Lots to learn from: A Knowledge is Power case study of Aberdeen in Recovery

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Aberdeen in Recovery (AiR) is a Lived Experience Recovery Organisation (LERO) which provides support for people recovering from addiction and their families.

They were supported by Knowledge is Power to plan to carry out research to address issues in community engagement.

A range of difficult circumstances meant that the research couldn’t be completed. However, important learning has been generated as a result, including AiR’s advice on what to consider when embarking on community-led action research.

Background – how the project started

The idea for the project came from AiR’s community members before the ‘Knowledge is Power’ (KIP) programme was advertised and therefore has been truly community led.

Community members Tim, Duncan and Zoe were passionate about AiR and wanted to help others. They saw an opportunity through the KIP programme to put their ideas into action.

This was against a more general background of AiR working in the community in Aberdeen for 10 years and working in partnership with drug and alcohol services.

Despite all its efforts, community members felt that there didn’t seem to be a great understanding of who and what AiR was, even within some of its own members. This was also the case with statutory and third sector drug and alcohol services who were not making the kind of referrals that would enable the project to provide effective support.

The project also wanted to do more given the Scottish Government strategy ‘Rights, Respect and Recovery’ published in 2018. The strategy recognised that everyone has the right to recovery and that better outcomes could be achieved through drug and alcohol services working in partnership with LEROs in the community.

AiR, led by its community members, therefore applied to join the KIP programme to help them develop their own research ideas further. They wanted to gain a better understanding of how they were seen and if their role was understood by agencies and others they worked with, all of which could help them develop a stronger identity.

The aim of the AiR research

The overall aim of the research was:

  • To explore knowledge, understanding and experience of Aberdeen in Recovery as a lived experience recovery organization amongst service providers, those who use services, family members and those with lived experience of substance use. 

  •  And to explore how links between AiR and services providers might be strengthened to support and promote recovery. 

The specific objectives of the research were to:

  • Determine the current knowledge, understanding and experience of AiR amongst those with lived and living experience (including family members), service providers, and those who use services.

  • Identify the challenges and issues with the provision of recovery support in Aberdeen, and how these might be overcome. 

  • Gain ideas about what would facilitate engagement with AiR as well as potential barriers to engagement. 

  • Identify how AiR could best work in partnership with services to help promote recovery.

  • Explore how the links between lived experience recovery organisations such as AiR and drug and alcohol recovery services be strengthened.

Planning the research

A group of community members got together and held weekly meetings to develop their approach.

Joan, a volunteer at this early stage of the project, also carried out a literature search to see what had already been done and if this information could inform how AiR went about the research. With her own research background, she was able also to act as an informal advisor to the group.

Lindsay, project admin worker, also helped by creating interview forms and undertaking other admin support tasks. Alongside this, she was also able to bring her own lived experience to the research ideas and the most appropriate methods that could be applied.

The group decided that it was best to start with a survey, carried out with individuals face to face. This was to be followed up by a series of focus groups to explore the survey findings and help identify what actions AiR could take or encourage others to take to help achieve the research aims and objectives.

The group identified 4 sets of people it wanted to engage in the research, ie:

  • Professionals in drug and alcohol related services (Team leaders / Heads of Service / staff who see service users on a one to one-to-one basis. Services to include Integrated Alcohol Service (IAS), Integrated Drugs Service (IDS), Alcohol and Drugs Action (ADA), Aberdeen City Council Social Work, Aberdeen Foyer. 

  • Individuals who have lived experience of the drug and alcohol services described above.

  • Community members of Aberdeen in Recovery  

  • Family members of Aberdeen in Recovery members

Challenges along the way

By early 2020 the group members had developed their overall approach, and had produced research flyers (see image below), information sheets and consent forms. They had also got as far as drafting interview schedules. See the Knowledge is Power toolkit for examples and templates of these resources.

Poster for Aberdeen in Recovery research

Covid then emerged as a major pandemic and the Lockdown in March 2020 meant that the implementation of the research had to be put on hold.

Even more difficult challenges were to follow, which were to put the research into perspective. Zoe, who was one of the initial drivers of the project, died suddenly during the pandemic. This deeply affected the group and it understandably became difficult to bring people together and maintain momentum.

AiR was ‘light in resources’ and other more urgent project priorities took over with an added knock-on effect on the research implementation.

It was difficult to engage other community members to help – some did not feel confident enough to take part and take on new responsibilities.

Joan found her time taken up with other work responsibilities which limited her ability to help steer the project forward to its delivery stage.

She was still a community member and in the latter stages of the project planning (during 2021 into 2022) she took a lead role in developing and delivering training for AiR. She found it difficult however to make progress because of other demands on her and AiR generally as a result of the project manager moving onto a new post.

Lessons and learning

The enforced delay in delivering the research has provided Joan and Lindsay with an opportunity to reflect on lessons to date. They identified several important issues which raise questions for the future:

  • Perhaps the intention to reach and engage large numbers of people with different roles and interests was too ambitious. Related to this was a recognition now that they had possibly underestimated the time required to carry out the research.

  • In hindsight, the research project hadn’t been given enough priority or value against other project activities – it kept ‘dropping of the list’ possibly because it wasn’t an AiR led piece of work but community inspired and led.

So, the main lesson is that this kind of project takes time if the process of being community led is to be upheld and properly supported.

Looking ahead

Because everything is all ready to go, the group is hoping to still do some interviews, which could yield good learning and help with AiR’s development. The project has a solid foundation in terms of its overall approach but recognises that two big challenges lie ahead, namely:

  • Engaging family members who may be reluctant to speak about their experience

  • Engaging professional staff who are having to manage increased caseloads as a result of Covid.

Summary and recommendations

Community-led action research is no small undertaking at the best of times. Community groups such as AiR have a lot of competing priorities and often find themselves working at the front-line to support people through difficult circumstances - the expression ‘fire-fighting’ is used for good reason.

Zoe’s death was understandably very difficult for the group. This, along with other changes to the research team made it much harder to carry on with the project.

The Covid-19 pandemic impacted further on many people’s health and wellbeing and also prevented face-to-face meetings and activities.

Given the above, it’s easy to understand how a community-led action research project could be more difficult to dedicate time and resources to.

Nevertheless, the group had the chance to learn about community-led action research and got to try their hand at research design and other planning tasks. Furthermore, a number of important learning points were generated from the research and it’s challenges.

The main recommendations that Joan and Lindsay would offer to others considering a similar research project are:

  • Think ahead if you can about the challenges that might come up, particularly those relating to recruiting those you want to take part.

  • Keep an open mind, be flexible in your approach and be prepared to change planned activity or methods in the light of emerging issues and challenges.

  • And finally, be dedicated to and passionate about what it is you want to do – that will give you strength and courage to continue successfully through the different challenges you are inevitably likely to meet.

More information