Recovery Communities and Ambassadors

The Hampshire County Council Public Health Department is commissioning services to support the expansion of its Recovery Ambassador programme under the Hampshire Strategic Drug and Alcohol Partnership. The goal is to reduce stigma, build recovery communities, and promote early help‑seeking for people affected by drug and alcohol dependence in the Havant, Gosport and Fareham districts. The work will create a network of trained ambassadors—individuals who have personally experienced substance‑use challenges and are now in recovery—to provide peer support, share lived experience, inspire others, and facilitate connections that promote sustained recovery.

Under this contract, the contractors will recruit, train and mentor Recovery Ambassadors, develop local recovery communities, and deliver outreach activities that encourage participation in treatment and recovery paths. The deliverables include the design of community engagement strategies, facilitation of peer‑led support groups, and the production of evaluation reports that measure the impact of reduced stigma and increased community participation. The programme will operate across the three specified districts, involving local partnerships and maintaining close collaboration with public health professionals to ensure services are responsive to community needs.

The service providers must supply ambassadors who are actively in recovery, offer them comprehensive training and ongoing support, and ensure the programme is implemented in line with evidence‑based peer support protocols that facilitate contact and connection with people who have lived experience.

The Hampshire Public Health Strategy 2023-2026 aims to reduce the number of residents harmed by drugs and alcohol by providing high quality prevention, treatment and recovery services.
In Hampshire, there are an estimated 2,100 people who use opiates and/or crack, and around 9,000 people who are alcohol‑dependent and not currently in treatment. In addition, over 5,000 people are engaged in drug and alcohol treatment and continue to experience significant vulnerability.
People with drug and alcohol needs, whether they are accessing support or not, are among our most vulnerable residents. Substance use can have a profound impact on health, families and local communities. Individuals are often marginalised and stigmatised by communities, services and employers, and this stigma creates additional barriers to seeking help, sustaining recovery, improving quality of life and participating fully in community life.
A priority for the Hampshire Strategic Drug and Alcohol Partnership (HSDAP), led by Hampshire County Council Public Health, is to reduce stigma and strengthen local systems so people can seek help early, recover, and participate fully in community life. Engagement and co-production with people with lived experience of drug and/or alcohol dependency is central to this programme of work.
In 2025 Hampshire County Council undertook a literature review to identify evidence-based interventions to address drug and alcohol related stigma. This review indicated there is significant potential to reduce stigma through facilitating contact and connections with people with lived experience. There is also growing evidence on the effectiveness of peer support programmes in the community to enable longer term recovery. Hampshire County Council have an established Recovery Ambassador programme to develop recovery communities in Havant, Gosport and Fareham districts.
Recovery Ambassadors are people with experience of drug /alcohol dependence who are now in recovery, and with training and support, are able to use their experience to help, engage and inspire others to choose or maintain their recovery from drug and/or alcohol use.

Contract location: UKJ36
Communication: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/hampshire/aspx/Home
Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted: En
Enquiry deadline: 2026-07-10T14:00:59+01:00
Submission address and any special instructions: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/hampshire/aspx/Home
Tenders may be submitted electronically: allowed
Award decision date (estimated): 2026-10-02T23:59:59+01:00

Lot number: 1
Lot value (estimated)
718.000,00 GBP excluding VAT
718.000,00 GBP including VAT
This contract is subject to renewal: Yes
Description of renewals: There is 1 contract extension with a maximum duration of 1 year and 0 month, and a value ex VAT of £ 170,000

Award criteria:

Name	Type	Weighting
Quality criterion 1 (Lot 0)	quality	25%
Quality criterion 2 (Lot 0)	quality	25%
Quality criterion 3 (Lot 0)	quality	15%
Quality criterion 4 (Lot 0)	quality	15%
Quality criterion 5 (Lot 0)	quality	10%
Quality criterion 6 (Lot 0)	quality	10%