Last year I argued that real policy comes from real lives. Scotland’s recovery policy must help people do more than survive addiction. This new paper takes that argument into the 2026 policy landscape and asks what people can actually reach, learn and build after the immediate crisis.
I write as pastor of Easterhouse Community Church, Head of Outreach at The Haven and a PhD researcher in theology through creative practice. My place within Scotland’s recovery movement is shaped by Christian faith, my own recovery and work alongside people in active and post addiction. These questions arise within that work.
Download the full policy paper (PDF) — formatted for reading and printing. The paper includes its sources and detailed recommendations. You can also read the original 2025 paper.
See: make recovery visible
For someone still caught in addiction, a different future may be hard to imagine. Seeing people from familiar places living differently can make that future credible. Celebrating recovery does not diminish the dignity of those who are still struggling. Scotland’s 2026 strategy itself recognises that visible recovery communities can challenge stigma and show that change is possible.
Stories need to show the route as well as the result: the relationships, treatment, learning, setbacks and opportunities between crisis and a new life. Nobody should have to disclose their worst moments to prove recovery or earn a voice in policy.
Grasp: make the route real
Addiction that begins early can interrupt opportunities to develop ways of handling feelings, conflict, trust and responsibility. Development is often uneven. Someone may have remarkable survival skills yet little experience of safe relationships or ordinary routines. “Arrested development” names capacities that may need support; it is not a fixed emotional age or a label for every person.
Care should assess strengths and learning needs with the person, then provide time and relationships in which to practise. A referral alone is not a pathway. Housing, income, education, outreach and a person who follows through all matter.
Medication can save lives, particularly in opioid dependence. But a prescription or treatment retention cannot be the full ambition of recovery policy. People affected by alcohol, cocaine and other drugs need a credible route into life beyond addiction too. For those who can reduce or end opioid agonist medication with clinical support, care must continue afterwards. Some people will need medication longer; their wider growth and opportunities matter just as much.
Grow: sustain a life beyond addiction
Recovery can involve becoming a student, parent, worker, neighbour or friend in ways that mean something to the person. Community gives people somewhere to belong, practise, contribute and try again. In my own life, faith and Christian community were central to that change. Good policy should support accountable, respectful routes through clinical, secular and faith-based provision, with genuine choice.
The urgency is plain. Scotland registered 1,133 drug use deaths in 2025. Opioids were implicated in 78%, cocaine in 52% and nitazenes in 22%; these categories overlap. Those deaths occurred before the March 2026 strategy and cannot measure its effect. They show the scale of the work ahead.
The church’s place in recovery
At Easterhouse Community Church, our partnership with Street Connect places the church within local outreach and recovery support. My work at The Haven connects Christian recovery provision with churches and community hubs. That is part of the ground from which I am speaking.
A church can offer a place to belong through active addiction, treatment and the years that follow. Pastoral care, practical help, shared meals, discipleship and opportunities to contribute can help someone learn to live differently within relationships that endure. For a Christian church, this work grows from faith in Jesus Christ and a calling to love our neighbours.
I believe Jesus Christ changed my life. Christian community gave substance to that change through relationships, learning and responsibility. My own story helps explain why I take the church’s contribution seriously; the quality and outcomes of each service need to be examined in their own right.
Scotland’s recovery partnerships should recognise churches and Christian recovery organisations within local pathways, with opportunities to shape priorities and access funding for the work they deliver. Coordination, training, safeguarding and continuity all need resources. Clear referral arrangements and informed choice should connect this work with the wider recovery system.
The test for policy
Can people reach support before and after treatment? Are they helped to develop the capacities and relationships they identify as important? Is community provision funded long enough to sustain trust? Can people affected by addiction trace how their judgement changed a commissioning decision?
The words have appeared in policy for years. The task now is to make the support, resources and authority correspond to them. Help people see a different future, make it possible to grasp, and stay involved while they grow into it.
Read or download Real Policy Comes From Real Lives: One Year On (PDF)
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