Building Recovery communities within Irish Prisons

The DNNE Recovery College,Recovery Academy Ireland and the Irish Prison Service (IPS) are working in partnership to develop a recovery education approach within Irish prisons that places lived experience, peer support, education and co-production at its centre.

Working alongside people in prison, prison staff and community partners, the project is exploring how recovery education can create opportunities for people to build knowledge, confidence, connection and leadership — and to contribute to recovery within their own prison communities.

Why Recovery Education in Prison?

Recovery is about much more than addressing an individual problem. It can involve developing hope, identity, meaning, connection and opportunities to participate and contribute. Prison can present particular challenges to recovery, including separation from family and community, institutionalization, stigma, mental health difficulties, substance use and limited opportunities to take on meaningful roles.Recovery education offers a different starting point. Rather than asking only “What support does this person need?”, it also asks: “What strengths, knowledge and lived experience does this person already have — and how can these be developed?” The project aims to create opportunities for people in prison to become active participants in their own recovery and, where possible, to support the recovery of others.

 

Recovery Capital

The framework used aims to activate their personal power and improve their sense of self by sharing their own personal experience and understanding the shared experience of systemic marginalisation. Following on from this, the group can collectivise the issues and contribute to solutions for the third module.Clinical recovery models often centre the identification of a diagnosis of an illness or disorder,along with the management of symptoms through clinical interventions like psychotherapy and medication. Clinical recovery is not mutually exclusive with personal and social recovery models, and can be complementary.

CHIME-R

CHIME (Connectivity, Hope, Identity, Meaning, Empowerment) is a widely used conceptual framework for personal recovery in mental health, developed from a systematic review of personal recovery literature by Leamy et al. in 201112 that identified overarching recovery themes. The CHIME framework emphasises give core components in relation to recovery Connectedness, Hope, Identity, Meaning, Empowerment. The way in which individuals access these five key elements in their personal recovery is widely varied, and should be self-determined. The CHIME framework recognises that each individual’s path to recovery is unique and personal to them, while identifying the common key areas of life that contribute to and sustain recovery. Personal recovery promotes an individual’s health and wellbeing, as defined by them, including defining personal recovery goals, building self-esteem, self-confidence, resilience, the ability to maintain relationships, and having a sense of purpose.

A key ambition of the project is to create a pathway through which people can move beyond simply participating in programmes.

Recovery Coach Training

Recovery Coach Training supports participants to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence required to use lived experience appropriately to support others.The prison model combines structured training with opportunities for supported practice, reflection and supervision within the prison environment.

Connect Create Participate

Connect Create Participate (CCP) is a peer-led recovery education programme that explores connection, participation, identity, recovery and community.Participants are encouraged not only to take part in the programme but, where appropriate, to develop the skills and confidence to contribute to and facilitate future recovery education.

Boxing Clever

Boxing Clever combines recovery education, accredited learning, peer support and physical activity.The programme uses boxing and education as a vehicle for engagement while creating opportunities to explore recovery, wellbeing, personal development and future progression.

Recovery Spaces & Peer Support

The project is exploring how trained peer recovery coaches can put their learning into practice through activities such as: Recovery Cafés and Recovery Spaces • CCP • Group Activities • One-to-One Peer Support • Recovery Education • Peer Facilitation. These opportunities are supported through appropriate structures, including ongoing reflection and supervision.

Four Pilot Prison Service locations

 

Recovery communities cannot be developed by one organisation working alone. The project brings together the expertise of people with lived experience of recovery and imprisonment, DNNE Recovery College, Recovery Academy Ireland, the Irish Prison Service, prison psychology and education services, community organisations and peer recovery organisations.Community partnerships are particularly important in connecting recovery inside prison with the wider recovery community.The project is developing relationships with organisations including Merchants Quay Ireland and other recovery, education and community partners to build capacity and strengthen opportunities for peer-led recovery activity.

Learning & Evaluation

This is a developing project.Alongside programme delivery, the partnership is examining what works, what needs to change and what structures are required for peer-led recovery education to become sustainable within a prison environment.Evaluation and ongoing feedback from participants, facilitators, prison staff and partners will inform the development of the model.Learning from the project will also contribute to a wider understanding of recovery education, peer support and co-production within custodial settings.

Project Updates & Resources

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