June 29, 2023

Turning Point Chief Executive Julie Bass reflects on the importance of the organisation being a social enterprise.

Although there are over 100,000 social enterprises in the UK, many people are unfamiliar with the term or what it entails in practise.

My name is Julie, and I am the Chief Executive of Turning Point, a social enterprise that offers services in the areas of substance abuse, mental health, learning disability and wider public health services. In this blog I’ll be discussing the work that social enterprises do and the challenges we face today.

What exactly do we mean by a social enterprise?

Fundamentally, social enterprises are businesses which trade for a social or environmental purpose. Like any other business, social enterprises seek to make a profit and succeed commercially. Social enterprises contribute around £60 billion to the UK economy and currently employ over two million people.

Yet their core operations (who they employ, and how they use profit) must align with efforts towards reducing inequality, improving social justice, or improving upon environmental sustainability.

Social enterprises work in every sector of the UK economy – from providing local community resources to waste management companies. Turning Point is one the many social enterprises within health and social care – a sector in which social enterprises account for a third of all community healthcare providers.

Social value

Social value is a core component of a social enterprise and has been increasingly present within the commissioning landscape for a number of years. Social value can highlight the role services play in creating economic, social and environmental value for communities. For providers it allows us to demonstrate the added value we bring to health and social care services. For us social value is a demonstration of our efforts in tackling health inequalities.

At Turning Point, social value is at the heart of what we do. Our social value strategy sets out our ambitions around promoting wellbeing, reducing worklessness, providing volunteering opportunities, apprenticeships, bursaries, supporting access to education, training and employment, investing in the local economy and supporting local community organisations.

In 2021/22. Turning Point delivered £27.7m of social value, including an investment of £3.38m within local community organisations.

The wellbeing of our staff and the people we support is a major priority for us. During 2021/22 we provided over £1.5m in social value through our college wellbeing programme.

Our work in embedding social value within the services we provide is not a completed task but a journey we are still embarking on; we will always strive to find new ways to benefit the communities we support and work alongside.

Challenges

The pressures of the cost-of-living crisis are significant for many – including for social enterprises. Providers find themselves trapped between two financial pressures: on the one hand they want to pay their skilled workforce as much as they can, and on the other, they are limited in the resources they have to pay these additional uplifts given their financial dependence upon local government and the NHS. As soaring inflation rates leads to real term reductions in budgets – Turning Point, as well as many other providers – are faced with gaps between funding and provision costs to maintain high service quality.

With the Chancellor’s fiscal budget (to be released later today) – it is important for the Government to recognise the scale and importance of social enterprise within not just the healthcare sector but also beyond. This recognition needs to be partnered with adequate funding so social enterprises can continue to provide excellent, much needed services to some of the most vulnerable groups in the UK. We cannot let our most vulnerable fall through the cracks – particularly at a time, like the present cost-of-living crisis, where these cracks in the system become more pronounced.

This blog was originally published by Turning Point. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by Turning Point

Making Forward a place for everyone

Partner Updates

DDN

June 27, 2023

Forward’s Inclusion Co-Ordinator Darren on recovery, support for LGBT+ people and the importance of feeling included.

I first came to Forward for help with my substance use on my 40th birthday, back in November 2018. Not only was I struggling with my alcohol and drug use, but also, I still had not come to terms with my sexuality as a gay man.

Forward were faultless with their overall support for my substance use, but I still struggled to find specialist support for dealing with my sexuality and how my feelings about my identity related to my substance use. This was pre-covid, there wasn’t much online, and it seemed like there was only help to be found in the big towns and cities.

I volunteered for Forward, helping with online meetings during lockdowns and then was lucky enough to gain employment on a traineeship, then later as a Drug and Alcohol Practitioner. As soon as I started, I knew I wanted to do something with the LGBTQ+ community in mind. I set up an LGBTQ+ meeting, and soon after I spoke at our staff conference about why I did so. I was inundated with questions from staff about how best they could support their LGBTQ+ clients, about terminology, and identities.

It was clear that this was an area that needed some dedicated work. So in November 2022, I was offered the role of Inclusion Co-ordinator, working specifically with the LGBTQ+ community. Part of this role was to help staff understand the support needs of the community, as well as explore more about chemsex related harms, which are presenting into service more and more often.

