'˜Recovery rocks' hidden across Wakefield

Thousands of people across the world have been embarking on the hunt to look for ‘recovery rocks’ - and now the craze has arrived in Wakefield.

Inspiring Recovery Wakefield, which provides supports to people living in the city with drug and alcohol problems, has joined in with the scheme by creating multiple ‘recovery rocks’ for the Wakefield community to find and enjoy.

Each rock has been individually hand-painted by service users, peer mentors and staff at the Union Street-based service.

The rocks depict colourful, positive and inspiring small artworks on one side of each face with inspiring messages printed on them.

The artists have drawn inspiration from their experience of recovery and from those that have supported them throughout their journey.

“It has been great fun painting and designing the Recovery Rocks,” said Anne Boid of Inspiring Recovery Wakefield.

“Being able to design beautiful artwork and then get out and about in the local parks to hide the rocks and share with the community, has been a really positive activity for all those here at Inspiring Recovery Wakefield.

“We really hope our recovery rocks bring a smile to the local community and more people get involved and create their own rocks to hide.”

The activity ties in with Recovery Month, which is celebrated nationally every September.

The rocks will be hidden across various locations including Thornes Park, Wakefield and Queens Park in Castleford on Friday, September 21.

People that find a ‘recovery rock’ are given to choice to either keep it, or move the rock on to a new location.

Any rocks that are found can also be shared on Facebook so painters can track where their rocks travels.

For the latest updates on the Wakefield scheme and to see where the rocks travel, you can follow the progress by using the hashtag #RecoveryRocks on Twitter or Facebook.

To find out more about the Inspiring Recovery Wakefield group, visit the website at bit.ly/2Ozl9iO.