Pathways of Hope: Lived Experience of Drug + Alcohol Dependence, and Recovery

Scotland has the highest drug-related death rate in Europe, and reducing this requires wide-ranging changes.Having a workforce who are better-informed about substance dependence and recovery in all healthcare settings is an important step in improving outcomes while addressing the stigma people experience when approaching health services is another. Current teaching and training about substance dependence has little emphasis on community-based recovery groups and few opportunities to hear from those with lived experience, despite evidence of the positive impact this has on learners. Our research on ‘missingness’ in healthcare - the ‘repeated tendency not to take up offers of care that has a negative impact on the person and their life chances’ - shines a light on the scale and consequences of the impact of stigma. The research team pioneered a novel approach to address aspects of this via the Conversation Cafes and the co-creation of a Public Information Comic called ‘Pathways of Hope’.