I designed an LGBTQ+ staff training session, which covers everything from: what LGBTQ+ means; addiction rates within the community; the history of LGBTQ+ people; chemsex; pronouns and more. I know everyone working for Forward has our client’s needs at the forefront of their work. With this basic training, staff are better equipped to understand and support our clients.

Staff have been really engaged and keen to learn. These sessions have given a safe space for staff to ask questions they may feel embarrassed to ask ordinarily.

The prevalence of addiction among gay and bisexual men is three times higher than for heterosexual men. For lesbian and bisexual women, it is four times higher. Moreover, for trans people, the rates are even higher. LGBTQ+ people are four times as likely to have suicidal ideation and to act on those thoughts. One in seven LGBTQ+ people don’t access healthcare settings due to fear of stigma and discrimination, which is why our support is so needed.

With stigma still surrounding substance use issues, as well as the stigma around being LGBTQ+, our clients need added support. Self-acceptance is key for anyone navigating substance use issues, even more so for those within the LGBTQ+ community. I have had personal experience, and I see it all too often with my clients, of poor service from healthcare providers. Generally, this is around a lack of knowledge or understanding of the LGBTQ+ community. 

My role is not only to support staff but to help clients – and potential clients – understand that Forward is a place for them, and we are open to anyone and everyone. By having staff undertake this introductory training, it gives them the confidence to deal with all clients with respect and understanding.

This blog was originally published by The Forward Trust. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by The Forward Trust

MUP cut alcohol deaths by 13 per cent, claims final report

News

DDN

June 27, 2023

The introduction of minimum unit pricing (MUP) in Scotland has reduced deaths directly caused by alcohol consumption by 13.4 per cent, according to Public Health Scotland’s final report on the subject.

glasgow — The most impact is seen in the most deprived areas.

It has also cut hospital admissions by 4 per cent, it says, with the most impact seen in the 40 per cent most deprived areas.

‘There is strong quantitative evidence that MUP was associated with a reduction in deaths wholly attributable to alcohol consumption, relative to England where MUP was not implemented,’ the report states. ‘A smaller, and less certain, relative decrease was seen in hospital admissions wholly attributable to alcohol.’

However, the document acknowledges that for people with alcohol dependence there was ‘limited evidence of any reduction in consumption’, and some evidence that people with alcohol dependence on low incomes prioritised spending on alcohol over food.

MUP has led to a 3 per cent reduction in alcohol consumption at population level as measured by retail sales, the report says. This was particularly driven by the increase in price for off-trade cider and spirits. ‘Evidence from a range of data sources shows that the greatest reductions were amongst those households purchasing the most alcohol, with little impact on households purchasing at lower levels.’ There was also ‘no clear evidence’ of an impact on alcohol-related crime levels, or any negative impact on the drinks industry, it adds.

Despite the introduction of MUP, Scotland’s alcohol death rate in 2021 was the highest for almost 15 years, at 1,245. A recent letter from more than 30 medical organisations and charities warned that Scotland could be ‘sleep walking’ back to record levels of alcohol deaths without increased and sustained investment in treatment and action to tighten marketing regulations.

MUP was implemented at a level of 50p per unit in 2018, with a ‘sunset clause’ in the legislation meaning that it will lapse next year unless the Scottish Parliament votes to renew it. Health campaigners have long argued that the rate should be increased in line with inflation.

Lead for the evaluation of MUP at Public Health Scotland, Clare Beeston

‘We have seen reductions in deaths and hospital admissions directly caused by sustained, high levels of alcohol consumption, and this is further evidence that those drinking at harmful and hazardous levels have reduced their consumption,’ said lead for the evaluation of MUP at Public Health Scotland, Clare Beeston. ‘MUP alone is not enough to address the specific and complex needs of those with alcohol dependence who will often prioritise alcohol over other needs, and it is important to continue to provide services and any wider support that addresses the root cause of their dependence.’

‘Public Health Scotland is committed to evidence-informed policy, and we are confident in the validity of the robust research published today,’ added its director of public health science, Dr Nick Phin. ‘The evidence in our report is consistent with earlier research on minimum pricing elsewhere.’

Evaluating the impact of minimum unit pricing for alcohol in Scotland: A synthesis of the evidence at https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/evaluating-the-impact-of-minimum-unit-pricing-for-alcohol-in-scotland-a-synthesis-of-the-evidence/

‘Cheap and easy’ synthetic drugs transforming markets, says UNODC

News

DDN

June 26, 2023

Synthetic drugs are changing the market with devastating effects.

