SDF is organising two linked events which centre living experience in the development of policy and practice. This is a change in approach to delivering our annual conference but reflects a broader alignment with how SDF operates.
On August 26th Advocates for Change will bring together a powerful mix of grassroots voices, advocates and allies committed to reshaping Scotland’s response to drugs through the leadership of living and lived experience.
Hosted by Jason Wallace, Programme Manager (Lived and Living Experience), the event isn’t just a gathering – it’s part of a wider mobilisation. The event provides space for open dialogue, shared learning and an opportunity to build real momentum.
The aim is to ensure that people affected by drugs policy and practice in Scotland who speak with authority from that experience and perspective are heard and drive the direction of change.
#StopTheDeaths 2025
The experience and shared learning of Advocates for Change will inform each session at SDF’s 2025 #StopTheDeaths Conference to be held August 27th-28th. To be clear, bringing living experience voices into the heart of the conference is not a side session – it’s the purpose of the event.
The National Living Experience Engagement Group will open the conference with reflections from the Advocates for Change day and an announcement of their statement of intent. This will be followed by an overview of their current activities.
Then each eight topic-based sessions of the conference will be concluded with powerful panel discussions incorporating members with living and lived experience who will provide insights from Living Experience Engagement Groups across Scotland and Advocates For Change.
Why This Matters
The SDF Conference is more than a professional event. It’s a national platform – one that shapes thinking and perceptions, decisions and prioritisation and has the potential to transform narratives around drug use in Scotland.
Having living experience at this conference isn’t tokenism – it’s transformational.
Fully including people with direct experience involves:
- Engaging and empowering people with experiences, perspectives and opinions who have long been marginalised in decision-making spaces
- Enhancing decisions about policy-making and developments in practice with real-time, grounded insight
- Challenging outdated assumptions and models of practice that do not reflect current reality or the aspirations of people affected by current policy and practice
- Building more compassionate, effective services by listening to the people who use them or who might use them
Living Experience Engagement Groups
Through Scottish Government support, SDF’s Living Experience Engagement Groups have built safe, local and regional spaces where people can speak freely and without judgement.
These groups are far more than just supportive environments – they are engines of change. Group members are trained in facilitation, leadership, and policy engagement. They’re shaping consultations, like the National Collaborative Charter of Rights, not from the sidelines, but from the centre. This is what participatory policymaking should look like.
You can find out more about our National Living Engagement groups here.
You can buy tickets to our #StopTheDeaths 2025 Conference here.