A CAFE helping people fighting addiction is set to be launched.
The launch of what is being tipped as London's first ever 'Recovery Café' will take place at The Corner Stone in Canterbury Road, Leyton, from 6.30pm next Tuesday.
Christina Ball, who works for the Recovery Resource Foundation charity group, has set up the café, which will be run by volunteers recovering from alcohol and drug addiction every Tuesday from 6.30pm to 10pm.
The 51-year-old of Belgrave Road, Walthamstow, said: “The charity creates jobs and opportunities for people that have gone through treatment.
“The café is part of this and will be the first of its kind in London.
“In my line of work, I know a lot of people who are going through recovery. The café will be somewhere people in recovery can come and have a nice evening without the pressures of drugs and alcohol.
“Because there is not a lot of support after treatment, a lot of people will relapse during recovery.
“This will give them different types of support and a chance of employment once we get a grant.”
Mayor of Waltham Forest Masood Ahmad and Leyton MP John Cryer have also been invited to the launch.
There they will meet Isabella, a 36-year-old recovering drug addict who, after 20 years of addiction to crack and heroin, is going to devote one night a week to the café.
Isabella said: “I have been clean for almost a year now.
“I finished a day programme to help me come off crack and heroin. But when you finish it is frustrating to be left to your own devices, without anything to fill your time and without any support.
“The café will give me some sort of structure in my life. In the evenings when people are craving, it is somewhere you can go to recover.
“I wanted to get clean. I had been trying for years and years, but you get to a point where you don't have it in you to keep trying.
“I didn't like the kind of people I was around and I wanted more in my life, but I could not stop.
“A lot of people helped and supported me through my recovery. This is my chance to give something back.
“Obviously we can help put people in the right direction and help them maintain abstinence.
“We want to help people stay clean.”
For more information go to www.recoveryresourcesfoundation.org or contact Christina Ball on 0208 558 2121.
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