‘Cheap and easy’ synthetic drugs are ‘changing drug markets with lethal results’, according to UNODC’s World drug report 2023. Fentanyl has ‘drastically altered the opioid market in North America with dire consequences’, it says, with the majority of the country’s approximately 90,000 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2021 involving illegally manufactured fentanyls.

Fentanyl’s potency means reduced costs and legal risks for traffickers, as they can ‘more easily conceal smaller quantities of pure fentanyl in place of larger volumes of heroin’, the document states – ‘It has been estimated that as little as a few tons of pure fentanyl would be needed to satisfy the annual consumption of illegally sourced opioids in the United States, in contrast to about 50 metric tons of heroin.’ The purity-adjusted, low-level wholesale price of illegal fentanyl powder fell by more than half between 2016 and 2021, it points out.

Ghada Waly, UNODC: ‘We need to step up response’

The Taliban’s ban on opium cultivation in Afghanistan could result in a drastically reduced harvest this year, the document adds, which may see a further shift towards synthetic drug manufacture – the country is already a major producer of methamphetamine. There are also signs that the war in Ukraine – which has already displaced some traditional trafficking routes for heroin and cocaine – could be triggering an expansion in the manufacture of synthetic drugs in the region.

For the first time latest trends are available in an interactive, user-friendly online segment.

Based on new data, UNODC estimates the global number of people who inject drugs at 13.2m as of 2021, 18 per cent up on previous estimates. The total number of people who used drugs in 2021 is estimated at almost 300m, an increase of almost a quarter on the previous decade, while the number of people with a drug use disorder is now thought to be almost 40m – a figure that has ‘skyrocketed’ by 45 per cent over a decade.

However, the demand for treating drug problems remains ‘largely unmet’, with only one in five people with drug use disorders in treatment in 2021 and ‘widening disparities’ in access to treatment across regions. ‘Public health, prevention, and access to treatment services must be prioritised worldwide, or drug challenges will leave more people behind,’ says UNODC. More than 70 per cent of people in treatment in Africa are now under 35, it adds.

‘We are witnessing a continued rise in the number of people suffering from drug use disorders worldwide, while treatment is failing to reach all of those who need it,’ said UNODC executive director Ghada Waly. ‘Meanwhile, we need to step up responses against drug trafficking rings that are exploiting conflicts and global crises to expand illicit drug cultivation and production, especially of synthetic drugs, fuelling illicit markets and causing greater harm to people and communities.’

Document at www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/world-drug-report-2023.html

Related articles

(News June 2023): Better data sharing needed to tackle opioid crisis, warns Cranstoun report published in response to accounts of parts of the UK’s heroin supply being contaminated by synthetic opioids.

(News August 2023): OHID issues new guidance on dealing with synthetic opioid threats.

(Partner Update, Turning Point, August 2023): Synthetic opioids and reducing risk.

Cranstoun’s peer-led naloxone team at the DDN Conference 2023

View vacancies at Cranstoun and other job opportunities on DDN Jobs.

Great North Swim participants raise money for Humankind

Partner Updates

DDN

June 21, 2023

On Saturday 10 June 2023, some fantastic members at Humankind took part in the Great North Swim to raise money for the organisation.

The event took place at Lake Windermere in the Lake District, where each member took part in cold water swimming and swam one mile as part of their fundraisers.

Humankind’s vision is for people of all ages to be safe, build ambitions for the future and reach towards their full potential. Their vision creates services and support to meet people’s complex health and social needs, helping them to build healthier lives that have meaning and value for themselves and their families. We support local people to create stronger, better-connected communities.

Our Fundraising Department organise and participate in a range of campaigns and events throughout the year to raise further support and awareness for the most vulnerable people in our communities.

We are so proud of everyone who has taken part and congratulate them on all their hard work fundraising for our organisation so we can provide more fair chances.

Humankind’s Corporate Fundraising Manager, David Barlow, said: “Congratulations to our five, inspirational, participants in the recent Great North Swim on Lake Windermere. The funds raised will directly improve the lives of those we exist to support.”

