month, we are holding a number of exciting events including music jamming sessions, drawing classes, launching our women’s recovery group, and our showstopper photography exhibition, where we are showcasing the talented work of our KRC members during our photography workshop. There has been so much hard work gone into planning these events (check out our what’s on page for more details to get involved!)

Whether we are in recovery from substance use, mental health struggles or adverse life events, the KRC welcomes you come on in and enjoy the fun! We are ready to walk your journey alongside you (with a good cup of coffee of course!)

Written by Chloe Drew