A SCOTL AND-wide network of people with experience of drug addiction are to be trained as recovery advocates, to help save – and improve – the lives of people struggling to stay free of drugs.

Under the “ambitious” plans, shared with the Sunday National by the Scottish Recovery Consortium (SRC), five “lived experience councils” – made-up of people in drug recovery with experience of addiction – would be formed to work alongside professionals from local alcohol and drug partnerships across the country.

Council members will receive training to help them offer advice to those designing, running and commissioning services, offering their expert perspective on issues such as treatment, support and recovery.

With the support of the Scottish Government, the SRC is also planning to train up a national recovery advocacy network over the next two years, which will see those with past experience of addiction work within clinical and community settings to speak up for the rights of those currently in treatment.

It is also aiming to develop a new SQA-recognised qualification for those with lived experience of addiction to help equip them to support people struggling with problematic drug use.

READ MORE: 'Meeting recovering addicts here gave me hope'

The approach, which will be underpinned by work to make recovery more visible in communities across Scotland, aims to address the escalating number of drug deaths in Scotland in recent years. In 2017, 934 drug-related deaths were registered across Scotland, with estimates for 2018 currently at about 1200.

Spikes in deaths associated with “street Valium” have recently been highlighted in both Dundee and Glasgow, though issues are being reported across Scotland. Austerity is among factors said to be related to deaths.

SRC said proposals – due to be launched next month – were its response to the Scottish Government’s recently updated alcohol and drugs strategy. The long-awaited strategy, Rights, Respect and Recovery, unveiled last November, aims to take a public health approach to addiction rather than a criminal justice one.

However, the Scottish Government has been criticised by opposition politicians for its failure to call a public health emergency over the rising number of deaths. Highlands and Islands MSP John Finnie last week renewed his calls for a public inquiry into drugs deaths. The calls came as police released figures revealing seizures of heroin more than doubled in Scotland.

Jardine Simpson, chief executive of SRC, said: “We need more treatment, and we need better treatment. But that on its own is never going to be enough.

“The SRC is undertaking a whole new programme to allow people with lived experience to improve treatment through the empathy they have needed to learn in order to recover. That’s what’s been missing in the systemic approach.

“Through the network of recovery advocates, we aim to show the power of lived experience, of empathy and understanding. Crucially we want to see a reduction in the number of deaths.”

He claimed that the aim was to “recalibrate the relationship with clinicians and commissioners to help them understand what it is to have experienced addiction” and would bring a much-needed human approach.

“Recently a senior strategist proudly showed me a diagram illustrating how services and commissioning could work well together,” he said. “This diagram was a set of interlocking cogs or gears. I pointed out that if we introduced a human being, we would be left with a pile of mince.”

In contrast, he said people in recovery offered compassion and understanding.

DEREK McCabe of Reach Advocacy Scotland, which will be partnering with the SRC to train advocates, compared the recovery movement to those campaigning for LGBT, black and minority ethnic or women’s rights.

“While these might be issues that society maybe supported, real change comes when those directly affected get involved,” he added.

He claimed the current system was not designed for the reality of lives of those struggling with addiction. “We’ve been working with one woman whose story cuts across domestic violence, sexual abuse, trauma and rape. As a result she’s had period of homelessness, she’s in and out of emergency housing.

“She’s not got an address, or access to a mobile or computer and all the things that Universal Credit demands. She has mental health issues that are compounded and conflated by her use of prescription drugs.

“This one person’s story is like War and Peace. And she’s not an outlier. That’s common. It’s brutal for her to try to navigate all of this.”

He claims its advocate system gets results because peers understand these issues. The project has an open door policy rather than an appointment-based system and aims to ensure people can access their rights.

“The service has recently been independently evaluated and it’s been received really well,” he added. “It’s been shown that the lived experience our advocates bring is of real value.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Tackling drug-and-alcohol-related deaths is a public health priority of this government.

We recognise that more must be done to help those who are most at risk and this is outlined in our new alcohol and drug strategy published late last year.

“In particular the strategy highlights that the voices of those with lived and living experience are central to our work to develop, design and deliver treatment and recovery services, interventions and approaches.

“As such we fully support the important work of the Scottish Recovery Consortium in this area, and through the sustained funding we provide to them, we continue to support the growth of recovery communities across the country.”