Rebecca Huitson Business Development Administrator, who participated in the Great North Swim said: “The Great North Swim was an amazing event, completely out of my normal comfort zone but in training and completing the swim it has proven to be a new hobby! Very pleased I signed up and proud to raise money for Humankind and support the amazing services to continue to positively impact lives every day.”

The group took some great photos to commemorate the event which you can see below:

This blog was originally published by Humankind. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by Humankind

Veteran Voices

Features

DDN

June 20, 2023

Across Change Grow Live’s services we’re continuing to support an increasing number of veterans who’ve been affected by their service and the return to civilian life, and who are struggling with alcohol or drugs. We know that many veterans affected by substance misuse don’t know about the specialist support available to them, and are often unable to reach out and seek help.

Since signing the Armed Forces Covenant – which aims to ensure veterans are treated fairly – in 2021, we’ve been committed to making sure that veterans can access support that understands their needs, from launching a working group co-produced by veterans, to developing new referral pathways into treatment with the NHS. Now, we’re extremely pleased to be working with Tom Harrison House, the UK’s only residential rehabilitation service specifically for people who’ve served in the armed forces.

Tom Harrison House will now be a part of Change Grow Live’s national framework for inpatient detoxification and residential rehabilitation. Residential detox and rehabilitation services can play a life-changing part in people’s drug or alcohol treatment journey, and our national framework ensures that the people who use our services have access to the highest quality of care.

Tom Harrison House was founded by Paula Gunn, whose grandfather was Tom Harrison, a decorated Royal Navy veteran. Both Paula and her grandfather have been passionate advocates for supporting veterans with substance misuse, and Tom Harrison House makes this support a reality with a programme specially tailored to their needs. The focus of Tom Harrison House is helping veterans with the loss of social support, connection and camaraderie they can experience when leaving the armed forces. The support they receive at Tom Harrison House is designed to help them rediscover their purpose and meaning. Overall, it provides a space that understands and accommodates the unique lived experience of the residents who stay there.

Partnerships such as this, as well as the development of specialist pathways, can play a crucial role in breaking down barriers to treatment and ensuring more people get the right support for them. There’s already so much support out there for veterans – it’s up to us to ensure they know that these services exist, and that they are able to access them as they need to.

Supported by Liverpool John Moores University, we plan to undertake and publish research that will help the entire sector better understand the barriers faced by veterans engaging with services. We’ve already shared insights with policy makers and the Royal British Legion, and will continue to do so in the future. We’ve worked closely with veterans who use our services to coproduce accredited training that raises awareness of their specific support needs and the services available to them, and through all of this our work has been informed and driven by the voices of people with lived experience. Veterans who access our services have been a vital co-production partner, and our decision to sign the Armed Forces Covenant was based on their feedback. As a result of developments such as these, we’ve seen a 20 per cent increase in veterans using our services in the last 12 months alone.

Improving treatment outcomes, reducing drug related harm and death, and increasing the number of people in treatment are at the heart of the UK’s ten-year drug strategy. The most effective way we can achieve this as a sector is to listen and respond to the voices of those affected by drug and alcohol use.

If any providers of support for veterans would like to work with us, we’d be delighted to hear from you. If you’d like to find out more, please contact our veterans support working group: veteransupportworkinggroup@cgl.org.uk

Chris Barnes is a veteran and national service user lead at Change Grow Live

Government likely to miss rough sleeping target, say charities

News

DDN

June 20, 2023

More than 30 leading homelessness charities have signed a letter to the prime minister warning that the government is not on track to meet its 2024 target for ending rough sleeping in England.

rough sleeping underground station — Rough sleeping in London rose in every quarter during 2022-23 compared to the previous year.

The signatories include Homeless Link, St Mungo’s, the National Housing Federation, Cranstoun and others.

The organisations had been encouraged by Rishi Sunak’s commitment to the target of ending rough sleeping ‘despite the economic circumstances’, the letter states. ‘However, almost a year down the line, the data shows that we are going backwards in terms of meeting the goal.’

The government’s ‘Everyone In’ strategy during COVID was praised by charities for requiring councils to move everyone sleeping rough – or at risk of sleeping rough – into temporary accommodation, with an August 2021 report from Shelter stating that it showed ‘just how much can be achieved with the right political will and investment.’

