Maidstone Pride Event
On 22nd June, Change Grow Live staff and volunteers joined many others in celebrating Maidstone’s first Pride event.
It was fabulous to be a part of the family friendly event, to increase visibility for the LGBTQ+ community.
There was a lively, welcoming atmosphere full of joy, music and colour that bought smiles to the faces of all who attended.
We can’t wait for Pride 2025!
You can find out more, see photos of this year’s event, or get involved with Maidstone’s 2025 Pride event, on their website by following the link below:
Intro to our newest team member – Bonnie!
My name is Bonnie and I’m the Inclusion and Service User Involvement Coordinator for West Kent. I was previously an Alcohol Recovery Coordinator and have now returned to Change Grow Live after taking some time out to home educate one of my children.
My background is working with and advocating for parents who have disabled children, and I have a special interest in neurodiversity.
I was excited to take on this new role and am passionate about inclusion. Part of my role is to identify barriers that stand in the way of treatment while building relationships with communities who are underrepresented within Change Grow Live. I work with people who use our service to ensure that their voice is heard and runs through everything we do.
I love listening to everyone’s personal experiences, of treatment and recovery, and we are using those experiences to continually improve our offer and tailor our service for specific groups.
I love working across all of our sites and you will often find me chatting with people who are waiting for their appointments, asking them to complete surveys, preparing for a focus group or popping into the structured groups to promote events that I’m running. I’m so lucky to have such a varied role and I have so many plans that I can’t wait to share with you all over the coming months.
A lived experience recovery organisation (LERO) is led by people with lived experience of drug and alcohol recovery.
LEROs deliver a range of harm reduction guidance, peer support and recovery support services, and they can help people access and engage in treatment and other services.
Change Grow Live clients, staff and volunteers attended LERO events this year in Ashford and Maidstone and have been excited to see and hear the positive impact the LERO has had within the recovery community.
A Change Grow Live client won the Artwork competition with their thought-provoking piece of work themed on addiction and recovery. You can see the winning entry displayed in our photos.
The LERO known as ROAR (Reach Out And Recover) has been active in East Kent for some time, and we are excited that ROAR is looking to spread their support to West Kent. We would encourage people with lived experience to get involved and volunteer. Peer support is an amazing way to support recovery in all its forms.
Volunteers’ week & Hever Castle
Our volunteers are an integral part of what goes on in our services and each year we take time to celebrate those that give their time for free, to support people striving in recovery.
This year we celebrated our volunteers with a day out at the beautiful Hever Castle. We wandered the castle which is steeped in history and meandered the Italian gardens, which are breath-taking.
We had lunch in the garden café followed by a team quiz which was great fun. I have now handed the batten of quiz master over to volunteer Richard.
Volunteer Keith again, captured the day perfectly with his amazing photography. Enjoy some of the photos he captured below!
