More than a dozen men and women marched through Hamilton yesterday to highlight the positive effect of drug recovery programmes.

The annual Recovery Walk, organised by the Salvation Army’s Harbour Light programme, saw participants parade on city streets in bright red shirts, carrying balloons and chanting “Recovery works”.

Augustina Raynor, director of the Salvation Army’s Harbour Light and life-skills programmes, said the walk aimed to help remove the stigma of drug addiction and raise awareness of treatment options.

She added: “Anybody could have a family member struggling and might realise there is a place for people like that. Usually as a result of this we get a lot of phone calls and referrals.

“It’s about promoting what we do, but more importantly to tell the community that recovery is a journey. It’s not easy and they need the support from not just us, but the community. The message is we are happy, we are motivated. The people that work here enjoy working here.

“We are here to rebuild, and I think the beauty is seeing someone come in through the door who has lost all hope, and then you see them leave and they have a job.

“They are paying their bills and they are involved in our aftercare programme.”

Walkers started at Harbour Light’s offices on King Street and stopped at the city offices of insurance giant Chubb, who for the past four years have provided walkers with refreshments.

The march ended at the Bermuda National Sports Centre in Devonshire, where the walkers competed in an annual baton race.

Ms Raynor said: “The race is just fun but the baton symbolises recovery and passing it on to someone else who needs it.”

She added it took courage for participants to admit in public they were fighting addiction.

Ms Raynor said: “This is a public issue and we need to take care of it because people are getting involved younger now. It’s important to spread the word that you can recover.”

Harbour Light has offered residential treatment for people battling addictions since 1977 in a bid to help people cope with social, psychological and educational problems.

Ms Raynor explained: “Some of them may not have basic skills. Some have been out of school since the age of 13 and haven’t written anything in 20 years, so we have formed partnerships with Adult Education and we refer clients to them for classes.

“There is also the spiritual side. We are a Christian, God-centred programme. For us, spirituality is the core that turns the wheel. We don’t force them to be Christians but we do raise awareness of spiritual Christian principles.”

Calvin Ming, Salvation Army director of public relations and development, said the walk was part of an international recovery month.

He said: “This walk is special because in the regular course of addiction treatment they remain anonymous. These ladies and gentlemen have decided to make it known that they want to be recognised as being involved in the process and that if it can work for them it can work for other people.

“Part of the reason for recovery month is to deal with the stigma of addiction. This has historically been a hands-off issue with many people in the community not wanting to hear about it.”