Summary
Sonya Dillon joined Frontline Make Change in November 2023 as the Recovery Coordinator, covering the area of the North Inner City of Dublin extending to and including Balbriggan. Her role is to develop a Recovery Orientated System of Care Model using recovery pathways to make recovery accessible and visible in the areas she works in. Here Sonya takes us through what an average working week looks like for her.
Sonya Dillon joined Frontline Make Change in November 2023 as the Recovery Coordinator, covering the area of the North Inner City of Dublin extending to and including Balbriggan. Her role is to develop a Recovery Orientated System of Care Model using recovery pathways to make recovery accessible and visible in the areas she works in. Here Sonya takes us through what an average working week looks like for her:
How The Day Begins
“My day starts with heading into our office in Amiens Street in Dublin 1 and planning out the week, which usually consists of many meetings, networking, presentations, creating spaces to have recovery-orientated conversations and planning activities to make recovery visible in the community. This might be through recovery cafés, social spaces, bike maintenance and fishing workshops, or women-only safe spaces.
Group Work
“One of the most rewarding pieces of work in my role is the gender specific Connections Group that I host each Wednesday in Manor Street, Dublin 7. We have been fortunate to secure childcare spaces in the onsite creche which greatly helps the women involved as it allows them to build their recovery capital. Some evenings we have as many as 25 women who make connections with each other. The group is run by peers, and supported by the North Inner-City Drug & Alcohol Task Force (NICDATF) and North East Inner City Network. It is truly heartwarming to see these women coming together and getting so much from the group activities, which have included trips to the zoo with the group participants and their children.
Pretreatment Group
“Another part of my role involves working closely with NICDATF to develop a robust pre-treatment group to enable people who need an in-house treatment episode. Currently our relapse rate is very high in Ireland with approximately 62% of individuals in recovery relapsing within the first year of leaving treatment and we need to reduce this statistic to give people a better chance of maintaining recovery. The pretreatment group consists of weekly workshops, support and care planning to assist people to get to treatment and follow up aftercare on completion of treatment.
National Recovery Walk
“Each year, I work closely with Recovery Academy Ireland to plan for International Recovery Month, which is held each September across the world. During this month we celebrate all things recovery with several events that include sea swims, inspirational talks and the highlight of the month which is the National Recovery Walk. This walk takes place in Dublin City Centre from O’Connell Street on the north side to Merrion Square on the south side and sees a sea of purple cross the city in the form of thousands of people dressed in purple (the colour of recovery).
“No two days are ever the same in this role which makes it so interesting. I have the pleasure of sitting on many committees, implementing the work carried out in them. I have also had the joy of working with cross Task Force initiatives such as The Connecting Communities, Drug Awareness Weeks, Community Fairs, Information Sessions and creating new ways to celebrate Recovery.
“Recovery is a programme of attraction, it is upon services providers to make it look attractive, to give hope in the darkest of days for individuals, families and communities.”
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