However, rough sleeping actually rose by 26 per cent between 2021 and 2022, the letter to the prime minister states, the biggest year-on-year percentage rise in almost a decade. CHAIN, the most detailed homelessness database in the country, also revealed that rough sleeping in London rose in every quarter during 2022-23 compared to the previous year. ‘As service providers, we are seeing these numbers play out on the ground, with more and more people needing our support,’ the letter states. The high rate of inflation means that many providers are trying to manage annual shortfalls ‘in the hundreds of thousands of pounds’ for commissioned services’, it says, with many scaling back services or at risk of closure.

The average age of death for someone experiencing homelessness is 45 for men and 43 for women, the letter points out. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), almost two in five deaths of homeless people are the result of drug poisoning.

‘Rishi Sunak committed to “ending rough sleeping once for and all” during his leadership campaign just last year,’ said Homeless Link CEO Rick Henderson. ‘But all indicators show rough sleeping is rising fast, while homelessness services are struggling with extreme financial pressures caused by historic funding issues and prolonged inflation. Clearly urgent action is needed to protect services. Without it, people will continue to experience the trauma of sleeping rough on our streets.’

‘Inflation continues to have a severe impact on our services and in turn on the people that we support,’ added Changing Lives CEO Stephen Bell. ‘Rising costs for wages, rent and the continued pressure of high energy costs, alongside very few local authorities giving inflationary increases to support contracts mean that we are having to look at what we can provide and potentially reduce our services. This means that people already struggling to make ends meet and find a home will have less access to the support they need to move on.’

Letter at https://homeless.org.uk/news/32-homelessness-charities-sign-letter-to-rishi-sunak/

Determination of a Dad

Partner Updates

DDN

June 19, 2023

Natalie Ashby, family team lead for WithYou in Cornwall, shares one man’s road to recovery.

Father’s Day is a time for family and for celebrating the dad, grandpa, and paternal figures in our lives. But for many, Father’s Day is a reminder of what they have lost, and for some, of what they never had.

Families like Bill’s can relate. Bill has four children – the eldest is 15 and the youngest is seven – and they live in Cornwall. This Father’s Day there was music, laughter and celebrations – but it hasn’t always been that way.

Bill is recovering from alcohol and drug issues with support from WithYou, a national drug, alcohol and mental health support charity. His issues nearly cost Bill everything; his family, his home, his livelihood, and sadly, they did play a part in him and his wife separating. However, With You has been his lifeline, stepping in with a holistic approach to support Bill in his recovery, improve his mental health, and reignite his family life.

Where it all started

Back in 2019, Bill outwardly had it all; a family, stable job, and a home. However, behind closed doors life was quite different – it was chaotic and both Bill and his wife relied on drugs to function. Bill’s wife was also ill and he left his job to become her full-time carer. Sadly, the pressure took its toll on them all and Bill realised, just in time, that something had to change.

After a particularly difficult time, Bill and his wife separated, but it was complicated as the two oldest children aren’t biologically Bill’s. Desperate to keep the children safe and together, Bill called social services and the children were put on a child protection plan. Following the advice from social services and the children’s school, Bill returned to the home, but from this point onwards, his mental health and drug issues worsened.

The hard road back

‘When I was using, everything was okay,’ recalls Bill. ‘Having had a full life before using, I knew that I didn’t start at the bottom, but I ended up there. I wanted to get back to the man I used to be, the one who played in gigs and loved music and laughter, but I didn’t know how to do it.

‘I’d heard WithYou was the place to go if you wanted to stop using drugs. The team at WithYou supported me and my wife to get us to a place where we could improve the life of our children. They helped me to organise myself and structure my time and worked closely with our social worker making sure there was clear communication between all the professionals who were involved with our family.

Dan dad being treated by WithYou — Even when I relapsed there was no judgement – just a focus on getting back on track.

‘I was struggling with depression and anxiety so I couldn’t think straight. Natalie, my family worker, and Lucia, my support worker, facilitated my recovery, not just from the drugs but from the trauma I’d suffered. For almost a year they worked so hard. But it was complicated – both my wife and I had our own issues. I relapsed in a major way.

‘It was crunch time. I was told social services were going to take the children. It was clear my wife and I couldn’t continue as we were. Natalie and Lucia talked me through my options. I could put the children into respite care while I went into rehab, or I could leave my wife, deal with my drug issues and keep the children.

