About us

Photo of Breaking The Cycle of Addiction

What we do

At The Living Room we provide free, facilitated group therapy, using psycho-dynamic, psycho-therapeutic, CBT, person-centred approaches. We support the 12-step programme and actively encourage people accessing our service to attend 12-step fellowship groups alongside our treatment programme.  

• Registered charity from 2000 
• Supporting Hertfordshire adult residents committed to abstaining from their addiction
• All addictions supported: drugs, alcohol and behavioural
• Additional specialist groups for Disordered Eating and Drugs
• Family and Carers weekly, facilitated, peer support group 
• Professionally trained counsellors with lived experience (Level 3+)
• Daytime services which are free and non-time-limited
• Three location-based hubs in Stevenage, St Albans, Watford 
• Delivering Families Living in Recovery (FLiR) project in partnership with Relate and Family Lives
• We have supported over 7000 people to full recovery over 22 years
• Semi-anonymised reporting to National Drug Treatment Monitoring Service NDTMS
• Monitoring tools used: Recovery Wheel (inc.NHS PHQ-9 Depression Scale, NHS GAD-7 Anxiety Scale), TOP form, questionnaires, client stories and evaluations

How we do it

• Collaborative working with Spectrum (CGL) and Emerging Futures
• Mindful Employer
• Charity Excellence Framework Quality Mark
• Real Living Wage Employer
• Disability Confident Committed organisation
• Valuing Volunteer Management quality mark
• Fundraising Regulator registration
• Members of Association of Addiction Professionals, ACEVO (Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations)

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Photo of The Living Room - Theroy of change for the client

Our approach incorporates:

Therapy within a group with that has a shared commitment to the goal of abstinence

The powerful motivational effect upon people living with addiction that comes from this shared aspiration cannot be underestimated, as they are supported and challenged on a daily basis to grow, develop and overcome their addiction.

Well recognised counselling and therapy practices

Our structured day treatment employs cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and solution focused therapy to enable people accessing our services to maintain motivation, manage their using triggers and sustain recovery.

"When you’ve come from a place of isolation and then step into a room where everyone understands and shares with you it’s amazing.”

A spiritual dimension to recovery

We actively encourage and support our clients to embark on a spiritual journey as part of their recovery. In the 12-Step tradition we encourage clients to develop a relationship with a higher power (whether this be their own particular religion’s conceptions of God, or something more abstract such as human potential, love or nature). We have many times seen the inspiration, joy and comfort that clients have found through exploring the spiritual dimension to life, whether through meditation, worship, prayer or contemplation.

"When you then go into group and everyone introduces themselves to you it’s a feeling of total love."

Recovery services for all addictions

Whilst many come to us with addictions to drugs and alcohol, we also help those with behavioural addictions.

The benefits of recovery:

Photo of The Benefits of Recovery

Fully qualified counsellors that are themselves in long term recovery from an addiction

The Counsellors on our team are all fully qualified (diploma level or higher) and have each at least five years of long-term recovery from their addiction. This personal experience of addiction helps reinforce the integrity of the approach in the eyes of the clients.

"You come here broken, scared and nervous and the first counsellor you meet is someone who says, ‘I’ve been there too’. When they said that to me I felt special."

Help with practical matters

We provide support and advocacy with, amongst other things, reuniting with children in care, money management and debt, re-entering the workplace, family mediation, family relationship building, and access to other services.

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Reporting and Analysis:

Annual Reports

Our annual returns are submitted to the Charity Commission and can be viewed here:

2022/23 Annual Report

2021/22 Annual Report

2020/21 Annual Report

2019/20 Annual Report

2018/19 Annual Report

2017/18 Annual Report

Impact Analysis

Impact Analysis Report 2023

Impact Analysis Report 2022

Impact Analysis Report 2021

Impact Analysis Report 2020