Conference
Tuesday 9 March 2010, London
This end of project conference, Chaired by Professor Nick Heather, who also Chaired the project steering group, was an opportunity to share lessons and successes of the SMART Recovery project and discuss how services can best aid the development of this form of peer-support . The conference also saw the launch of a manual which provided practical advice about how services can help set up of SMART Recovery in their area.
Download a copy of the SMART manual 'Developing choice in peer-support: How alcohol services can support SMART Recovery'
Professor Nick Heather opened the conference with an introduction to the Alcohol Concern SMART Recovery Project.
Dr Joe Gerstein, founding president of SMART Recovery USA presented on the founding of SMART Recovery in USA in 1994. He also talked about the principles and techniques of the programme and the content of a SMART meeting.
Fraser Ross who trained the service users and professionals at the project pilto sites, then spoke about his experiences of being involved in SMART Recovery.
Nicola Smith and Carl Cundall from Sheffield Alcohol Advisory Service (SAAS) jointly presented their experiences of introducing SMART Recovery meetings at SAAS. David Ford then spoke about his experiences in setting up SMART meetings at South London YMCA.
After lunch delegates broke off into different workshops. Dan Davidson and Kevin Malthouse, SMART Recovery facilitators in Manchester and members of the Alcohol Concern SMART recovery project steering committee each led a workshop on the principles, tools and techniques of SMART Recovery.
Nicola and Carl from SAAS led a workshop on how to develop and establish SMART meetings.
The afternoon session started with a presentation from Professor Susanne MacGregor who delivered interim findings from the project evaluation. Don Lavoie from the Alcohol Policy Team at Department of Health and a member of the Alcohol Concern Steering Committee talked about the direction of alcohol policy. David McCue, trustee of SMART Recovery UK presented on his vision of the future of SMART Recovery UK. Kevin Malthouse then talked about his experiences of being involved in SMART.
Download:
- Dr Joe Gerstein's presentation: A history, an academic perspective, and an overview of the SMART Recovery® program (pdf)
- Fraser Ross's presentation (pdf)
- Nicola Smith and Carl Cundall's presentation: SMART Recovery at Sheffield Alcohol Advisory Service (SAAS) (pdf)
- David Ford's presentation (pdf)
- Professor Susanne MacGregor's presentation: SMART Recovery Pilot Project - Preliminary Findings from an Independent Evaluation (pdf)
- Don Lavoie's presentation: The Direction of Alcohol Policy (pdf)
- David McCue's presentation: The future of SMART Recovery UK (pdf)
- Notes from the workshops (pdf)