LEROs
HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE
W e were sitting at the same round table at an event jointly organised by University of East London( UEL), University College London( UCL) and the London Borough of Newham, talking about health issues in the borough, when we struck up our first conversation. Tim Sampey, CEO of Build on Belief( BoB), had just described the amazing work his organisation does for people in recovery, while one of us had described our research programme in drug addiction at UEL. We asked ourselves – how can we learn from each other and develop a joint initiative of benefit to BoB’ s clients and others in recovery?
At our next meeting at UEL we shared ideas and experiences, identified some key gaps – and realised that we could help each other in filling them. For BoB, as a Lived Experience Recovery Organisation( LERO), the gap was to demonstrate the impact of their work on their clients and society. Our gap was to demonstrate that our research in pharmacology, psychology and mental health is informing the services that help those in recovery. We realised that we could use our research expertise by collecting and analysing the data generated by BoB, which could be used to demonstrate the services’ effectiveness.
In our first joint study we engaged our students in semistructured interviews, where
LEROs can often find themselves at the back of the queue when it comes to commissioning services. Some innovative new research is hoping to change that, say Dr Barbara Pendry and Dr Stefano Casalotti
BoB’ s clients and volunteers were asked to describe what brought them to BoB and why they continued to come. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using known scientific procedures. We observed that many of the clients had experienced family neglect, abuse, unemployment and homelessness. One of the main reasons why they choose to come to BoB was because they felt welcome, not judged and could share their experience with others who understood their issues. Regarding their recovery pathway, many reported positive steps but also some difficulties in re-engaging with the community.
Publishing the data from the interviews in a science journal was satisfying for us and encouraging for BoB, but it wasn’ t the breakthrough we all needed. So we next organised a meeting sponsored by Alcohol Change UK with representatives from 11 LEROs from England and Wales. It was a productive day where LEROs identified both differences and similarities in their organisations. One theme that emerged was that while LEROs were benefiting local communities, there was limited recognition of the importance of their contribution by local authorities, who preferred to commission mainstream drug and alcohol services.
It was clear that more data needed to be collected to demonstrate the impact of LEROs. We then asked ourselves – should
UEL provide logistic support for LEROs to collect their own data, or should we apply for an external research grant to carry out a nationwide investigative project? We decided to do both in parallel. We’ ve drafted and submitted research proposals to external funders, but one of the difficulties is to actually find funding sources that are suited for this kind of work. LEROs are somewhat unconventional organisations, and carrying out research on them seems to be out of the remit of most research funding calls.
We are persevering on this route, but in the meantime – thanks to the funded internship scheme offered to current students and alumni at UEL – we’ ve continued our work. Together with our UEL interns we’ re conducting group sessions with BoB’ s clients, which are identifying additional issues from the original work. We’ ve also engaged interns to develop a database structure that we can offer to LEROs to efficiently collect their data, which could then be scientifically analysed.
We believe that these small, targeted approaches to engaging with LEROs can have a real impact. We’ re now seeking to collaborate with more LEROs to offer our expertise in investigative surveys and to share the database that we’ ve developed. In our approach we want to give more opportunities for clients and practitioners to engage with the design and execution of the research
Small, targeted approaches to engaging with LEROs can have a real impact. We’ re now seeking to collaborate with more LEROs to offer our expertise in investigative surveys and to share the database that we’ ve developed.
activities, ensuring that the results can be used in a practical and impactful way.
We’ re confident that from our collaboration we will be able to demonstrate the effectiveness of LEROs’ work and identify which of their practices are most effective – and which activities can be enhanced to best support their clients. We look forward to receiving enquiries to forge new collaborations that can benefit LEROs and their clients on their recovery path.
Dr Barbara Pendry is a member of the Medicines Research Group, and Dr Stefano Casalotti is director at BiosearLab, a CIC based at the University of East London
26 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • SEPTEMBER 2026 WWW. DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS. COM