Hamilton Accies Football Club this week launched their brand new book aimed at helping people in the depths of addiction find recovery.
Working in conjunction with Blameless the children's charity, the Scottish Recovery Consortium, My Support Day and the Blue Triangle, 'There is Always Hope - real life stories of recovery' has been carefully put together by Accies director Colin McGowan who has had 10,000 copies printed off ready for distribution.
And they will now be making their way to every prison in Scotland as a means of help and support for those caught up in the grips of addiction, but also to those in the system who may be able to act as a help to others, before also being distributed across the country to anyone affected by addiction.
Coincidentally, the book was launched on National Overdose Awareness Day - August 31 - at New Douglas Park stadium where dozens of people joined hands on the centre circle of the football pitch and held a minute's silence to remember the 1,330 people in Scotland who lost their lives to drugs this year.
Those in attendance on the day included the Accies first team, head coach John Rankin, Jardine Simpson of the Scottish Recovery Consortium, Iain Macfarlane from the Blue Triangle, Lanarkshire's deputy Lord Lieutenant John Brown, Accies Youth Academy director George Cairns, ex-Celtic star Frank McAvennie and former professional footballer Colin McNair, a recovering drug addict himself.
Others to join in on the centre circle and at the book launch included several people in recovery who feature their stories heavily within the book and tell how they overcame their problems to where they are in life now.
An emotional Colin McGowan, who celebrated his 40th year in recovery last month, stressed there was blood, sweat and tears put into the book by a whole team of people who are working tirelessly to ease the drug culture that exists within Scotland and who hope to create a complete pathway to recovery.
He told Lanarkshire Live : "We are here because of what is happening in our country and communities with drugs.
"The new numbers for 2022 are 1245 dead through alcohol, 1330 dead through drugs, 753 suicides - that's 64 people a week - nine a day - we are losing someone every two and a half hours and whatever we are doing we are not getting it right!
"We can make a difference with this book - a real difference thanks to the people who are supporting us and who can take this out to their communities and share other people's stories - real, lived stories of people who suffered at the hands of addiction.
"And the stories inside our book, “There is Always Hope”, God willing, will help guide people into the various 12-step recovery programmes that are signposted throughout and we hope that the first 10,000 books, somehow become 10,000 seeds that can help change or even save someone’s life."
The book is also in the process of being made into a live app for mobile phones and tablets where at the click of a button people will have 24-hour access to the 12-steps of recovery helplines as well as the stories, pictures and positive anecdotes contained within the 164 page 'There is Always Hope' book.
For a copy of the book please pop into Hamilton Accies stadium, Cadzow Ave, Hamilton, ML3 0FT or call the club on 01698 368 650 or check out the club's website.
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