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Dot Smith, Founding Member

CEO, Recovery Connections

Dot is a LERO advocate and CEO of Recovery Connections, a Lived Experience Recovery Organisation based in Middlesbrough and other parts of the North East. She has lived experience of family addiction and trauma and has worked in mental health and addiction support for 38 years.

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Dave Higham, Founding Member

CEO, Warrior Down LERO

Proud to be one of the founding members of CLERO. He has run a Lived Experience Recovery Organisation for 15 years working alongside others to make sure LEROs across the UK have the support and voice they deserve.

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Dave Memery

Founder & CEO of Create Strength Group.

CSG is a LERO in Bradford for chronic problematic use of Cannabis, Spice and Synthetic Substances. He believes Lived Experience is the key to recovery solutions in the treatment and aftercare sector. and that LERO's should be setting and driving the agenda.

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Sohan Singh Sahota

Co-founder, BAC-IN 2 Life Recovery

An Accredited Counsellor / Psychotherapist, experienced in several fields. For almost 30 years, he has been proactive in promoting recovery, inclusion and advocating for ethnic minority user voice across the UK.

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Larry Eve

Operations Manager, The Basement Project.

Managing a long term Lived Experience Recovery Organisation in West Yorkshire, Larry has been a CLERO board member for over two years. He brings lived experience, pushes for authentic, peer led recovery and works to make recovery visible and accessible in every community.  

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Lanre Babalola

Co-Founder & CEO, BUBIC

(Bringing Unity Back Into the Community) is a grassroots peer-led organisation in Tottenham. Lanre draws on lived experience to lead with empathy and authenticity. BUBIC has grown it into a trusted community service, driven by the belief that “the community knows what the community needs.

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James Sadler

CEO, Datus

Representing DATUS in Birmingham, an established LERO of 20 years, using extensive lived experience of addiction and recovery in all their forms. Passionate about developing more effective ways of meeting needs and delivering services led by those most affected.

CLERO ADVISORS

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David Best

David Best - Leeds Trinity University and STAR Recovery

A Professor of Criminology, undertaking research around addiction recovery and desistance from offending, recovery capital, and pathways to addiction recovery.

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Ed Day

Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust and University of Birmingham

The UK government’s drug Recovery Champion, and a clinician who has led the orientating of clinical practice towards recovery and has a research interest in recovery support services and mutual aid.

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Tracey Ford

Operations & Development Manager at Sheffield City Council

Chair of Sheffield Recovery Community & Lead for Inclusive Recovery Cities. Author of Blood Is Thicker Than Alcohol, she’s also the founder of SWIPE Women’s Network, blending lived experience with leadership to drive trauma-informed change across systems and communities.

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