Inclusive Recovery Cities and the implications for probation practice
In our October 2024 Academic Insights paper, David Best , Shelley Duffy and Charlotte Colman introduce the Inclusive Recovery Cities model which has been introduced in locations across the UK and the rest of Europe. Accessing community resources and social support for recovery, and maximising the role of lived experience, is at the heart of the model, bridging across and mobilising existing networks and services, and linking previously unconnected individuals and groups. This not only benefits those in recovery through creating opportunities for more sustainable integration, but also the wider community through improving its cohesion and connectedness.
Importantly, it is not an addiction (or mental health) specific model and applies to other marginalised groups including people desisting from crime. The inclusive part of the model is about reducing stigma, exclusion and marginalisation by creating events and activities that are both visible and accessible, and that benefit the whole community through improvements in overall wellbeing, health and safety. It is an approach that helps to ensure that recovery and desistance are not seen simply as isolated and individual events but as collective efforts that benefit everyone.
"By building IRCs, visible recovery is promoted and celebrated throughout entire communities. The social contagion of the model results in widespread hope and a community of understanding and support, whilst also highlighting the benefits to the community of being inclusive of recovery"
The Academic Insights paper can be accessed here:
Director at Get The Data, helping organizations demonstrate their social impact definitively
2moA very interesting model that harnesses community resources and lived experience, rather than the hollow idea of "care in the community". I am interested to see its application to other populations, such as young offenders within a desistence model.