RESOURCES
A SURE start
The new SURE Recovery app is a
vital resource powered by the lived
experience of its users, say Ed Day,
Jo Neale, Alice Bowen and Paul Lennon
One of the key
tasks of the
national recovery
champion role is
to bring people
together within
the addictions field to tackle a
common goal – overcoming the
pain and misery that addiction can
bring. People with lived experience
of addiction have a crucial part to
play in recovery-oriented systems of
care, and it is important that their
voice is heard when policy is being
developed. This is particularly so as
the country adjusts to the changes
imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic,
and as the next phase of Dame Carol
Black’s review of drug treatment
services begins (news, page 5).
The SURE Recovery app offers
a new mechanism for supplying
anonymised feedback on important
topics relevant to the development
of good quality treatment services.
Each month users of the app will
be invited to respond to a key
question that will be developed by
the recovery champion working
with the app development team,
which includes researchers from
King’s College London and people
with lived experience of addiction.
Researchers from the app team will
analyse the data from those who
consent and share the anonymised
findings with key policy makers,
including Public Health England
and NHS England. The sharing of
anonymised data is completely
optional, and people can use
the app without answering any
research questions.
SURE Recovery is available to
download for free from Google
Play and the App Store. The work
to produce SURE Recovery was
undertaken in collaboration with
people using alcohol or other drugs,
in treatment and in recovery. It was
also supported by an addiction
service user research group linked
to a London-based peer mentoring
service called the Aurora Project.
A wide range of other people
were also involved in developing
SURE Recovery, including addiction
Not everyone has
a smartphone or
tablet computer,
but there is
evidence that
people who
use substances
increasingly have
good access to
mobile technology.
clinicians, Create Recovery (a small
arts charity that supports people
with experience of addiction
issues to develop their creativity)
and Mindwave Ventures (an
app developer that focuses on
user-centred digital design). The
work was generously funded
from various sources, including
Action on Addiction, the Alexander
6 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • JULY/AUGUST 2020
WWW.DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS.COM