‘I’ll never forget Natalie telling me that I was going to face six months of hell as I focused on my recovery, but after that, we’d be able to work towards my future with the children.

Natalie Ashby is family team leader for WithYou in Cornwall, which helped Bill through such a tough time

‘Natalie and Lucia worked so well with social services and that made a huge difference to my relationship with them. They made sure all my paperwork was correct and advocated for me at every turn.’

A struggle, but not alone – facing trauma head on

Bill temporarily left the family home and went to a recovery centre. It was a vital step for the future of his family and keeping the children together. But it wasn’t going to be easy.

It is estimated that 40 per cent of people struggling with substance misuse also have a PTSD diagnosis.* To fully equip Bill with the tools he needed to overcome his drug use, he needed to feel empowered to overcome the trauma he faced.

‘Natalie gave me strategies to improve my mental health. She told me that to do the best for my family, I had to treat my own trauma and focus on my recovery – only then would I be in a position to help my children to heal. I wanted so badly to have my children and get our family back together.’

Many of the parents supported have experienced trauma in their lives – be it from childhood or into adulthood. Using alcohol or drugs is not a choice and when in a place of despair, people self-medicate using alcohol, illicit substances and prescribed medication. Here at WithYou, we support parents like Bill to put their lives back together and we’re currently supporting nearly 50 families across Cornwall county. Piece by piece, they rebuild and heal from past traumas.

Music and laughter return

‘In spring 2021, I got a call from social services to pick up the children from school. They had removed my wife from the home and I was able to move back in. There’s no way this would have happened without WithYou. I consider myself very lucky. I was gifted a team of people who are remarkably good at their jobs.

‘Without my support workers at WithYou and my wonderful social worker, I’d never have been able to put everything back together. I’ve been supported every step of the way. Even when I relapsed there was no judgement – just a focus on getting back on track.

‘Music now fills our home. We laugh. We dance. We sing. I’ve started a guitar-building business and I’m volunteering for a local charity mentoring young people. The kids are happy and I’m so grateful I get to watch them grow up and support them with whatever life throws their way. This Father’s Day I took some time, in amongst the mele of the day, to be grateful for my kids and for the support I received to have many more days like this.’

*For more information about the link between PTSD and alcohol issues, click here: www.ptsduk.org/the-link-between-ptsd-and-alcoholism

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by WithYou

Record cocaine seizures across Europe

News

DDN

June 16, 2023

More than 300 tonnes of cocaine was seized across EU member states in 2021, according to EMCDDA’s European drug report 2023. Almost three quarters of the total was seized in three countries – Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain – with the trafficking of large volumes through European seaports in commercial containers ‘driving the drug’s high availability today’, says EMCDDA.

Provisional figures for 2022, meanwhile, show that the amount seized in Antwerp – a European hub for cocaine trafficking – increased from 91 to 110 tonnes from the previous year. Global production of cocaine has ‘jumped dramatically’ in the last two years, according to UNODC, with last year’s European drug report stating that availability was already surpassing pre-pandemic levels.

Around 3.7m European adults used cocaine in the last year, making the continent’s most commonly used illicit stimulant, and evidence suggests that organised crime groups are ‘increasingly targeting smaller ports in other EU countries as well as countries bordering the EU’, EMCDDA says. More cocaine is also being manufacturing in the EU itself, the report states, with 34 cocaine laboratories dismantled in 2021 – eleven more than the previous year – some of them large-scale operations.

More than 40 new NPS were identified through the EU’s early warning system last year, bringing the total being monitored by the EMCDDA to 930. A total of 74 new uncontrolled synthetic opioids have also been identified in Europe since 2009, says the document. While fentanyl derivatives and highly-potent nitazenes play a ‘relatively small role’ in the European drug market compared to the US, there are growing problems in some areas.

The report also covers the changing legislative landscape for cannabis in Europe, with Germany, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Malta and Switzerland either introducing or planning new approaches to regulate supply of the drug for recreational use – changes that will need to be monitored and evaluated, says EMCDDA. Around 1.6m people in the EU received treatment for drug problems in 2021, the report adds, the majority for opioids.

