Exploring long-term recovery through The Moving On In My Recovery programme

MOIMR is an acceptance-based cognitive behavioural group programme which aims to bridge the gap between formal treatment and mutual aid. It is targeted at people who have already achieved abstinence through attending treatment services but are now looking for support to maintain that abstinence and have the best possible chances for long-term recovery.

Formal treatment outcomes are not always successful as relapse rates are high. Often clients will drop out or won’t achieve long-term recovery. For example, in 2019/20, only 59% of alcohol treatment clients successfully completed treatment. Service users need ongoing support to maintain their recovery after treatment. The researchers wanted to test the MOIMR programme to see whether it would work in practice and would be appealing to participants, as well as assessing the programme for a larger randomised controlled trial. They wanted to see whether participants would see improvements in psychological flexibility and wellbeing.

The researchers recruited 61 participants in North Wales who were given a questionnaire before the programme started, after the last session and at three months after the programme finished. The questionnaire asked questions about recovery capital, physical and mental health, feelings of avoidance and acceptance. The researchers also ran a focus group to understand the qualitative experiences of the participants.

The results from the study were very good and the participants highly praised the programme. They described in interviews with the researchers how taking part had changed their perspective of what a group-based intervention could be like. Initially they were reluctant but after taking part they realised the benefits of group work.

Participants described the benefits of the structured approach in comparison to other mutual aid groups which do not follow a set framework. Having the structure helped participants feel they were achieving something new each session. Participants also noted that the tools learned in the sessions were useful and applicable in other areas of their lives. As the programme was co-produced and co-facilitated with people with lived experience, the participants felt a strong sense of ‘being on a shared journey’ and not being alone in their experience. One participant said:

“I just thought there was something wrong with me … I have come to realise I can’t help the way I feel and I should accept that it is okay to feel this … No one judged me. In this group I was just accepted for me, who I was, so that I have a problem but that problem doesn’t define me … I’ve learned not to control my thoughts but to go with them … It helped me to stop hating yourself as much for what you had done … Moving On helped me see the bigger picture.”

One of the main pieces of feedback from participants was that the programme should be more widely available to others in recovery. They talked about how the programme could and should be repeated more than once and that after the sessions ended there was a lack of stability which needs to be replaced.

The level of participation in the study was also high enough to enable a randomised controlled trial of the programme in future. This study expands the evidence base on effective forms of support and treatment for people with alcohol problems. Having a wide range of support options is important as not every intervention suits each person. This study highlights the importance of seeing recovery as a long-term journey and the need for continued support after formal treatment has ended.