Celebrating Inclusive Recovery Cities: Reflections from the First International Inclusive Recovery Cities Conference, Galway

David Best and Mags Dillon

June 2026

There have now been three key milestones in the emergence of the Inclusive Recovery Cities movement:

1. The initial events in Ghent and Gothenburg culminating in the original research paper in 2017 by David Best and Charlotte Colman^[1]

2. The launch event of Building Recovery In Middlesbrough (BRIM) at the Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough in May 2023

3. And now the first ever International Inclusive Recovery Cities event held in the beautiful Irish coastal city of Galway on 9^th June, 2026.

In this blog, we reflect on the first International Inclusive Recovery Cities Conference in Galway and explore how it has strengthened the IRC movement and fostered meaningful international connections. The event proved to be much more than a conference; it became a gathering of people, places and partnerships committed to demonstrating what happens when recovery is made visible, valued and embedded within civic life.

Celebrating Inclusive Recovery Cities

While much of the early work has been undertaken in a cluster of cities in the north of England, Ireland has provided considerable innovation and impetus in particular in the cities of Galway, Dublin and Waterford, with Galway having hosted a launch event in 2024, showcasing local achievements and commitments while demonstrating how lived experience leadership, meaningful partnerships and community collaboration form the foundations of an Inclusive Recovery City.

From the first launch event in Middlesbrough, and even before, it has been apparent that the IRC events have been a source of both inspiration and motivation, where host cities are able to showcase recovery activities and civic contributions while visitors learn and share, make new connections and create individual and organisational bonds. People will leave the events both fired up with what they have seen and inspired to move this forward in their own areas. Each event has catalysed activity among all of the participants while strengthening the bond and the commitment to the IRC movement. The spirit of sharing and openness has been really notable and has built genuine bonds of trust and reciprocity. 

This has also been the experience with the UK quarterly events; they act as both a celebration of what has gone before and inspire and promote future energies and endeavours, based on new relationships, innovative ideas and renewed commitment and energy. There is a pride in belonging to the IRC community that is gathering momentum and driving innovation.

What did the Galway event consist of?

This was evident once again at the International IRC conference in June, launched by the Mayor of Galway, who reflected on his pride in the way the recovery community has become an integral part of civic life in Galway and of how inspiring the recovery community has become in the City. The programme was shaped by the voices and experiences of local, regional, national and international recovery champions, advocates and allies, alongside a wonderful performance from Galway's Recovery Choir, ‘On the Right Track’.

It was wonderful to have inputs from the US (from Declan Murphy and Buddy Gerber from Texas Tech) and from Belgium (from Evelien Lootens-Stael of Ghent University), the core of the day was based on achievements in Ireland and in England. There was a wonderful continuity of input with Evelien providing the thread from the earliest events in Ghent and focusing on women’s unique needs and contributions in recovery, while Middlesbrough was represented not only by a team from the wonderful Recovery Connections but also by their commissioner, Jonathan Bowden.

Jonathan presented as part of a commissioner double act, alongside Mark Harrison, the commissioner for drug and alcohol services in Darlington, also in the north-east of England. Both have been long-term supporters of recovery and were able to showcase how service commissioners can create opportunities and stability for Lived Experience Recovery Organisations, that is crucial in sustaining long-term recovery efforts. 

The sense of continuity was supplemented by innovation and the inputs from Galway and Waterford were particularly powerful, providing ample evidence of the indomitability of the human spirit, the living principles of being ‘better than well’ and the role that genuine meaningful human connection plays in building hope and meaning in the lives of individuals, families and communities.

While every Inclusive Recovery City develops in its own way, the Galway conference reflected many of the principles that have become synonymous with the movement. It celebrated the achievements of each participating city, while creating space for learning, broadening perspectives on pathways to recovery and strengthening relationships that will continue long after delegates returned home.

