Adferiad Recovery: A New Era in the Welsh Charity Sector

Four charities in Wales joined together on 1st April 2021 to become Adferiad Recovery, a new organisation which will provide support for vulnerable people in Wales and their families and carers. Adferiad Recovery will have a particular focus on people with mental health problems, substance misuse problems, and those with co-occurring and complex needs.

The merging charities are:

• Adferiad Recovery, based in South Wales, provides services for people with co-occurring mental health and substance misuse conditions and related issues
• CAIS, based in North Wales, provides substance misuse services, employment, mental health, and veterans’ services across Wales
• Hafal, based in South Wales, supports mental health service users, carers and other vulnerable groups across Wales
• WCADA, based in South Wales, provides substance misuse services in Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend and the Public Prisons at Swansea, Cardiff, Usk and Prescoed.

CAIS, Hafal and WCADA had recently worked together to form Adferiad Recovery as a new charity. This enabled the charities to work together more closely, and the four have now merged into this new single charity.

Alun Thomas, former Chief Executive of Hafal, has been appointed Chief Executive of the new charity. Karen Ozzati (WCADA CEO) will continue to work as part of the Executive Team; Clive Wolfendale (CAIS CEO) will take up a position on the new Board.

Mr Thomas commented: “Our clients have told us that a person with complex needs deserves to be treated as a whole person, not a collection of diagnoses requiring multiple referrals to different organisations. This merger is our response to them.

“The merged organisation will bring together the broad range of skills, knowledge and experience of dedicated teams who are passionate about making a difference in the lives of the people and communities we serve: by combining our expertise we will be able to support clients with complex needs to plan and achieve recovery.

“All of the charities are successful and there is no plan for reductions in services or staff: indeed we aim to expand our present projects and develop new services in response to what clients, carers and families want from us.

“The charities have been working closely for some time now, and the merger builds on our great partnership arrangements. Providing our service to the highest standards remains our top priority. We look forward to a new era in recovery service delivery in Wales.”

A Q and A leaflet describing our plans can be downloaded here

If you would like a hard copy, please contact info@adferiad.org.uk