Residents at a north-east addiction recovery service have been reuniting with their families as lockdown lifts.
When lockdown was announced, those at Teen Challenge’s men’s facility, Sunnybrae near Fyvie, and women’s refuge, Benaiah near Mintlaw, were in the midst of a “year out” to rebuild their lives.
The programme allows participants to enjoy individual days out, building up to weekends away and eventually graduation.
However, due to lockdown, they were unable to leave – with staff instead setting up Zoom and Facetime sessions with loved ones.
But now that lockdown has eased, face-to-face visits have resumed – with one dad able to see his 15-month-old son for the first time in weeks.
Paul Beaton, from the charity, praised everyone for keeping their spirits up during lockdown, and said the visits will go some way to helping residents complete their journey to recovery.
He said: “That connection and restoration of those relationships can have a huge impact on an individual’s recovery as they find freedom not only from drink and drugs, but crucially the hurts, guilt and shame they feel for mistakes they’ve made; which often lie at the root of their addictions.”
To find out more about Teen Challenge North East Scotland’s work, visit www.tcns.org.uk or call Sunnybrae on 01651 891627.