Shropshire Star

Shrewsbury addiction charity forced to postpone first conference

A Shrewsbury charity which helps people whose lives have been affected by addiction has been forced to postpone its first conference for a year.

Published
Jane Mackenzie with a photograph of her daughter Amy Liebich

Share Shrewsbury was founded by former Shrewsbury Mayor, Councillor Jane Mackenzie, who lost her own daughter Amy Liebich, 37, after a long battle with alcohol dependency issues.

The day-long event, called Amy’s Voice, was planned for next month at the University Centre Shrewsbury, and will now take place on May 15, 2021.

The date was chosen to mark the first anniversary of her daughter’s death.

Councillor Mackenzie had recruited a powerful keynote speaker in Dr Edward Day, who is the Government appointed national recovery champion.

She said: “Dr Day is a consultant psychiatrist at the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Trust and clinical reader in addiction psychiatry at the University of Birmingham, so he has immense experience in the field.

"We have spoken recently, and I am very hopeful that he will agree to speak next year.”

Share Shrewsbury was established to challenge the stigma surrounding addiction, to provide support to everyone affected by addiction including family and friends, and to promote recovery.

Changes

Councillor Mackenzie said: “We would like to hear from anyone who wants to help us to achieve these aims, whether they are clinicians, in recovery themselves or they know someone who is suffering with addictive behaviour.

"Please get in touch and help us to make changes in our local community. Email me at jane@shareshrewsbury.org “

She said she has also been forced to put on hold the establishment of local family support groups, the first of which was set to run at the Martin Wilson Primary School in Castlefields, after Easter.

She also expressed her gratitude to Clear Creative, a local creative digital business which has donated its time and expertise to establish the Share website and to develop the charity logo and branding.

“We are currently developing a hard hitting campaign to challenge the stigma surrounding addiction, and to help our community realise that we need to accept addiction as a progressive terminal disease," she added.

“This serious condition demands appropriate and adequate specialist treatment, provided as early as possible in the individual’s personal life journey.

“We have called on the creative talents of friends, living as far away as Canada, to develop this campaign which we’ll launch once the current crisis is over."

Anyone who would like to get involved can call 07973 702772 or email jane@shareshrewsbury.org

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