be welcomed, recognised, and supported in their continued
and their education and the hope is that this will act as a
recovery across the UK will arrive at the university uh and
programmes and hopefully that will mean that students in
for them uh and support them in their growth in their recovery
program, something that is a well-established and very
forward to introducing a new cohort of students in recovery
place, a space, and a community on campus where recovering people
out in the community. So we're up and running now at the
follow suit and create their own collegiate recovery
didn't really feel like talking about that with anyone. It
had this chance encounter on campus to which he was quite
University of Birmingham and really excited and looking
coffee and Ed introduced me to the idea of collegiate recovery
administration of welfare because recovery is not
kind of template for other universities in the UK to uh to
and all those good things that help me in my recovery
support for one another in order to celebrate their
and I kind of dropped off dropped off the radar entirely
recovery in order to celebrate their education and in order to
into Dr Edward Day who is who is the program director
have themselves recognised and and be able to have groups and
successful phenomena in the United States and as you can
so that they can co-produce a programme that will really work
that there was some hope that there was some precedence for a
could could get together in in the spirit of of mutual aid and
in terms of services and things like that. So, Ed and I had a
imagine, I was absolutely delighted to hear
wasn't until the second year into my study that I bumped
surprised to see me though I think because the last time he
homeless and I've previously been a drug addict. Um there's
really wanna discuss and that was definitely the case for me.
a lot of self stigma involved there. So, you know, quite
recovery can feel as if it's not something that they
studying my MSC in mental health currently in my fourth
had seen me I probably wasn't in the best of states
architecture. I was also, I felt quite isolated. I felt
of this the service and he is someone who is very
students, tutors, anyone really that I 'd previously been
year of study at the University of Birmingham. So I have real
well respected, an addiction psychiatrist and researcher
those those kind of red bricks and the lovely
something which has really taken off in the UK in the same
someone that I knew from from from my past and Ed and I
quite a shameful feelings around my past and and I
Birmingham. I am also a student in recovery and I am
previously been homeless. You know, really about as far down
at the University of Birmingham, I had just
recognised. It hadn't really been picked up on and that's no
like my identity as someone in recovery hadn't really been
the collegiate recovery program here at the University of
I didn't really feel like explaining to people, my fellow
way that it has in say the United States. So, people in
discredit particularly to the people in the
very different from what I was used to previously. So, with
as you can imagine, was quite a dizzying experience and and uh
recovery. So when I started my journey into higher education
all the kind of grandeur of the beautiful university buildings,
life experience of what it's like to be a student in as I could go with addiction.o, the the journey to find
Hello my name is Luke Trainor and I am the program manager of
myself at an institution like the University of Birmingham,
journey through recovery and education.