SMART project
Alcohol Concern's SMART Recovery project was a two year project that established and developed new peer support groups based on the SMART Recovery model throughout England. The project concluded in March 2010.
Alcohol Concern's SMART Recovery project was a two-year project that aimed to increase access to SMART Recovery peer-support groups for people seeking help for problems with alcohol.
The project delivered SMART facilitator training to service users of six services in England. The project aimed to increase access to SMART Recovery peer-support groups in six areas of England. Working with SMART Recovery and six services the project delivered training to 63 service users and approximately 30 staff working in the six areas.
The services involved in the pilot were:
- Aquarius, Birmingham
- NORCAS, Norwich
- South London YMCA, Croydon
- Turning Point, Gateshead
- ADS, Cumbria
- Sheffield Alcohol Advisory Service
The SMART Recovery project was managed by Alcohol Concern, funded by the Department of Health and overseen by a Steering Committee. The chair of the Steering Committee was Professor Nick Heather. Also on the Steering Committee were Fraser Ross, formerly SMART Recovery UK, Daniel Davidson, and Kevin Malthouse SMART facilitators in the North West of England, a Department of Health representative, and Nicolay Sorensen, Director of Policy and Communications at Alcohol Concern. The project has been evaluated by Professor Susanne MacGregor. The evaluation report will be available to download in Summer 2010.
Lessons and successes from the project were shared at a conference in March 2010. Further information on the conference can be found here. A manual was developed based on findings from the project - providing guidance to alcohol services and others working with alcohol misusing clients about how they can help the establishment and development of SMART Recovery groups in their area. The manual is based on learning from the Alcohol Concern SMART Recovery project and includes a description of how the project developed, along with discussion on what worked well in the project and what worked less well. Download a copy of 'Developing Choice in Peer Support: How alcohol services can support SMART Recovery'.