Dec 3, 2022: Broadway Lodge, a renowned abstinence-based residential treatment centre for addiction located in Weston-super-Mare, are celebrating an award win at the European Awards in Medicine this week. They were selected by a judging panel as a finalist along with four other treatment centres across Europe in the ‘Addiction Treatment’ category. Broadway Lodge was chosen as the winner, announced at the award ceremony held in central Paris on Tuesday night. The European Awards in Medicine was established to ‘reward talent, perseverance and dedication’ of organisations and individual professionals from across Europe in the medical sector.
Charlotte Thorpe, Marketing Officer at Broadway Lodge accepted the award. Thanking the judging panel for choosing Broadway Lodge, she also said “We truly love what we do and the work that is done here is often life-changing and sometimes, life-saving. So to be recognised is a massive achievement for us and we are really proud…We’ll continue to treat addiction with compassion, understanding, warmth, kindness and empathy and look forward to treating many other people who come through our doors in the coming months and years ahead.”
Following the awards evening, she also said “Addiction is an illness, not a choice, and we like to think that we give people the love, compassion, empathy and guidance that they need to get well and to begin to grow again into the people they were always meant to be. We love what we do and are truly passionate about the care we provide. We are so proud and honoured to receive this accolade, recognition of the work that we do to return lives addiction has taken away. We are extremely happy to win this award, especially after riding the storm that coronavirus brought over the last couple of years. Thank you to the European Awards in Medicine and to every member of staff and our amazing volunteers.”
Founded in 1974, Broadway Lodge has been treating addiction for almost 50 years, helping thousands to overcome addictions to a range of substances and behaviours including alcohol, illicit and prescription drugs, gambling, sex and gaming. It was the first treatment centre in Europe to introduce the spiritual 12 step programme into the schedule and it continues to remain important to Broadway Lodge today because of its success in helping addicts to sustain recovery for life.
However, not everything has stayed the same. The staff at Broadway Lodge encourage clients to change their attitudes, beliefs and behaviours in order to get well, and Broadway Lodge’s trustees and staff team believe in a philosophy that an organisation should evolve too. Despite being lucky enough to enjoy a well-respected reputation in the sector for decades, Broadway Lodge doesn’t take this for granted and assume that the model should stay the same. They are keen to adapt their offering and seek to improve, aiming for the highest quality of compassionate, person-centred addiction treatment that gives individuals the best chance to flourish in their recovery for the rest of their life.
In recent years and during the challenging coronavirus period, they have made changes both aesthetically to the building but also to the treatment programme, adapting and enhancing the treatment here to really give clients the best possible chance of a long-term recovery and to ensure that everything they deliver is provided with compassion at the core. They have introduced additional specialist treatments including EMDR and Hypnotherapy. Staff have undergone training in compassion and Compassion Focused Therapy is being delivered so that staff and their clients are taught to cultivate self-compassion and compassion for others which, in itself, is argued to bring about a large number of benefits to mental and emotional health. Last year a large-scale refurbishment project was completed and a dated and slightly punishing behaviour change system was removed.
It’s not only the individuals themselves that Broadway Lodge work with to improve their life and future, but relatives of anyone who’s well-being has suffered as a result of a loved ones addiction, with the online Family Programme they run every month.