Mulberry Community Project was registered as a non profit making charity on 26th April 2007 with the intent of assisting people in recovery to find long term abstinence from all mind altering substances. It was formed because there was little if any support around for people post detox/rehab coming back into society with the normal process of going back into their addiction and becoming a using addict again. The failure rate for this situation was around 80% at that time. We operate small cell recovery houses where people are given a safe and secure environment where they can learn about themselves and their addiction and reintegrate themselves back into society.
We now operate 9 houses, we have a capability for 29 people, we have 6 paid staff and 5 volunteers. Of the houses 8 are totally abstinent based houses and recently we have opened a low dose house where people coming out of prison, or have recently come out of prison but still on a low dose of methadone (30ml) can come while they do a reduction programme aiming towards abstinence. This was set up in conjunction with the Lancashire Police Commissioner and Horizon the Blackpool commissioned drug and alcohol service.
It was obvious that with some support this failure rate could be altered however that support was not happening. Mulberry went live and operational in May 2010 with its first house which was provided by Green Pastures from Southport. We had very limited funding (£250) however we did have a business plan and we knew it would work given time. We operated completely on volunteers with volunteers doing everything. Within a short time we had filled the first house and referrals were coming in. We opened our second house when the finances allowed and we have operated the same way ever since.
Plans for the future are to continue what we are doing, work together with Green Pastures and trust in the Lord for our future to lead and guide us.
Enjoy the real story video from Mulbery Community Project.