A LIFELINE charity in Bradford has started a new project to help people in the city recovering from varies types of addiction.

SHARE Recovery is a new initiative being hosted at the Piccadilly Project in the city centre to help put daily structure back into the lives of Bradford's recovering community.

More than 60 people turned up to a Recovery Rocks celebration at the charity's base in Auburn House, Upper Piccadilly, to mark the start of the abstinence based service to get recovering addicts back into the community with more skills and confidence.

Mehnaz Bibi, who is a senior practitioner and volunteer lead at the charity, said stigma and stereotyping around addictions are still making some people reluctant to get the help they need.

"We want to breakdown those stigmas and stereotypes. When people are in certain situations they can't see the light at the end of the tunnel and it can be difficult for them to make the first move to get the support they need. There is support here in Bradford. It helps when they hear other people's recovery stories and they think if they can do it, I can too," she said.

The idea of the SHARE afternoon activity sessions, open to anyone in any kind of recovery, is to try and build a community to motivate each other.

People turning up to the afternoon sessions will get the chance to learn new skills from cooking to creative writing and IT as a way of keeping structure to their day.

"Structure is a massive part of recovery. It gives people something to get up with and get on with their day. It gives them something new to do instead of slipping back into old ways. When you become addicted you lose structure," said Piccadilly peer mentor Tim Pearson.

As well as the new SHARE service, which is the community outreach part of the Piccadilly Project,there is also a breakfast club open to the public twice a week on a Tuesday and Thursday to promote health and wellbeing, attracting up to 200 people.

"It offers a safe and sobre environment and has been a major source of referrals, directing people to get more support from other services in the district," added Miss Bibi.

Help is also available for family and friends and there is an open-access drop-in session at the Project every morning with a trained worker on hand at all times to deal with any crisis.

To find out more about getting confidential advice, information and support service for over 18s, contact The Piccadilly Project, part of a national charity called Lifeline, on 01274 735775.