SRC Chief Executive Tracey McFall has shared a video message with an important update about Recovery Walk Scotland 2026. You can watch the video above. The full text of her statement is below, and a PDF version is available to download at the bottom of this page.
We are sharing this statement openly because we believe Scotland’s recovery communities, partners, and everyone connected to the Recovery Walk deserve a direct, honest account of where things stand — and a genuine invitation to help shape what comes next.
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Tracey McFall, and I’m Chief Executive of Scottish Recovery Consortium.
I wanted to share an important update with you about the Recovery Walk 2026. It is with a heavy heart that I’m sharing this — there will be no national Recovery Walk in 2026. It felt important to communicate directly with communities and partners across Scotland, not only to share the considerations behind this decision, but also to remember the significant achievements we can celebrate and the opportunities ahead.
We recognise that many people will feel disappointed by this news, and we share that feeling. The Recovery Walk has meant so much to so many — bringing people together, celebrating recovery, and creating powerful moments of connection and hope.
For many, it is much more than an event. It is a celebration of recovery, a chance to reconnect with friends and peers, an opportunity to remember those we have lost, and a powerful demonstration that recovery is real, visible and achievable. It provides hope to people who may be at the beginning of their recovery journey and reminds communities across Scotland that recovery changes lives every day.
The national Recovery Walk has historically been fully funded and hosted by a local ADP area, with SRC’s role focused on coordination, facilitation, and ensuring the event was delivered safely and successfully.
This model was important because it enabled genuine local ownership. Identifying a host area at least a year in advance created the conditions for recovery communities, grassroots organisations, lived and living experience groups, local services, and wider community partners to shape the event from the outset, in direct collaboration with SRC.
As a result, the Recovery Walk became much more than a national event. It provided an opportunity for local communities and organisations to showcase their achievements, share their stories, celebrate progress, challenge stigma, and welcome people from across Scotland. Crucially, it acted as a catalyst for strengthening local activity, leaving a lasting legacy beyond the event itself.
However, over the past two years, funding arrangements have become increasingly difficult to secure and sustain through ADPs. This has required SRC to secure alternative funding sources for both 2024 and 2025. We have been unable to secure funding for 2026. Delays in funding decisions and funding cycles have, in turn, significantly reduced the time available for early planning, local mobilisation, partnership development, and authentic, meaningful co-production.
This has created a key challenge and point of reflection for SRC. As an organisation committed to participation, co-production, lived and living experience, leadership, and community-led approaches, we believe events should be developed with communities, rather than delivered to communities.
Without sufficient lead-in time and resources, achieving this level of meaningful involvement becomes increasingly difficult, limiting both local ownership and long-term impact.
Recovery is built on relationships, local leadership, participation and community ownership. We believe the national recovery events should embody those same principles.
Celebrating what has been achieved
Although the Recovery Walk will be paused this year, it is important to recognise and celebrate the significant achievements of the Recovery Walk movement in recent years.
One of the most notable milestones was achieved in 2025, when, for the first time, every prison in Scotland was represented. This was a powerful demonstration of Scotland’s commitment to ensuring that recovery is visible, accessible, and actively supported within justice settings and communities.
This achievement reflects years of dedicated partnership working between the Scottish Prison Service, NHS, third-sector organisations, Recovery Communities, and Lived Experience Recovery Organisations (LEROs) across Scotland. Through their collective efforts, increasing numbers of people in prison have been able to access recovery support, peer-led activities, mutual aid, recovery communities and opportunities to connect with recovery in prison and beyond liberation.
The presence of every prison at the national Recovery Walk sent a powerful message that recovery can happen anywhere, that people should not be defined by their past, and that hope and opportunity should be available to everyone regardless of circumstance.
As we reflect on the legacy of Recovery Walks, this achievement stands as a testament to what can be accomplished when organisations and communities work together with a shared belief that recovery is possible and that every person deserves the opportunity.
What comes next — and how you can shape it
We do not see this as the end of a conversation. Instead, we see it as an opportunity to listen and reflect.
Between July and September 2026, SRC will reach out to communities and organisations across Scotland to create opportunities for meaningful dialogue and engagement — to better understand what people want from future national and local events and initiatives. This will explore:
Whether a national Recovery Walk remains the most valuable and effective way of bringing people together
Whether local or regional events may be more relevant and accessible
Whether greater investment and time should be directed towards strengthening grassroots organisations, community-led activity, and local initiatives throughout the year
Recovery has always been built from the ground up, and we believe decisions about the future of recovery celebrations and national recovery activity should be informed by the voices of those at the heart of the recovery movement.
The feedback, ideas and experiences shared during this engagement period will help shape our thinking and inform future discussions about how recovery can continue to be celebrated, made visible and supported across Scotland. We are committed to ensuring that any future approach reflects the needs, priorities and aspirations of Scotland’s diverse recovery sector and communities.
This is an opportunity not only to reflect on the legacy of the Recovery Walk, but also to consider how we collectively invest our time, energy and resources to achieve the greatest impact for people in recovery, their families and communities.
Our commitment remains
Our commitment to the recovery movement remains unwavering. We want to reassure our partners, LEROs, recovery communities, families and people with lived and living experience that we will continue to focus our energy, efforts and resources on supporting recovery across Scotland. We remain inspired by the strength, resilience and determination of Scotland’s recovery movement.
Recovery Month will remain an important opportunity to celebrate recovery, challenge stigma, showcase the achievements of communities, and amplify the voices of people with lived and living experience. We will continue to work alongside our partners across Scotland to support local and regional recovery events, activities and celebrations that recognise the strength, resilience and contribution of recovery communities.
Recovery does not exist for one day each year. Recovery happens every day — in our homes, families, communities, workplaces, prisons, services and recovery organisations.
SRC looks forward to continuing this journey alongside you as we work together to ensure that recovery remains visible, valued, and celebrated across Scotland.
To everyone who has organised, attended, volunteered, supported or walked alongside us over the years: thank you. Your commitment has helped make recovery visible, challenge stigma, celebrate achievement and inspire hope for thousands of people and families across Scotland. The Recovery Walk may pause, but Scotland’s recovery movement continues to thrive and grow.
Tracey McFall, CEO, 6 July 2026
We want to hear from you. SRC will be reaching out to communities and organisations across Scotland between July and September 2026 to shape what national and local recovery events look like in the future. Watch this page for updates on how you can get involved — and please share your initial thoughts in the comments below.
