Wynford Ellis Owen, Chief Executive of the Cardiff-based charity, The Welsh Council for Alcohol and other Drugs, has been selected to receive a prestigious Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship to enable him to visit a number of new recovery community centres in the US. These centres stand out as they have achieved long-term recovery from severe alcohol and other drug related problems.
A network of such centres exist in Vermont, Connecticut and Philadelphia and visiting these centres will provide Wynford with ideas on how to better build a strong after-care culture into the services he is establishing as part of The Living Room Cardiff which hopes to open its doors in 2011.
The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust is the national memorial and living tribute to Sir Winston, who died in 1965. The Trust’s objectives are to encourage the advancement and propagation of education in any part of the world for the benefit of British citizens of all walks of life. The aim is such that this education will make its recipients more effective in their life and work, whilst benefiting themselves and their communities, and ultimately the UK as a whole. Each year approximately 100 Fellowships are awarded for wide range of projects.
Wynford Ellis Owen, said, “There have been some extraordinary success stories emanating from the US centres and if their successes can be replicated in Wales it would significantly relieve the huge social problems currently being experienced as a consequence of drug and alcohol misuse.
“Getting a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship is a fantastic boost for The Living Room project in Cardiff. My itinerary will expose me to a broad spectrum of recovery advocacy activities in the US including many of the faith-based programmes. I hope also to be able to work alongside William L White MA, a world renowned academic and expert in the field of substance misuse who has agreed to mentor me.
“The benefits obtained by this Fellowship would enable me to establish a recovery centre in Cardiff by 2011. I would then. In collaboration with others, hope to provide similar centres in every major town in Wales. This would establish sustained recoveries, free from cross-addiction. I will also be filming a video diary which I hope will be a permanent and valued resource to testify to the effectiveness of these innovative approaches.”
ENDS
For further information please contact Rhodri Ellis Owen at Cambrensis Communications on 029 20 257075 or rhodri@cambrensis.uk.com.
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