In 2024, Healthwatch Cumberland began a project to raise awareness of addiction and recovery through personal stories. It focused on the person behind the addictive behaviour, with the hope to remove any hint of prejudice and to instead encourage understanding.

By sharing these stories and working with the main addiction recovery services in Cumbria, Healthwatch Cumberland aim to improve provision and reduce the barriers people face when accessing support. This can only happen when we have the voice of lived experience at the heart of developing local services.

We were invited to a community event in Carlisle city centre promoting recovery services and offering wellbeing advice, and the report has been shared through Healthwatch Cumberland events.

The Well community members were grateful to be given the chance to share our personal stories and be part of this project. You can read the full report by clicking the image below, or by going to https://bit.ly/40l7PWB