Lottery funding supports addiction recovery group

The two co-CEOs of STAR Housing smile at the camera whilst holding a large printed sign that features their company's green and pink logo on a white background. Chloe Hollingworth is on the left, has dark hair and is wearing a checked scarf. Zena Browne is on the right, has blond hair, a dark coat and a leopard skin patterned scarf.Image source, STAR Housing
Image caption,

STAR was set up by Chloe Hollingworth (left) and Zena Browne in 2022

  • Published

A charity that works with adults suffering with addiction has received nearly £20,000 in National Lottery funding .

Support Through Addiction Recovery (STAR Housing), based in Bristol, provides residential and day care.

The funding will go towards providing therapy, life skills and relapse prevention workshops, among other activities.

"We only started in May of this year and it's just been amazing, our motto is that the secret to living is giving and this funding covers us for the next two years," said Chloe Hollingworth, Co-CEO of STAR Housing.

'Giving back'

Ms Hollingworth set up STAR along with her friend Zena Browne after they noticed a lack of abstinence-based support in the area.

"We both have lived experience of going through recovery in Bristol and we'd been discussing how we might be able to give back for a couple of years," she said.

"Eventually we just decided to give this a go and the response has been amazing.

"We recently opened our second residence and one day we hope to have four or five of these in Bristol as well as secondary recovery centres where people can stay more temporarily."

STAR currently supports nine live-in residents at their two homes.

The majority of the lottery funding will go towards running their day programme which is open to non-residents who can self-refer as long as they are currently abstaining from both drugs and alcohol.

The National Lottery raises over £30m every week for charitable causes across the UK.

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