Maria Paulowna, Grand Duchess, consort of Karl Friedrich, Grand Duke of Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach, 1786-1859 1 RSS primarily support people to sustain their recovery in the community long term. These services help people to build on their strengths including the gains made in treatment if they have accessed it. This includes support to deepen their connection to recovery communities and wider community. Each of the overlapping parts of these circles provide a simple description of some of the main interventions that can be delivered by 2 or more of these service types. Where 2 circles intersect, we list the core interventions delivered by both services. When a person increases the amount of meaningful activity they take part in, this has been linked to an increase in their recovery capital and improved wellbeing (Cano and others, 2017). This meaningful activity includes:

a range of non-structured interventions that run alongside or after structured treatment and are designed to reinforce the gains made in structured treatment and improve the client’s quality of life in general. Recovery support can include mutual aid and peer support, practical help such as housing or employment support.Where people are currently affected by their own or a family member’s problem alcohol or drug use, we describe this as living experience. Where people and families are in recovery from problem alcohol or drug use, we describe this as lived experience. This is distinct from learned experience, which people can get through studying, practicing or exposure. People can, and typically do, have a mixture of both living or lived experience and learned experience. Supporting people in recovery Recovering from problem alcohol and drug use

Peer-delivered and peer-led interventions have been described and evaluated in a wide range of settings. This includes in: When someone has made the changes they want to their alcohol or drug use, and is in early recovery, recovery support services give more focus to further developing their recovery capital and recovery identity. This can: In this guidance, we describe any service and support which people with lived and living experience are involved in delivering or leading as lived experience initiatives. Where a treatment (or other service) provider employs peer workers or volunteers, we describe the services or support they offer as peer-delivered. We describe the services and support provided by a LERO as peer-led. Living experience and lived experience Also, the existing guidance focuses on peer support, self-help, community support networks and mutual aid for people in treatment and in early recovery. The focus of this guidance is on support for people who are at any stage of recovery, including people who have never accessed treatment. People’s experiences of problem alcohol and drug use and recovery are personal and complex, so people’s recovery journeys and definitions of recovery differ. Definitions of recovery have traditionally included abstinence as a necessary condition (Witkiewitz and others, 2020). Research and contemporary definitions identify 2 core aspects of recovery (Kelly and Hoeppner, 2014). These are:

Social networks that support recovery are seen as particularly important due to the ‘social contagion of hope’ (Best and Lubman, 2012) and the related idea that ‘recovery is contagious’ (Moos and Moos, 2007). Learning from other people in recovery and connecting with them is associated with improved recovery outcomes. Evidence suggests that adding just one abstinent person to the social network of someone in recovery from alcohol increases by 27% the likelihood that they will be abstinent in a year compared to standard aftercare (see definition of aftercare in the glossary) (Litt and others, 2007). These findings suggest that interventions that grow people’s social networks to support recovery can improve outcomes. Peer support groups