UK Recovery Federation Consultation 2010: Workshop Feedback

Consultation 2010: Workshop Feedback

The UK Recovery Federation (UKRF) Conference, held in Preston, Lancashire on the 7th of May, was attended by over 300 people with more than half of the attendees in Recovery or Recovering. Whilst there were presentations from a number of speakers (Mark Gilman from the NTA, Rowdy Yates from Stirling University, Tom Kirkwood from Trust the Process and Anne-Marie Ward from the UKRF) the main focus of the day was on grassroots participation and involvement.

Conference attendees were given the opportunity to express their views and thoughts on 15 key themes within Recovery (click here for the full workshop programme). 26 facilitators, drawn from the Recovery Community across the UK, ensured that 30 workshops (each workshop running twice) took place during the day.

All of the conference workshops were delivered from a strengths-basedperspective, i.e. looking at what we do well within Recovery and how we can develop our strengths and Recovery ‘Assets’.

Feedback from the day (and it was a wee bit frenetic!) has been overwhelmingly positive. We believe the day was a success because of the energy Recovery Community members brought to it and the ‘hope and optimism’ that shone through.

The conference marked the ‘launch’ of the UK Recovery Federation. However there is much work left to do. Specific Feedback from all the conference workshops will be posted on Wired In over the next few weeks and it is our hope that this will give those who were not able to attend the conference (and those who didn’t attend particular workshops) the opportunity to express their views and thoughts on the Recovery themes discussed.

As we engage in discussion and debate the UKRF will begin, over the summer, to pull together a UKRF ‘Recovery Manifesto’ which will outline theUKRF priority areas for development, key issues within the Recovery Movement and what the UKRF is going to do to address them.

We will have a 1st draft of the UKRF Recovery Manifesto ready for the UK Recovery Walk in Glasgow on the 25th of September. From September onwards the UKRF will be holding regional events around the
country (currently being organised – watch this space for further details) where we will consult further on our draft Manifesto and explore key Recovery issues within each region.

We hope that through taking this approach the final UKRF Recovery Manifesto will reflect the wide diversity of experience and thoughts and feelings that exist within the newly emerging British Recovery Movement and, as such, will be ‘owned’ by Recovery communities across the UK. The UKRFwill only be as strong as its membership and the Recovery Communities it intends to serve.

UKRF consultation 2010

Consultation 2010

As many of you will be aware the UK Recovery Federation have organised a conference in Preston on the 7th of May 2010. The title for the conference: Building Our Recovery Movement: Participating in Transformation, gives you more than a hint of the purpose!

We have around 300 participants from across the Recovery spectrum, although it is fair to say that the majority are from the North East and North West. Location, location as someone on TV says. If you watch the DVDOnce Upon A Time In The North West it is obvious that we will be able to draw out plenty of rich material to inform future developments.

However, we are aware that lots is going on (sometimes under the radar) all over the UK and we want, as much as is humanly possible, for this to feed into the debate.

So. Firstly the UKRF is going on the road and are planning on some (smaller!) events to enable people who can’t make it to Preston in May to have their say.

The first of these UKRF events will be in Glasgow on 2nd July 2010. This mini-conference will be coupled with a ‘next steps’ meeting and update on the UK Recovery Walk 2010 and we will let you know the details re venue etc. as soon as they are confirmed.

In terms of other regional consultation events we are throwing this open to you. A key facet of the UK Recovery Federation will be its regional and community focus and, while there will be back up and support from the core of the UKRF, much of the ‘work’ will take place within communities in the regions. We are particularly keen to identify host groups and venues in the Midlands and South of the UK. Northern Ireland would be great!

So if your community (however you choose do define it) can host and help organise a mini-conference please do get in touch onmichaela@wiredin.org.uk .

The second strand is ongoing consultation via Wired In and e-mail. Outcomes from each of the May conference workshops will be written up and circulated for feedback. This will be an ongoing process with new information being added and carried forward to each consultation. Like a snowball if you like. The result will be a UKRF Recovery Strategy.

When the Strategy is launched in September at the Recovery Walk in Glasgow, we will be able to demonstrate that it truly reflects what people at grass roots level believe is needed to establish and develop enhanced regional Recovery Capital and a British Recovery movement.

As an aside, but an important one, the UK Recovery Federation will placeAsset Based Community Development (ABCD) principles and practice at the heart of all its work. This approach will inform the workshops at the Preston conference and beyond.

The UK Recovery Federation