Recovery walk marks International Overdose Awareness Day
East Ayrshire hosted its annual #KnowYourRoute walk to help raise awareness of local support services, and provide a time to remember, without stigma, those who have died and acknowledge the grief of the family and friends left behind.
International Overdose Awareness Day took place on Saturday 31 August, and is the world’s largest annual campaign to end overdose.
Organised by the East Ayrshire Lived Experience Panel with support from East Ayrshire Alcohol and Drug Partnership, East Ayrshire Recovery Network and With You, this year’s #KnowYourRoute walk started its journey from Ayrshire College, taking participants through Kilmarnock town centre, passing a number of support services.
The march paused at Kilmarnock Water near the Palace Theatre to take part in a rose ceremony. During this poignant remembrance service, friends and family members took a rose in memory of a lost loved one to place in the river.
Walkers then joined a new event for 2024 at Kay Park for refreshments and a chance to connect through a community family fun day activities. Hot food was provided in kind from the Rapid Relief Team cooking tents, and all activities were free to all the community, which included: a bouncy castle and climbing wall, beat the goalie, pony rides, a DJ act, mindfulness and wellbeing sessions, information stalls and naloxone training.
Lyndsey Higgins, an East Ayrshire Lived Experience Panel member, said: “This year’s theme for International Overdose Awareness Day is ‘Together we can’, and aims to highlight the strength of communities standing together.
“The events that we are supporting showcase how our community is standing together; those with lived experience, friends and families, and our support services, all focussed on showing compassion and a determination to end overdose. This includes making support for those who have experienced non-fatal overdose more easily accessible, whether that is for drugs, alcohol or mental health, so they get the right support at the right time.
“This is our third consecutive year of the East Ayrshire #KnowYourRoute event. It underlines the importance of knowing about not only the risks associated with drug use and overdose, but the support on offer to individuals, their friends and family, and our wider communities.
“Acknowledging this year’s theme of ‘Together we can’, awareness in the community has underpinned the event planning, which has led to something new for 2024 – a family friendly afternoon of activities and education opportunities in Kay Park that we are all very much looking forward to.”
