A £150,000 grant from Benefact Trust, a UK-based Christian development organisation, is helping fund an ambitious expansion programme by faith-based addiction recovery charity, Street Connect.

Street Connect works to end addiction through a "bio-psycho-social and spiritual" recovery programme. Working with local churches, the charity provides people with the chance to be part of a loving, supportive community.

The three-year strategy will see Street Connect establishing partnerships with a number of churches across the UK, allowing them to open their own Street Connect Project.

The vision is to create a base in the heart of each community, transforming local communities one by one, and the first two projects have already opened in Glasgow. 

Five in total are planned for this year, with several to launch in September. These will be followed by another 10 in 2024 and 15 in 2025.

"We are delighted at the way the two newest Street Connect projects are having such an immediate impact in their local communities," said Street Connect's Partnership Coordinator, Stephen Smith.

"Local church partnerships are essential to reach those caught and trapped in lives of addiction, and we are praying and planning to introduce an additional three this year across Scotland, and 30 across the UK in the next three years." 

Street Connect has also been approved by the Cinnamon Network as an official Cinnamon Project, opening up the possibility of working with even more churches across the UK.

"We have been running the outreach for our new partnership with Hope Church over the last few weeks. I have already been engaging with people in one-to-one support. We have been seeing a positive response from the community, with over 100 encounters in the street," said Martin McLeod, a Street Connect Project Worker.

"The need is there as the drug death rates remain high. I am looking forward to seeing the impact our services will have in the year ahead."