A charity that wants to help people impacted by drug use has been handed a cash grant of £100,000 to get started.
The Scheme Livi, founded by Aidan Martin and Mark Deans, have been awarded the funding from Corra Foundation,
The cash from Corra’s Local Support Fund will be used to deliver creative group workshops for those affected by drugs and the issues that accompany addiction.
Aidan and Mark grew up together in Ladywell, Livingston and both identify with the issue, having lived through the experiences themselves.
They combined their creative passions when Mark designed the front cover for Aidan’s memoir ‘Euphoric Recall’.
Since that moment, with Scotland experiencing a drugs-related-deaths crisis, they knew that creativity was a powerful tool missing from their community.
It was then they decided to form a charity using creativity as an alternative source of support.
They will be delivering weekly creative workshops and drop-in sessions at West Lothian College from next month, along with outreach and partnership work.
Aidan said: “There is a drugs-related-death crisis in Scotland, and we just want to focus on doing our part in tackling this issue and all the intertwining variables.
“Creative group workshops will be available to people residing in West Lothian impacted by drug use and all other variables such as mental health, trauma, social deprivation/isolation.
“The funding is for two years - £50,000 per year - and will be used for staffing so that we can run full time.
“We go full time from March 15 with workshops starting in April. “Mark and I will be delivering weekly creative workshops at West Lothian College.
“We’ll offer activities such as painting, writing and more. These will be completely free of charge and always will be.
“We will also be hosting weekly drop-ins at West Lothian College giving folk a safe place to drop in for a cuppa and a chat.
And we will be offering outreach of creative workshops into places such as HMP Addiewell and more.
“Partnership work will be key to our plans and so we will be working in collaboration with a wide scope of other local organisations as well.”
Aidan continued: “Our goal is to be a key player in our community for decades to come, to tackle these social issues and then be a long-term community anchor in the prevention of these issues, all using creative activities.
"Above all else we want to provide people with a safe space for connection and creativity.
“We want people to know they are not alone. That we hear them and are there for them.”
Since 1985 the Edinburgh-based Corra Foundation has distributed almost £193 million and made nearly 16,000 grants to help improve the lives of individuals and communities experiencing disadvantage all across Scotland and in countries around the world.
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