This offered a tangible demonstration of what an Inclusive Recovery City looks like in practice. Recovery was not presented as a policy aspiration or theoretical concept. It was evident in the people with lived experience welcoming delegates and coordinating the event, the partnerships on display, the Recovery Choir, the stories and examples of inspiring and innovative work shared throughout the day and the countless examples of people contributing positively to their communities. The conference itself reflected the collaborative ethos that COMPASS Recovery Hub in Galway has promoted since its inception, bringing together people with lived experience, community organisations, researchers, public services and civic leadership around a shared vision that recovery should be visible, inclusive and celebrated.

This visibility matters. It helps to replace stigma with understanding and demonstrates that recovery communities are valuable civic assets, enriching the social, cultural and economic life of a city. It shifts the conversation from asking how communities support recovery, to recognising how recovery communities strengthen cities. The conference also reinforced a lesson that has become increasingly clear across the IRC movement: no single organisation creates an Inclusive Recovery City. Success comes from building trust, sharing leadership, creating opportunities and working collectively towards a common vision. Recovery becomes sustainable when it becomes everybody's business.

Perhaps the most significant outcome of the Galway gathering was the sense that the Inclusive Recovery Cities movement has entered a new phase of development. What began as an innovative concept connecting a small number of cities has evolved into an international community, linked by shared values of hope, inclusion, citizenship and social justice. There was a genuine energy throughout the conference, with one delegate reflecting: “It was a great celebration of recovery and the power of connection was palpable”. New collaborations were formed, existing partnerships strengthened and conversations quickly turned from celebrating achievements to asking, "Where do we go next?" The focus is no longer simply on creating individual Inclusive Recovery Cities, but on building an international network where cities actively support, learn from and inspire one another.

The incredible energy and enthusiasm generated throughout the day was reflected in the extraordinary wave of feedback and social media blizzard that followed. A recurring message after the conference was the importance of authentic connection with one delegate saying “I don’t think I ever made so many connections at a conference”. Delegates reflected that what made Galway different was not simply the quality of the presentations but the connections made, the openness and willingness to share ideas across countries, organisations and lived experience.

Many commented that they were returning home not only inspired but equipped with practical ideas and renewed determination to strengthen recovery communities within their own cities. Perhaps most importantly, Galway demonstrated that social capital is not an abstract theory; it is built through relationships, trust, shared purpose and opportunities for people with lived experience to lead and contribute meaningfully within their communities.

So, what next for the Inclusive Recovery Cities movement?

The aim of the Inclusive Recovery Cities movement is not world domination (although both of us suspect that the world would be a much better place if run by recovery communities), but to replicate exactly the kind of social capital that has been shown to predict effective individual journeys of hope and flourishing. That is communities are connected to each other to provide and receive support, so that they ‘matter’ in the sense that they both feel valued and add value^[2].  And like the connections that underpin individual recovery, these connections inspire hope and have ripple effects into each community. The aim is to create a constellation that shines brightly generating new stars, new pathways and a brighter sky inspiring and supporting addiction recovery in growing and more connected communities.

The connections created in Galway demonstrated that the future of Inclusive Recovery Cities will not be built by individual areas or organisations acting alone. Rather, it will be shaped by connected communities, courageous leadership and passionate people who continue to believe that recovery should be visible, celebrated and available to everyone. The experience in Galway demonstrated that Inclusive Recovery Cities are not simply places; they are living ecosystems of collective commitment, hope, purpose and belonging, built through collaborative relationships, shared leadership and meaningful participation. There is much to do, before the movement gathers again in Darlington next year.

^[1] BEST, David and COLMAN, Charlotte (2018). Let’s celebrate recovery. Inclusive Cities working together to support social cohesion. Addiction Research and Theory, 27 (1), 55-64.

^[2] PRILLELTENSKY, I. (2020) mattering at the intersection of psychology, philosophy, and politics. American Journal of Community Psychology, 65 (1-2), 16-34.