ARC Fitness to host NI’s largest Recovery Walk

In celebration of National Recovery Month, addiction recovery service, ARC Fitness is partnering with several other service focused organisations to host Northern Ireland’s largest recovery walk in September.

The free of charge event, which is taking place at 10am on Saturday, September 30, will start at Ebrington Square and will finish at Guildhall Square in the city centre of Derry.

The Recovery Walk will not only serve as an enjoyable family friendly event but it will also seek to both celebrate those who are currently navigating recovery while also honouring the lives that have been lost to substance misuse.

The partnering organisations include Bogside & Brandywell Health Forum, Northlands Centre, Old Library Trust - Healthy Living Centre - Creggan, Developing Healthy Communities and HURT (Have your Tomorrow's).

Further to the walk itself attendees will have access to a range of information and support services as well as food from Lo & Slo, entertainment from River Radio and more.

When speaking about the recovery walk, Gary Rutherford, Founder and Director of Programmes of ARC Fitness said: “We’re thrilled to be back again this year to host the NI Recovery Walk which is actually the largest outdoor recovery focused event in the country.

This is now our third year hosting this event in partnership with some amazing organisations and this year in particular we’re looking forward to bringing a bigger and more collaborative event to the city and we invite anyone and everyone to join us for what we promise to be a great day.

At ARC we work really hard to tackle the stigma of substance use and empower people to believe that not only recovery is possible but that we as individuals are not defined by our struggles.

Instead we want to instil the belief that everyone has the ability to contribute to society in numerous meaningful ways despite their struggles, whether they are past or present.

We believe that the recovery walk event will also help anyone who has been affected by addiction, either personally or through a loved one, to build new connections and support networks.”

Aisling Hutton, Health Programmes manager at the Bogside & Brandywell Health Forum said: “The Health Forum is delighted to take part in this year’s recovery walk.

The Recovery Walk will place at 10am on Saturday, September 30 from Ebrington Square.

“ Gary and his team at ARC Fitness provide such a valuable service to the city; It is a privilege to support such a worthwhile event. For us, the recovery walk is a perfect opportunity to highlight the issues around addiction, how we can better support people in their recovery and it also allows us to remember those who have lost their lives to addiction while enabling us to provide support to their families".

To register for the free of charge Recovery Walk, visit eventbrite.

To learn more about ARC Fitness and the different services it offers or if you would like to partner with ARC in any way, please visit https://arcfitness.co.uk/.