Reports and Resources
Research Reports
Patchworked Care: Exploring experiences of care proceedings for mothers who use substances and the professionals who support them
Published in December 2025, the Patchworked Care project report contains information about the project. Following an introduciton (including literature review and information on methodology), we present each part of our project, including lessons learnt from that particular part of the work. At the end of the report, we present key recommendations for supporting mothers in addiction/recovery and involved in care proceedings: (1) Building a shared basis of understanding across sectors; (2) Boosting existing practice; and (3) Developing novel service innovations.
Download the report here: Patchworked Care: Exploring experiences of care proceedings for mothers who use substances and the professionals who support them
"They've got to be a gem": Co-designing an Independent Recovery and Child Protection Advocacy Role for the North East
Published in March 2026, “They’ve got to be a gem” is a report that documents the outcomes from a research project about Independent Advocacy for mothers in recovery who are also involved in care proceedings. It outlines lessons learnt from meeting with more than 50 individuals with lived and learned experience of providing, accessing, needing, or working with independent advocates. The report outlines the skills and attributes that might be needed for the implementation of such an independent advocacy role in the North East.
Download the report here: “They’ve got to be a gem”: Co-designing an Independent Recovery and Child Protection Advocacy role for the North East of England
Useful resources for support services
A good practice guide to supporting mothers in recovery: A poster
You can download a printable poster of our tree of opportunity here to share information on how to improve support mothers in recovery. We provide the poster in four colours, all of which contain the same information.
You can download the poster here: Patchworked Care A3 poster
Women's Wellbeing Compass: An activity book for mothers in recovery experiencing care proceedings
The Women’s Wellbeing Compass was co-designed with women in recovery who have experience of care proceedings. it is an activity book for mothers in recovery going through care proceedings and the staff who support them — to reflect on their own needs, develop understanding of their needs, and be a resource for support workers and advocates to better represent the mothers’ needs.
Download the Women’s Wellbeing Compass activity book here: Women’s Wellbeing Compass: An activity book by and for mothers in recovery going through care proceedings.
Please contact Angelika (angelika.strohmayer@northumbria.ac.uk) to ask about receiving physical copies of the booklet and/or for the version that can be sent to professional printers.
Sophia Anne Delaval: The Story of Sophy
This is a documentation of the story of Sophia Anne Delaval, produced as part of the We are Wildflower Women project. This booklet contains information about Sophia Anne’s story, including details on her experiences linked to drugs, potential domestic abuse, and loss of the care of her son in his early years.
You will soon be able to download the booklet here.
Quilts and other crafted artefacts
"The System's Broken? No shit."
An interactive quilt
We produced a roughly 1.5m by 2.5m sized interactive quilt, documenting women’s lived experiences of going through care proceedings while in addiction and/or on their recovery journeys. The quilt is primarily made of calico cotton fabric, with a bamboo wadding. It is covered in patches of printed cotton containing quotes from workshops with women. The quilt also contains hand embroidered felt pieces, printed coloured card containing information about themes and sub-themes in the data, and printed QR codes connected to hidden webpages with further information and reading lists.
A good practice guide for supporting mothers in recovery: An interactive quilt
We produced a roughly 80cm by 1.2m sized quilt highlighting lessons learnt from working with women over an eleven-week creative programme. We present our findings in the shape of a tree, presenting lessons learnt for recovery services that support mothers: roots that represent the underlying ethos, the trunk that represents women’s readiness to engage, and branches that point towards what might become possible. The quilt also contains felt leaves that were embellished by support staff across various sectors as well as women with lived experience at a public event we hosted in November 2025.
Sophia Anne Delaval and the wildflower women: An interactive quilt
Inspired by National Trust’s Seaton Delaval Hall’s history, women in recovery co-created an interactive quilt. The quilt celebrates the blossoming of spring, the opportunities for blossoming that come with recovery, and Sophia Anne Delaval’s lifestory.
The quilt also integrates quotes about quiltmaking and quilts about recovery and wellbeing form the Quilt Alliance Quilters Save Our Stories archive.
The picture of Sophia Anne Delaval that is central to this quilt can be lifted to reveal a later painting of her as well as a poem about quilts written by Dee, one of the women who participated in this project.
Please get in touch with Angelika (angelika.strohmayer@northumbria.ac.uk) to find out more about the projects and to talk about exhibiting this work.