Maggie Throup, Solihull’s prospective MP, paid a visit to Changes-UK, a social enterprise organisation supporting recovering drug addicts. Changes runs three ‘dry houses’ across Birmingham and Solihull for recovering addicts who can prove they have been clean for at least 30 days.
 
Ms Throup commented: “I was really impressed with what I saw and learnt at the Solihull house and its support for recovering drug addicts practising abstinence. It wasn’t just a house, it was a home.
 
“Families all across Solihull are affected in many ways by the impact of drug and alcohol addiction and yet time and time again many of the traditional approaches have been shown to fail.
 
“Changes offers an effective and long term solution and just chatting to the residents of the house gave me a real understanding of the help provided for these men to turn their lives around.”
 
Steve Dixon who is the brains behind Changes said: “The support house in Solihull is my third house and I am looking to open more in the future.
 
“I’m delighted Maggie was able to see for herself the impact our approach has on those we support. Our approach is so similar to those proposed by Iain Duncan Smith of the Centre for Social Justice, who is also an ex-Silhillian.”