A DRAMA therapy programme for people with drug and alcohol addiction in recovery is to be rolled out in Dumbarton.

Creative Change Collective, which brings together professionals from the creative industries to affect positive change was recently awarded £400,000 funding from the Scottish Government to expand their projects.

Formerly known as Street Cones, it uses film and theatre type activities to help participants on the charity’s programmes achieve more positive outcomes in their lives.

Most of the programme’s work since starting in 2014 has focussed on people in or at risk of entering the justice system.

This will allow the charity who run its Recovering Voices programme, which supports participants in residential and community alcohol and drug recovery programmes, to people in Dumbarton.

Recovering Voices is led by Creative Change Collective project director Mark MacNicol, who lost his younger brother Jason, 30, to a heroin overdose 15 years ago. 

He said: “Our sessions are designed to support people in their recovery through drama therapy activities – but the majority of our participants have no prior interest or experience in acting or writing.

“By expanding this programme, we hope to help more people to stay in recovery, potentially saving lives.

“I have been working with Creative Change Collective, formerly Street Cones, for a few years mostly in the justice space and have seen the brilliant results projects like this can have.

“Losing my brother Jason to addiction has been a big motivating factor for me.

“If there is one person helped as a result of this then there is a family out there who doesn’t have to go through what ours did.”

In October, participants of Recovering Voices in Glasgow performed on stage at Oran Mor to celebrate their achievements with family and friends.

Drugs Policy Minister Angela Constance attended the event and praised the organisation for making recovery “visible” and told how the project was “helping people discover their own recovery path”.

The project in Glasgow has been funded for three years by the Scottish Government through the Corra Foundation.

A previous participant in Recovering Voices described the sessions as the “highlight” of their week, while another said it had “definitely helped” their recovery.
The group will meet weekly on Tuesdays from 4.30pm-6.30pm at Ben View Resource Centre, and those in recovery in the community are encouraged to self-refer by contacting info@ccc.scot.