It is Mental Health Awareness Week, and we are focusing on the benefits of connection in recovery.

We wanted to create something to depict how The Living Room provides connection to the people we treat. Clients recently took part in a creative bunting-making workshop, using card, colour and personal symbols to represent their individual journeys and shared experiences.

When a person first walks through the doors of The Living Room, they might feel like a single piece – alone, jagged at the edges, unsure where they belong. But just like our bunting, if you look around you will see a line of vibrant, weathered triangles threaded together across the room – a quiet but powerful symbol of what’s happening here.

“Addiction isolates people,” says Debbie Coote, The Living Room’s Therapeutic Service Director. “We forget how to authentically connect to people. But here, we say, ‘you are part of this.’ And that ribbon — that support and connection — gives people hope.”

“When I look at the bunting now,” one of our clients says, “I don’t just see pieces of cardboard, I see names. I see people who held me up when I was ready to fall. I see myself, and I see I belong.”

If you would like help, you can contact us on 0300 365 0304. Or fill in our self-referral online.