‘This year’s report provides us with a stark reminder that illicit drug problems can be found throughout our society,’ said EMCDDA Director Alexis Goosdeel. ‘Established illicit drugs are now widely accessible and potent new substances continue to emerge. Almost everything with psychoactive properties can appear on the drug market, often mislabelled or in mixtures. Today, we are highlighting the challenges posed by stimulants, synthetic drugs and new cannabis products. It is crucial that we increase forensic and toxicological testing to better detect emerging threats and safeguard public health. We also need to invest more in services, which are now called upon to meet more diverse and complex needs’.

European Drug Report 2023: Trends and Developments at www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/european-drug-report/2023_en

New community hub for prison-leavers launches in Durham

Partner Updates

DDN

June 13, 2023

A new hub aimed at helping people leaving prison to re-integrate into the community has been launched in Durham.

The RECONNECT Hub, the facility on Old Elvet, is the first of its kind and provides people with a safe and accessible place to get support with their health and wellbeing needs after release from prison.

People using the hub can use the hub to make calls, attend initial appointments on release day, get help with practical needs such as charging phones/electronics and pick up forms and paperwork to help them engage with follow-on support. In just six months, the hub has already provided a space for multiple community groups including Gamblers Anonymous, Alcoholic Anonymous and housing provider drop-ins.

The Rt Hon Lord Bradley PC (a life peer and former Minister of State for Prisons) opened the hub. He said : “I’m delighted to be officially opening the RECONNECT Hub, an important facility which has the potential to make a real difference in the North East and help people who are leaving custody to make a fresh start. By making it easier to access health services and support after prison, we are reducing the risk of reoffending and helping to build safer, healthier communities for everyone.”

Paul Townsley, Chief Executive of Humankind, said: “Humankind is delighted to be part of the ground-breaking Reconnected to Health partnership. The hub could only have been created and have already seen such impact through the ongoing collaboration between this wide range of partners and stakeholders.”

The hub will be a key point of access for people leaving HMP Durham and other local prisons. The RECONNECT Hub also offers a safe space in the centre to local agencies, welcoming everyone from housing providers to employment agencies, volunteering organisations, mental health charities, social care and drug and alcohol treatment providers.

The hub is part of a wider RECONNECT service in the North East, one of several care after custody services commissioned nationally by NHS England. The purpose of RECONNECT is to support prison-leavers in staying connected to key health services after their release from prison, in the hope that this will improve their long-term health outcomes and reduce the risk of reoffending.

The Reconnected to Health partnership also includes Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust, Humankind, and Rethink.

This blog was originally published by Humankind. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by Humankind

NHS extends homeless outreach programme for mental health

News

DDN

June 12, 2023

Fourteen new specialist mental health outreach teams for areas with high rates of homelessness have been launched by NHS England.

The teams will include clinical and local authority staff, and help to join up support with drug and alcohol, housing and other services.

london homeless — The new teams will bring the total number in operation to 37 and help scale up services in several areas including the London boroughs of Brent, Camden and Westminster.

The new teams will bring the total number in operation to 37 and help to build or scale up services in areas including Doncaster, Dorset, Manchester, Sheffield and Somerset, as well as the London boroughs of Brent, Camden and Westminster. The government estimates that there are more than 3,000 people sleeping rough in England on any given night, with mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety more than twice as common among the homeless population. Rates of psychosis, meanwhile, are estimated to be around 15 times higher.

The teams will identify people in need of help and refer them on to GPs and specialist mental health care, as well as other health services. According to the most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), out of 741 deaths of homeless people in 2021, almost 260 were the result of drug poisoning, 99 the result of suicide and 71 were alcohol-specific deaths. Being homeless is also estimated to increase HIV risk among people who inject drugs by 55 per cent and hep C risk by 65 per cent.

‘As part of a drive to tackle health inequalities, the NHS is opening more than a dozen mental health clinics so that homeless people can access specialist support in a convenient location,’ said NHS England’s clinical national director for mental health, Professor Tim Kendall. ‘NHS teams working with local authorities will seek out rough sleepers who have often been through incredibly traumatic experiences to ensure they get the help they need – and do not fall through the cracks. While the NHS cannot solve homelessness on its own, we are trying to reach out to homeless people and working hard to ensure that those who need mental health support get it. To do that, we are making it as easy as possible to access services, designed and built around patients’ needs.’

The Homeless Link charity welcomed the scaling up of support but its policy director Sophie Boobis told the Guardian that in the context of wider cuts to homelessness prevention budgets it amounted to ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’.

