QAAD events are opportunities for Friends to meet for mutual support and to deepen our understanding of harm and hope relating to substance use and gambling. COVID’s lockdowns led us to run our first online events, enabling Friends from across the country to gather in a new way.
Feedback from these was positive and we plan to resume in-person meetings, combined with occasional online events. We are keen to facilitate further meetings and would welcome contact from Friends wishing discuss this possibility in more detail. Please call or email our Director, Alison Mather.
Details of future events will be available on this page and in QAADRANT. If you would like to be added to the events contact list, please forward your details to our Director.
QAAD Conference 2024
We are very pleased to confirm that we will hold our next residential conference in Summer 2024. All Friends are welcome, particularly those with personal or family experience, and those who have a professional or spiritual interest. Traditionally, our conferences were held at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, but with the announcement of its sad closure, we are exploring alternative venues. Full details will be provided in due course.
QAADNET meetings
QAADNET meetings have a theme, and sometimes a speaker, and are open to all interested Friends. In particular, they provide support for those personally affected by harm resulting from substance use or gambling.
We cover a wide range of subjects, reflecting the interests and concerns of those attending, for example: personal experience; spiritual upholding; counselling; criminal justice; homelessness; residential treatment; medical settings; day-care; employment/ training; education; working with young Friends – and young Friends themselves.
Click here to read an article which gives an insight into the character of a QAADNET meeting.
Past Events – recordings and details
‘Moving On – Supporting people in early recovery to rebuild their lives’
In April 2022, we welcomed Brajna Greenhalgh (MSc Psychology, counsellor and post-graduate researcher, Bangor University) as our speaker. Brajna described ‘Moving On in My Recovery’, a cognative behavioural programme piloted in Wales, designed to support people in early recovery to develop resilience and rebuild their lives. She highlighted the important role of people with lived experience who were involved both in the design and co-delivery of the programme. She went on to give details of two related programmes which encourage people who are considering treatment to take the next step, and programme’s mobile app which is available to download free of charge. To view Brajna’s presentation slides, please click here.
Further information about all three programmes and the app can be found here: https://www.moving-on.uk/