‘ A big part of my recovery has been saying yes to things... This opportunity really stood out for me.’
JOHN BAILEY
‘ A big part of my recovery has been saying yes to things,’ he says.‘ And as an English literature graduate who grew up going on lots of walks, this opportunity really stood out for me.’ Currently in peer mentor training with ROAR, ahead of taking up postgraduate study in counselling and psychotherapy, Bailey says he could see himself using some of Davenport’ s techniques for extracting‘ surprisingly good’ poetry from total beginners in his future work.
‘ Phil had us write down answers to three questions – who we were grateful to and what message we would send them, what we look back on with sadness and what we thought
the area we were walking through was like 150 years ago,’ he says.‘ We then“ curated” our own words to make a“ found poem” out of them. They were surprisingly profound and beautiful and, in this way, everyone in the group created a piece they could feel proud of.’
Quality and meaning is key when it comes to rehab activities, Bailey states.‘ Early recovery can seem pretty hopeless, and actually, really boring. You can feel that you just have to white-knuckle it. Getting out there and doing stuff you’ ve never tried before is crucial, whether it’ s singing, art, walking in nature, poetry or something else. But quality is important. I’ ve been at groups where“ art” has just involved a cuppa and a bit of doodling. This has its place, but arts activities with purpose and real thinking behind them are so much more meaningful and more likely to support people to change their lives.’
POETRY FOR ALL Zac Blinston is a recovery community development worker from ROAR, and has his own lived experience of recovery from substance use. As a professionally trained actor, who has previously run his own theatre company, Blinston was particularly keen to be involved with the audio trail.‘ I think this is a really important project for the town,’ he says.‘ Oldham has such a rich history and is a larger-than-life place, despite being one of the most deprived boroughs in the country. This audio trail is breaking down barriers and showing that poetry is for everyone – it’ s only words after all. The trail is both a physical journey and a figurative one. I hope that
From above left: Dom Pillai from Portraits of Recovery on the left and poet Phil Davenport on the right, with some of the people from ROAR who contributed to the poetry trail; peer mentor trainee John Bailey; workshop in the woods; A work in progress – one of the group’ s poems.
people who follow it feel a sense of hope. We’ re all on a journey – it’ s just that some people’ s journeys are harder than others.’
‘ This is a sound walk like no other,’ adds Davenport.‘ We aren’ t delivering a nature trail or a local history, but something much more unusual. We will be guided by the voices of people in recovery – people who are intensely aware of the dark art of damage and the honesty needed to pull away from it. Their poems are the narrative for the walk, which takes us out of a busy, chaotic town centre, to the edge of where people are and then out beyond, into the woods and the wilds. Human separation from nature is disastrous for humanity and for the rest of the world. So why not walk in nature in the company of people who are experts in both damage and healing, looking for ways out of our usual selves? Beyond our
familiars, into the new.’ Dominic Pillai, curator of social engagement at Portraits of Recovery, says that the group members‘ embraced the project with honesty, courage and imagination, drawing strength from experiences that are too often overlooked and misunderstood. The result is a powerful public artwork that invites audiences to experience both recovery and the landscape through the voices of those who know about life’ s need for resilience, possibility and change. The voices of people with lived experience of recovery will now form part of the Northern Roots experience for years to come.’
Sara Teiger works with PORe on their public relations
RECOVERIST MONTH events are taking place across the North West throughout September 2026. Find out more at portraitsofrecovery. org. uk
NORTHERN ROOTS is a charity based in Oldham, Greater Manchester. It is transforming 160-acres of post-industrial urban green space into a unique community hub and visitor destination, for people, planet and place. It opens on 19 September.
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