Health Heroes
Kath Podmore
Kath volunteers with Change Grow Live and is a stalwart of the local recovery community, with a wealth of personal recovery experience.
Kath has a long record of service within the substance misuse community and sees her contribution as a chance to give something back for all the support she received along her pathway, a chance to be valued and to be of service.
Kath is a caring, considerate individual, who provides a smile, a cuppa and an empathetic ear, she has been nicknamed ‘Nanny Kath’ by her peers, and is appreciated and greatly valued. She was nominated by staff at CGL.
Mark Gibbins
Mark runs Coventry Men’s Shed project, he engages men over the age of 30 who are recovering from issues like alcohol and drug abuse and men who are socially isolated and have mental health issues.
Mark has used his lived experience to help other men who are struggling with things like stress, anxiety and a lack of confidence.
The strength of Marks work is that he creates a comfortable environment where men can speak freely without being judged. He was nominated by the Council’s community resilience team.
Bernice Higgins
Bernice manages Peggies Park Community Centre in Foleshill. The centre provides hot meals and a food bank for people who are homeless, unemployed, and people living in poverty in low paid employment. Many of the service users are recovering from substance abuse and having access to a hot meal twice weekly goes a long way to aiding their recovery.
Bernice cooks, serves and washes up afterwards along with other volunteers, but her real strength is her ability to listen, giving people a sympathetic ear in which to offload their problems.
Bernice is 74 years old and has a visual impairment and in spite of her disabilities she continues to do everything she can to give people less fortunate than herself a better quality of life. Her nominator - from Council’s community resilience team - says Bernice is an inspiration to others as to what can be achieved.
Sam Barker
Sam is a volunteer with CGL and is a key member of the ARC recovery community organisation. She helps service users with complex drug and alcohol issues and no job is too small or too big for her.
Sam is in recovery herself and during this time she has had to deal with many traumatic situations in her personal life but she never misses attending CGL to ensure she is offering support to the service and community.
Her nominator says Sam is a valued member of the CGL team and would all like to recognise and say thank you for all the work that Sam does and for giving three days a week out of her own time to continue supporting the service and Coventry community. She was nominated by a staff member from CGL
The ARC
Ayriss Recovery Coventry (ARC) is an organisation set up and run entirely by experts by experience who want to support people affected by drugs and alcohol.
ARC was set up the founding members identifying gaps in support which they didn't want others to experience. They’re a key partner in projects like the Steps for Change drop in centre, and want to show people there is hope and that recovery is possible.
ARC relieves pressure from services and improves clients quality of life and wellbeing. ARC currently works as a fully voluntary organisation and give their time to help others because they want to offer a better service and quality of life to all they work with.
Photos from this year's event
