Plans are afoot for a new rehabilitation centre and transition flats at Hamilton Accies Football Club.
Situated in the North Stand and stadium grounds, if passed the fully secure 'Recovery and Wellbeing Village' will anchor a 20-bed rehabilitation centre, with a further 20 supported transition flats where people struggling with addiction will attend while receiving round the clock support and treatment.
A blueprint, seen by Lanarkshire Live, shows proposals for the centre to incorporate a gym, lecture/cinema room, therapy rooms, meeting rooms and landscaped gardens.
It is also proposed that a blend of one and two bed flats will provide flexibility for children visiting or potentially for shared living, as well as being used by anyone requiring transition support, such as recently released prisoners who face challenging housing options.
It is understood the village will be part of a unique and connected ecosystem where collaboration between various different sectors and social landlords will allow varying approaches to rehabilitation, recovery and wellbeing across Lanarkshire to be tested and demonstrated.
Hamilton Accies chief executive Colin McGowan is pushing forward the plans. He told Lanarkshire Live: "The increasing drug deaths, especially when combined with alcohol deaths and lives lost to suicide makes transformational thinking, collaborative working, and radical action a necessity.
"A Recovery and Wellbeing Village creates the ecosystem to make this happen and collaborative public, social and private partnerships provides the foundation for sustainable and impactable change.
"Our village would be a first of type in the country and would be a demonstrator and a blueprint that could be replicated across Scotland. We would join the dots and leverage synergies to overcome system barriers and achieve the recovery and wellbeing outcomes we know are possible.
"We are committed to making it happen and we are seeking partners to help translate the vision into reality."
Hamilton Accies have long since operated impactful poverty alleviation, social inclusion and wellbeing enhancement outreach programmes within the community, already singposting people with addiction issues to the 12-step recovery programme.
The club has also run the successful Blameless charity, which supports families and people affected by addiction, and also runs the Hamilton Accies Community Trust.
As it stands, the club currently has 23,600sq ft of space in the north stand, previously rented as office space and has spare land in the stadium grounds where it hopse to house the Village.
Colin added: "Our 'Recovery and Wellbeing Village' would nurture and equip people across Scotland who struggle with substance misuse to recover from anything that is stopping them from fulfilling their potential and thriving in their life.
"We will offer the very best recovery network which includes therapy, support, children's wellbeing, a learning platform, cycle outreach and wellbeing, family group support and more to build recovery resilience and empower people to lead a healthy, drug/addiction free life within the community."
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