A television celebrity will be the star of a recovery festival being held in Norwich to celebrate the support available for people with addiction.

The event, which will be on Friday 1 June 2012, is hosted by Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust and marks the start of ‘recovery month’, an awareness campaign led by the Department of Health.

The Trust’s Alcohol and Drugs Service (TADS) has arranged the recovery festival, which will start at 2pm at Hellesdon Hospital in Norwich, in partnership with service users and volunteers to celebrate the work that is done to support this vulnerable group.

The day will be attended by television actor and recovery champion Paul Danan who is best known for his role as Sol Patrick in Hollyoaks and for appearing in Celebrity Love Island.

Paul said: “I’m privileged and honoured to be invited along to the TADS recovery event. My personal battles with addiction and mental health have given me a passion to share my experiences with others and I look forward to meeting everyone connected to TADS in order to celebrate recovery month!

The event is aimed at anyone who is affected by substance misuse either personally, as a carer, family member or friend. The festival will highlight that recovery is not only possible, but that it can be a fun experience.

Chris Strivens, a lead nurse at TADS, who helped organise the event, said, “TADS has a growing number of service users that are finding and maintaining recovery and this event is to celebrate and share their success”.

The day will include live music and DJs, arts and crafts, sports, dancing, and a zumba demonstration. The winners of a service user ‘design-a-tshirt’ competition will also be announced.

The day brings together many recovery focused organisations that incorporate health, wellbeing and carer support including REBOS (a successful recovery group), The Matthew Project, Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Hebron House, East Coast Recovery, Hep C Norfolk, the Weavers Action Recovery Committee (WARC).

“Recovery is a continual journey which has had many twists and turns,” Paul added. “I appreciate the difficulties that individuals face and hope that we can come together to illustrate that what we can’t do alone we can do together.”

The recovery festival will also include refreshments, fundraising stalls and a kids zone with face painting and games.

Any money raised from the event will go towards providing better opportunities for those recovering from substance misuse.

TADS would like to hear from other organisations or businesses that feel that they may be able to contribute to this event. Please call 01603 786786.