Stirling once again played host to the ‘Recovery Olympics’ on Friday - with groups from all over Scotland coming together for a day of fun and friendship.
This year’s event at Forthbank Stadium saw hundreds of people from various recovery communities and organisations involved in helping people with their journey out of drug and alcohol addiction take part in a competitive programme of games.
It’s the sixth time that the Forth Valley Recovery Community has hosted the event, with this being the first ‘national’ Recovery Olympics since the event’s inception.
The 2022 version also marked a return to sights and surrounds of Forthbank after Covid forced last year’s event into a much smaller affair at the Mayfield Centre in St Ninians.
The traditional variety of games including the egg and spoon race, sack race and sprints took place - with groups from North Lanarkshire, the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway among those competing.
The Observer spent the afternoon speaking to some of those taking part on the day.
Scott Ferguson from Stirling now works for Forth Valley Recovery Community (FVRC) as a recovery development worker after first coming to the group six years ago. He said: “I got involved when I was still on prescription medication and things were still a bit chaotic in my life and I was living in homeless accommodation in Stirling.
“The first Recovery Olympics was actually my very first event that I went to with my son and I saw guys and girls from my past that I knew and from that, I started going to one of the cafes in Raploch on a Friday afternoon.
“It’s just been a progression from there and it still is because recovery is a process of constant change.
“After 20 years of active addiction, I wasn’t really living my life and I was just smothering every emotion and feeling with a substance, so I didn’t really know how to live or even what I liked and that was all learning for me in recovery.
“I was asked to become a volunteer after about a year with FVRC and then I was asked to be involved in peer support, going into hospitals and units and speak to people in there who have been admitted due to their substance abuse.
“Seeing people in the same position you were in recover and help others in that position is what makes this job worthwhile and 90 per cent of the staff have lived experience which is so important.”
Kenny Gilchrist from Alloa was another of those taking part; he has been involved with FVRC for just over a year after living with alcohol and drug problems since childhood.
Kenny said: “I got signposted to the group through my psychologist and started going to the cafes in the Mayfield Centre regularly with my peer support worker.
“I knew I needed to change my life because physically I was done; I was asking for help and I managed to get that help.
“I was a shell of a man and was just full of anxiety but the community has just changed me and I now volunteer and do a few courses.
“I like the sporting activities and outdoor stuff but I just like everything about the community to be honest.”
This year’s event was attended for the first time by the Drugs Policy Minister Angela Constance, who hailed the role of voluntary organisations such as FVRC in helping tackle Scotland’s drug deaths crisis.
Ms Constance said: “The important things about events like this and organisations like FVRC is the visibility they give to recovery and to the fact that with the right support, people can actually recover from addiction.
“The message of hope is really important because we need to remember that drug deaths are preventable and people do get better so tackling that stigma around drug and alcohol problems is a key point.”
The event’s organiser Christina Feaks from Recovery Scotland said: “I’m so pleased to see the turnout of different recovery groups and other partners here today.
“It’s a great event for people to bring along their family and friends because celebrating that unit is important and people don’t just go through addiction on their own.
“We’re looking to make recovery as visible as possible and show there is hope and an option for them out there in whatever area they live.
“We’re hoping this will be the biggest year we’ve had and we’re trying to make it bigger and better every year.
“Some people think it’s physical activity and really challenging, but you can see it’s just about having a laugh and a carry on in the sunshine while being part of a team and a community.”
