On the fifth anniversary of Amy Winehouse's death, the Amy Winehouse Foundation has teamed up with a housing provider to open a home for women who are recovering from addiction.
The recovery house will be located in east London and will help recovering female addicts to re-enter society. It will be made up of 12 self-contained apartments - four with two beds - and will have the capacity to house 16 women, The Guardian reports.
Named Amy's Place, the facility is focused on the rehabilitation of women, filling a gap for women's-only services in the UK.
Special project director at the Amy Winehouse Foundation Dominic Ruffy says research shows women have a far greater chance or relapse without support.
"There are about six women-only rehabs, and beyond that there's an even greater paucity of women-specific recovery housing beds," he says.
Mr Ruffy himself has himself been in recovery. He says while detoxification and psychological support is important, reintegration into society is equally essential.
"Picture a person who is 14 years old, has come from a broken home, hasn't engaged at school, ends on a path of addiction and winds up at 25-26 years old going to rehab, learning how to get clean, and then leaving rehab and being told to get on with it. It can be as simple as not knowing how to go about getting your benefits or engaging in college.
"Our experience shows if you give people an extended period of time post-traditional rehabilitation treatment, you will improve the percentage of people who stay clean [in the] long term. We have a saying in recovery that the drink and drugs aren't our problem; it's living life clean and sober."
Amy Winehouse died at age 27 from accidental alcohol poisoning.
Newshub.
