12 | Acquisition International, Non-Profit Organisation Awards 2024 Addiction Recovery Training Charity of the Year 2024 - UK Dr Charlie Orton asserts that addiction is the most stigmatised thing in society today, more so than any mental health condition or disease. This is why she serves in a chief executive position at UK SMART Recovery. It is a National charity that supports people overcoming any form of addiction through an empowering, evidence-based programme consisting of cognitive behavioural therapy, rational emotive behaviour, and motivational interviewing tools and techniques. Offering people a choice in their recovery pathway, this recovery programme is for people aged 13 and above, either as a whole or as part of a brief intervention, this addiction charity’s commitment is unwavering. Contact: Dr Charlie Orton Company: UK SMART Recovery Web Address: https://smartrecovery.org.uk/ Utilising SMART Recovery’s Four-Point Programme, which helps people to build and maintain motivation; cope with urges and cravings; manage thoughts, behaviours, and feelings; and in turn live a balanced life. UK SMART Recovery is a not-for-profit business and provides its services via a number of different routes. These include the likes of the NHS’ addiction services, other charities, residential facilities, and prisons, as well as the charity’s own team and volunteers, who hold group sessions for members of the community. SMART Recovery can provide business owners with an affordable readymade solution that includes training for line managers and HR personnel and a confidential pathway for employees whose lives have become unbalanced. It is estimated that in the UK some 5000 people access this programme every week, and more than 650 people a year become facilitators to deliver it. Facilitators are a mixture of mental health, addiction, and psychiatry professionals and fellow peers, the 13 employed staff, 140 volunteers, and 300 additional partner volunteers comprising this operation undertake a phenomenal amount of work. This is not to mention our tailored programmes for Family and Friends and Veterans, which have their own additional training modules. These numbers may seem impressive, but this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the charity seeking to help people right across the UK. The harsh truth is most people will either face addiction in their lifetime or know someone that will, but the taboo nature of the subject makes it difficult for this nonprofit organisation to fundraise via donations or to receive philanthropy in the same way that regular charities do. To survive, UK SMART Recovery is reliant on services and businesses commissioning its programmes, so that it can offer them for free at the point of care. In a society currently struggling with the cost of living, the charity has been forced to diversify its income streams, and so has started to create tailored partnerships. By building bespoke packages and tailoring its programmes to the needs of veterans and the LGBTQIA+ community alike, the team here are refusing to remain static, as they know that continually addressing the needs of society is how a charity like this will grow. By keeping costs low, branching out, and pushing forwards, UK SMART Recovery can operate within tight margins and achieve financial stability. Doubling down on both its need to expand and pledge to aid those in need, UK SMART Recovery helps business owners to support their employees by recognising the importance of living a balanced life. Whilst this may not directly link to addiction, these confidential and anonymous solutions emphasise the importance of making good decisions and the consequences of bad ones, such as maintaining a good work-life balance and avoiding the work hard, play hard lifestyle that is often romanticised across media. Working remotely in their respective areas, the team here support each other when the going gets tough, with this lending itself to a culture of trust and respect that runs throughout this non-profit organisation. Everybody on the trustee board is a dedicated volunteer, and the same enthusiasm for work is sought out when it comes to all of its people. They must all have a balanced life and live by their own hierarchy of values. In addition to the team, UK SMART Recovery also has its own ambassador, DJ Brandon Block, who has faced his own well-publicised struggles with substance abuse. Turning his life around with help from the programme, Brandon has been a SMART facilitator since 2005. They are now seeking an additional ambassador for the brand, a patron or philanthropist passionate about the cause who wants to help it grow, so that it may help as many people, as well as their family and friends, access free, self-help and/or mutual aid support. As we name UK SMART Recovery as the Addiction Recovery Training Charity of the Year 2024 – UK, we implore anybody who may wish to contribute to this remarkable cause to visit the link here to find out more about how to do so, and support this terrific nonprofit organisation in achieving its selfless goal. If you are a business owner interesting in hearing more about how SMART Recovery can support your staff wellbeing strategy, please do get in touch.
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