SUIT invited to the British Library by Dame Carol Black and Dr Ed Day for their chapter contribution to “Lived Experience Recovery Organisations: Peer Generated Epicentres of Personal Change and Collective Transformation (Recovery Pathways Series Book 3)”

In 2024, SUIT were asked by Dr David Patton (Associate Professor in Criminology, University of Derby, owner of New Central Media publishing, & champion of the national LERO movement), to submit a chapter to an amazing lived experience book: “Lived Experience Recovery Organisations: Peer Generated Epicentres of Personal Change and Collective Transformation (Recovery Pathways Series Book 3).

The book (part of a series) has been created by Dr David Patton and Dot Smith of Recovery Connections, who launched New Central Media publishing together. Since meeting David through events & conferences, he has championed SUIT and LEROs nationally, and we are humbled to be published alongside innovative, inspirational, and diverse lived experience testimonies. The book has an introductory chapter by Dr Ed Day, the government’s official Recovery Advisor and SUIT ally.

On Tuesday 20th January, SUIT Project Manager Marcus Johnson, and Creative Arts & Research Lead, Christiane, will be attending the British Library in London alongside other contributing authors from LERO’s across the country. The event marks a significant moment in the LERO collective journey. As a symbolic gesture, they will be depositing the book with the British Library, ensuring that the work through the book from LERO leaders including SUIT, becomes part of the national archive and is recognised as a meaningful contribution to knowledge and lived experience. The event will be hosted by Dame Carol Black (pictured here with SUITs Christiane). Dame Carol is medical advisor to the government, Chair of the British Library, former Principal of Newham College, Cambridge, a physician and academic.

Dr David Patton explains the publication as “a groundbreaking collection… powerful, first-person accounts from leaders of Lived Experience Recovery Organisations (LEROs)…These grassroots, peer-led initiatives are transforming the addiction recovery landscape. Born out of personal journeys through addiction, incarceration, and marginalisation, these organisations are reshaping how recovery is understood and delivered. This book is both a celebration of recovery communities and a manifesto for embedding lived experience into the heart of national systems.”