Back for its fourth year, Recoverist Month is bringing a new array of exciting events across Manchester and Liverpool.
From horror films to queer workshops, audio poetry tours and the representation of women in recovery through literature, Recoverist Month is well and truly back to challenge public perceptions of substance use and to empower individuals in recovery to reframe how they are represented and understood.
Mark Prest, our Founding Director, says:
“The arts are a powerful tool for positive social change and reframing identities around substance use. Recoverism is an ideology which can help support society to better look at itself, to shift radically how we all work, think, live, love, connect and creatively express ourselves.”
Here is a roundup of what is coming up this September.
A walking trail with a recovery soundtrack
First up, we have If You Could Speak to the World at Northern Roots in Oldham. Spanning 180 acres of woodland, wetland, moorland and meadow, it is the UK’s largest urban farm and eco‑park.
Poet Phil Davenport has been working with members of the recovery community from Turning Point Oldham and Rochdale to co‑create a permanent walking trail, sharing lived experience through poetry. Visitors will be able to download an audio guide directly to their phones and take a guided walk through the eco‑park, highlighting walking in nature as a practice that supports wellbeing. It launches mid- September.
Walk in My Shoes: a live art performance
Artist Maisie Pritchard has been working with people in recovery to co‑create Walk in My Shoes: A Journey of Collective Recovery. The project invites family and friends to metaphorically ‘walk in the shoes’ of their loved ones, underlining that recovery is not just an individual pursuit but a collective, community centred process.
At the heart of the project is a live art event that will invite gallery visitors to create a new art piece called Put Your Foot Down by literally walking all over it. The free two‑day event is at Salford Museum and Art Gallery from 19‑20 September 2026.
Film fans, this one is for you
We have a special screening of three artist films at Stockport Plaza on 29 September, followed by a panel discussion exploring substance use, recovery, mental health and the moving image.
Small Hours is a hand‑painted short animation from BAFTA‑shortlisted Oscar Wyndham Lewis, narrated by actor Robert Bathurst (Downton Abbey, Cold Feet, Toast of London). It explores the grip of substance use and the fragile hope of human connection.
There Is No One What Will Take Care of You is a three‑channel video installation by Dina Fiasconaro, exploring the relationship between a father, daughter and friend whose lives are impacted by substance use.
And Milk is Miranda Stern’s BAFTA‑nominated short documentary exploring maternal loss and substance use.
We are also hosting Recoverist House of Horrors: Making Friends with Your Monsters, where Alex Herod, postgraduate researcher and Portraits of Recovery trustee, will share her work exploring how the horror genre can offer a different way of understanding trauma and supporting recovery.
Workshops for LGBT+ people in recovery
On Saturdays between July and September, we are inviting LGBT+ people in recovery to a series of free artist‑led workshops at the Whitworth. The Things We Dreamed Of… takes the Recoverist Manifesto as a starting point to explore queer creativity and collective imagination, culminating in a final performance with audiences.
That is just a snapshot of what is coming up. Full details of the Recoverist Month 2026 programme will be announced soon! Sign up to our newsletter for more information.