Scotland stands at a critical moment in its national response to alcohol and drug harms. Across our communities, families, and services, the message is clear: people can and do recover, but only when the right conditions, rights-based approaches, and community assets are in place.
Today, the Scottish Recovery Consortium (SRC) is proud to launch our Cross-Party Manifesto for a Recovery-Oriented Scotland (2026–2031).
This document is both an invitation and a call to action. It is an opportunity to accelerate our progress toward a Scotland where recovery is visible, valued, and accessible to everyone who seeks it.
Built on Two Years of Listening
This manifesto was not written in a vacuum. For the past two years, we have travelled across Scotland, listening to, learning from, and working alongside people with lived and living experience, families, recovery communities, and partners in health, social care, and justice.
It reflects what people in recovery, their families, and front-line services have consistently told us: recovery is not simply about treatment; it is about belonging, opportunity, community, and hope. It is about ensuring that people are supported not only to survive, but to thrive.
A Roadmap for System Change: Our 9 Calls to Action
The manifesto sets out a practical, achievable vision for a Recovery-Oriented System of Care (ROSC) built on dignity, human rights, and lived-experience leadership. To make this vision a reality, we have outlined 9 key priorities for Scotland:
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A New Partnership with Government: Moving beyond consultation to genuine co-production, where decision-making is shared and communities are empowered to lead.
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An Embedded Human Rights-Based Approach: Placing people and communities at the centre of decision-making, ensuring support is accessible, non-discriminatory, and fair.
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Investment in Long-Term Recovery, Not Just Treatment: Moving beyond crisis response to provide the foundations people need to rebuild their lives—safe housing, meaningful employment, and social connection.
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A Whole System, Recovery-Focused Approach: Joining up action across housing, justice, mental health, and education to ensure every community becomes a place where long-term recovery is supported.
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Strengthen the Connection Between Recovery and the Justice System: Ensuring continuity of care, trauma-informed support, and clear pathways into community-based recovery services from the point of arrest through to liberation.
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Prioritise Women and Families: Designing gender-specific, trauma-informed pathways and safe, women-only spaces that understand the unique and complex barriers women face.
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Strengthen Scotland’s Lived Experience Workforce: Recognising that the relational insight of the paid and voluntary peer workforce is a cornerstone of compassionate support, and backing this with fair pay, training, and sustainable funding.
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Lived and Living Experience at the Heart of Service and Policy Development: Treating lived experience not just as anecdote, but as critical evidence that must shape the direction, standards, and accountability of our systems.
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Strengthening Community Resilience: Investing in community-led action, mutual support, and local networks that address trauma and inequality before they escalate into crisis.
A Tool for Community Action: Getting the Conversation Started
Our communities already hold the solutions. This manifesto is not just a document for politicians—it is a tool for you.
We encourage people in recovery, families, recovery communities, and lived-experience organisations to use this manifesto to start conversations locally. Use it to engage your neighbours, community groups, local services, and elected representatives in discussions about what recovery looks like in your area and what changes are needed to strengthen it.
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Support advocacy by identifying the commitments you want decision-makers in your local area to prioritise.
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Build partnerships with local services and community organisations using the manifesto as a shared framework for action.
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Strengthen your collective voice to ensure that lived and living experience remains at the heart of the solutions we build.
Real and lasting change is only achievable when we listen to, learn from, and collaborate with those most affected. We stand ready to bring our lived experience, local knowledge, and community-led innovation directly into the heart of decision-making.
Every individual deserves the opportunity to build a life of connection, purpose, and long-term wellbeing. Let’s build a Recovery-Oriented Scotland, together.
