Innovative employment programme sees lives transformed
A group of recovering addicts celebrated turning their lives around at a unique graduation ceremony held in Glasgow.
The 12 trainees from the Scottish Drugs Forum’s award-winning Addiction Worker Training Project (AWTP) celebrated their achievements at a completion ceremony at the Lighthouse in Glasgow yesterday (21st of March).
The project is designed to support, train and prepare individuals with a history of problematic drug or alcohol use to work in social care.
The trainees, 10 from Glasgow, one from Inverclyde and one from Renfrewshire, were presented with certificates by Alison Thewliss, MP for Glasgow Central.
Nine of the graduates so far have already moved into employment as a result of the project.
Since 2004, over 200 people have started the course, 90% have completed it and 85% continued into work, the majority to full-time jobs in the social care field.
Guest speakers at the event included Nicola, who graduated from the Addiction Worker Training Project in 2016.
She applied because she wanted to return to employment and was particularly interested in working in the social care field.
She said: “AWTP has been a life changing experience, it has given me the confidence and self-esteem I needed to begin a career.”
Nicola carried out two six-month placements with Addaction and the NHS Addiction Bentinck Centre, both in Kilmarnock, during her time in the programme. Upon graduating she started work as a direct access worker in Aspire.
“Life after addiction is hard. Giving up the drugs is the easy part, rebuilding my life was much more difficult,” she said. “Since graduating from the AWTP, employers now see me and not my past, they see my knowledge, training and skills and feel I would be an asset.
"The AWTP has given me my life back.”
SDF chief executive, David Liddell said: “Every year the graduation ceremony is the culmination of a long journey for trainees. It is a celebration of the hard work and dedication that has been put in by each and every one of you, and it is fitting that your family, friends and colleagues are here to experience the occasion with you.
“The high success rates of the AWTP have once again continued, and we must thank our partner organisations and funders for making these opportunities possible.
"All SDF staff and stakeholders wish today’s graduates all the very best in the future.”
Alison Thewliss, MP for Glasgow Central added: “The Scottish Drug Forum’s programme is an excellent example of how people can recover from a drug or alcohol problem given the right opportunities.”
