Is support reachable on a difficult day?
If someone misses an appointment or stops responding to messages, how easy do we make it for them to reconnect? Do we find out what’s been happening? If recovery isn’t a straight road, then support needs to be reachable on a difficult day, when confidence is low and asking for help feels hardest (p6).
We talk a lot about integration, yet if you’re experiencing problems with drugs and mental health, you can be shuttled between services that feel neither equipped nor willing to take responsibility. Add homelessness, trauma and violence to the mix and neat divisions between services make even less sense.
Other countries offer ideas (p10), while Nottingham shares a model for building trust and sharing knowledge (p18). Meanwhile, the first NHRS in Bristol reminded us of the UK’s proud harm reduction legacy (p12). But despite amazing progress on hepatitis C, there’s urgent need to reverse declining needle and syringe provision, dwindling pharmacy coverage and overstretched peer outreach.Â
Let’s not lose our ambition.Â
Read the October issue as an online magazine (you can also download it as a PDF from the online magazine)
Please send your letters and comment to claire@cjwellings.com
Claire Brown, editor