Alcohol & Drugs Action Recovery Garden

Find out more about the Alcohol & Drugs Action Recovery Garden in Aberdeen, a fantastic project that offers opportunities and support for people as part of their recovery journey.

Since formation in 1986, ADA has made a significant contribution to the development and delivery of services to those affected by alcohol and/or drug use focussed on supporting both individuals as well as their families and friends.

A main focus of service provision is to provide flexible, accessible, timely and person-centred support and one example of this is their Recovery Garden group. Started in 2015, the group is run by volunteers to support people in recovery from substance misuse.

The project is supported by Aberdeen City Council who provide a polytunnel in the city where the group meet. Each year a core group of participants decide what they want to grow at the start of the season and then plant, care for and harvest the produce to either use themselves or give to other vulnerable people in the community.

The group have participated in Keep Scotland Beautiful, ‘It’s your neighbourhood’ and helped the 2019 Aberdeen entry for Britain in Bloom by partnering with the Council and others to provide small planters for shop keepers as well as maintaining a larger planter dedicated to people who have lost their lives due to addiction, planted with flowers and plants that reflect hope and remembrance. Involvement with the project also led to some group members becoming beekeepers with the Aberdeen Urban Bee project and taking an interest in ensuring the plants they grow are pollinator friendly.

On the 16th of March 2021, the hard work that goes in to the project by participants recognised with the award of the prestigious Horticultural Groups Award from The Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society.

Visit alcoholanddrugsaction.org.uk to find out more about ADA.