After winning a national vote of the annual event, Wolverhampton will be hosting the 2025 UK Recovery Walk on Saturday 13th September 2025.  This walk and event celebrates those who have made a recovery from drugs or alcohol and serves as a reminder that recovery is possible and that support is available.

It is sponsored and supported by SUIT - Service User Involvement Team, Good Shepherd Wolverhampton, Recovery Near You and City of Wolverhampton Council.

A festival style celebration called the ‘Recovery Village’ situated in West Park from 1-5 will feature an outdoor stage area with live artists and bands.  There will be family fun activities such as inflatables, fun fair style rides and food vendors.

The festival will start off with a public march and end at the Recovery Village. Acts to look out for will be Hit the Dhol, Emma Smallman-Drum and Bounce, Fallen Angels Dance Theatre, Detox Fcator, Geese Theatre, Wendy Dosset -spoken word artist and Saida Chowdhury  - Poet who will be launching her debut poetry collection ‘Broken Minds’.

The artwork featuring on the front of ‘Broken Minds’ has been gifted by Christiane Sarah Jenkins, Creative Lead of SUIT and the original painting will accompany Saida at her book launches.

“I am just so thankful to Christiane for giving me this opportunity of being part of such a wonderful event inspiring hope for everyone.  I am also thankful to her for her beautiful artwork, kindly naming the piece ‘Kintsugi’ to mirror the theme running through my book.  Kintsugi is a traditional art form of putting broken pottery back together with liquid gold to accentuate and beautify the cracks rather than hide them, thereby recognising the cracks as being valuable parts of the objects history.  I wanted to apply the same philosophy to humans and their physical, emotional and mental scars.  I wanted to remove the stigma about talking about mental health and to celebrate our stories, our scars and together we can help eachother heal and grow.”

Annemarie Ward CEO, Faces and Voices of Recovery Ward, “This is more than just a walk it s a declaration of hope, resilience and the power of community”.