I’m Richard Sparkes. I’m the registered manager at The Level inpatient detox in Nottingham. I also happen to be in recovery myself.
We’re one of the services provided by the Nottingham-based charity Framework, and are also part of the Nottingham Recovery Network (NRN) – the city’s drug and alcohol advice and treatment service. This is led by Framework in partnership with the NHS and local charities Double Impact and Al-Hurraya. Together we provide a compreÂhensive range of services to meet the needs of people in recovery – housing, employment skills and, of course, substance use treatment.
I started my career in substance use treatment with NRN as part of the rough sleeper drug and alcohol treatment team nearly four years ago, before taking on the role of managing The Level about nine months ago.
The Level is a 20-bed, medically managed detox facility helping those suffering with substance use issues from all over the country. We’re one of a handful of detox centres accessible to those in community treatment – last I heard there were only around 180 beds like us and with numbers in substance use treatment heading toward the 400,000 mark, you can imagine we’re pretty busy.
TRAUMA-INFORMED APPROACH
Alongside the clinical team, our support workers help the service users through their detox journey with a trauma-informed approach and levels of empathy that I have not seen before in my time working in this field. We are also unbelievably lucky to have a therapy team who provide psychosocial support and interventions every day of the week. In my opinion the therapeutic side of our offering is just as important as the clinical side of things and leads to remarkable outcomes for all the people who walk through our doors. We also have a sizeable team of volunteers, some of whom have been through The Level previously and now give up their time to help our current service users.
Our treatment model is very patient focused. We work with our service users and the community teams to create a plan tailored to their needs. We understand that a traditional ‘full’ detox is not always the best treatment for the individual so we offer options like stabilisation, methadone reduction, staged detoxes and more. We try to remove barriers to treatment wherever possible while still maintaining a safe and effective service.
We work with some amazing community teams – Change Grow Live, Turning Point, Lincolnshire Recovery Partnership, Derby Drug and Alcohol Service, Derbyshire Recovery Partnership, S2S and of course Nottingham Recovery Network. The work the community teams do preparing people for detox always amazes me. Up until recently I was a key worker myself so I fully understand the pressures and difficulties community teams face. We try our best to work proactively with our teams and communicate openly with them on a daily basis.
We face our own pressures too. Though we are busy there is a need to expand the number of referring areas and sign new contracts to keep our service viable. That is a big reason why we will be exhibiting at the DDN Conference next month, so do come along and see us.
FUNDING CHALLENGES
Before I got into recovery I worked in publishing for a long time and then moved into marketing and PR. I was very corporate and enjoyed the benefits of working for some pretty large multinationals, knowing that my role was secure as long as I hit targets. I schmoozed the right people and covered up my substance use enough to not get fired.
Working in this sector, however, it’s taken me a while to get used to the uncertainty around funding. In this current role I’m more and more involved with commissioners and funders and feel they face the same challenges we do – waiting to hear what funding will be coming in from various streams, which national policies are going to affect treatment on a local level, and how changes to government are going to have an impact.
A huge part of my role is to allay any fears my team have around these pressures. They have embraced new ways of doing things, new approaches, new staff and have seen the benefits of doing so.
About 50 per cent of our team have lived experience. I believe we have a great mix of amazingly caring people who have chosen this sector to be their career, alongside people who have been through the process themselves and know first-hand what substance use treatment feels like. What both have in common is an unwavering desire to help people. I was in active addiction for about 20 years. I wish I had found a service and people like those I get to work with now, back then. Perhaps I wouldn’t have wasted so much of my life and hurt so many people.
GIVING BACK
A good friend of mine who has known me all my life, through my own addiction and into recovery, will sometimes embarrass me talking about how he ‘could never do a job like me’ and the element of ‘giving back’ he assumes I feel. Having lived experience of addiction I think gives me a different take on substance use and the services we offer. I wish I felt more nobility about it sometimes, though. I see other lived experience staff working in our service and admire them greatly – their empathy is unsurpassed and they truly do give back.
I look at my role more subjectively. There is a need for our service, a really big need. We provide incredible treatment and go some way to changing people’s lives for the better. That need continues to grow. Numbers in treatment continue to rise, while funding remains the same. We have to continue to provide those in need with the treatment they need and deserve. It’s a job. It’s my job. It’s my job to work with my brilliant team, and to give them what they need to continue to create change.
For more information about my team and the amazing work we do visit the-level.org or come and see us at the DDN Conference in July.