AWARD-winning Keighley drug and alcohol agency Project 6 has launched a crowdfunding campaign to share the stories of six people it works with.

Recovering Our Stories is a comic-style book spotlighting people’s experiences of addiction, their struggles with mental health and their life in recovery.

Told through their own words, the powerful accounts demonstrate how the issues raised can affect anyone – regardless of age, gender or background – and challenge some of the misconceptions that exist.

Author Glenn Hustler spoke to participants in the structured recovery programme run by Project 6 two years ago about the venture and since then has documented the conversations.

“The stories are from a range of people from different backgrounds,” says Glenn.

“My work aims to address some of the stigma that still surrounds the issue of addiction.

“By telling the stories of people in recovery in full, I hope to shed some light on a subject that affects so many and yet is so little understood.”

Recovering Our Stories was initially sold as a run of 100 copies.

But now Project 6 is selling advanced copies of a second print, which it hopes will reach a wide audience.

Recovery worker, Sam Broadley, said: “I hope the scope of this is wider than the people and services we usually communicate with. They already understand what we do and why we do it.

“My hope is that a few people read the stories who don’t understand what we do or what addiction and recovery are about.”

The crowdfunding campaign was launched to coincide with Alcohol Awareness Week.

This year, Project 6 – which has been supporting people with drug and alcohol issues for more than three decades – has seen a sharp rise in the number of people needing support around drinking.

A spokesman said: “Alcohol is a part of many of our lives – we use it for celebration, comfort, to socialise, to wind down and sometimes to cope. It is legal, socially acceptable, even encouraged.

“For some, increased financial pressures, boredom and ongoing uncertainty have brought them to a point where alcohol is having a harmful impact on their lives. For every person who contacts us, there are many who continue to struggle.”

Recovering Our Stories is available to buy through crowdfunder.co.uk/recovery-stories. Orders before Monday, November 30, are guaranteed delivery for Christmas. Half the profits from sales will go to Project 6.