Meet some of our volunteer superstars: Volunteers Week 2023

Partner Updates

DDN

June 10, 2023

From 1-7th June, Change Grow Live celebrated Volunteers Week – to say thank you to all of the brilliant individuals who give their time for free to make a difference.

For Volunteers Week 2023, we wanted to say a massive thank you to every single Change Grow Live volunteer.

Last year, 1400 volunteers donated over a quarter of a million hours of their time between them to our organisation. We simply couldn’t do what we do at Change Grow Live without the passion, expertise and support of our amazing volunteers.

Life is busy, so giving your time for free to help others is always worth celebrating. And it makes a real difference, both to the people our volunteers work with, and to the volunteers themselves.

We want to introduce you to some of our fantastic volunteers, to give you a flavour of the different types of roles available. We hope their stories will inspire you to get involved and volunteer yourself!

Independent Visitors

Independent Visitors meet with young people within the care system once a month to do a fun activity together. The aim is for the young person to build a friendship with a consistent adult who isn’t paid to be there with them. It’s a great opportunity to help a young person and have fun while you’re at it!

Aaron volunteers as part of the Independent Visitor Service, in The Black Country, Telford and Wrekin.

This is his experience:

Photo of Aaron “In this role, you are working with young people who haven’t had consistency, trust, or resilience. To be that one ‘constant’ away from the paid professionals is an honour and a privilege.

“To make a small but positive difference in a young person’s life who may not have had the best start to life. Allowing them to know that this won’t be a barrier to new experiences, success, and growth.

“Volunteering gives me the opportunity to make a small but progressive difference in a young person’s life. It’s also lots of fun, I am a big kid at heart – so I enjoy doing all the things that my young person wants to do!”

Peer Mentors

Peer mentors in our drug and alcohol services use their lived experience to help people who want to make a change in their lives. Accessing our services for the first time can feel daunting, hearing from someone who knows what they are going through can make a big difference.

We have a number of peer mentor opportunities across the country. Karrol volunteered as a peer mentor in our Birmingham drug and alcohol service before joining the team as a drug and alcohol recovery coordinator.

Here’s what she had to say:

photo of Karrol “Volunteering gave me confidence and got me out of the house and doing something worthwhile.

“Giving back does so much for your mental health, even if it’s a few hours a week. I felt listened to, valued and part of a team and always felt comfortable and not judged about my personal experience.

“I applied to work for Change Grow Live after volunteering for about 2 years. I’ve recently started my role as a Drug & Alcohol Recovery Coordinator, and I still feel comfortable and valued. I believe it’s because of my initial volunteering experience as well as the desire to help others.

“If I can inspire at least one person to volunteer it would truly be amazing!”

Community Mentors

Volunteer Community Mentors work with people who are within the justice system and help them prepare for leaving custody and re-enter society. Lynne volunteers with the – Shaw Trust Project.

Here, she shares some of our favourite parts of volunteering in this role:

photo of Lynne “I enjoy meeting new people from all walks of life and the variety of things I get involved with. I help people apply for their benefits, housing, creating CV’s and applying for jobs online. Some of the people I support are completely IT illiterate and it can be so daunting and a stressful process for them. I’ve sat with them while they’ve been on the telephone, and they get cut off. I’m there to reassure them that it will be ok and encourage them to try again.

“Some people have had a difficult life with very little support and it’s nice to be there for them, someone who is on their side to help them move forward. The people we support are people like us and it’s a privilege to be able to help build their confidence and have a path forward which may not seem so bleak.

“When you hear, “I just couldn’t have done this without you being here” it’s all worthwhile!”

Appropriate Adults

Appropriate Adults work with young people or vulnerable people who have been arrested. Their role involves making sure a child or vulnerable adult understands what is happening and their rights. Often this will be someone’s parent or guardian, but when this is not possible Appropriate Adult volunteers offer their support. Paul volunteers in South Yorkshire as an Appropriate Adult.

Here’s his story:

photo of Paul “As an Appropriate Adult, we make sure whoever has been arrested or interviewed understands what’s happening and what’s going to happen. If I think something isn’t right, I’ll challenge it and I’ve done that quite a few times. It’s making sure that the person you’re there for feels supported regardless of what they’re being interviewed for. Whether it’s for shoplifting or for murder, I’m there for them and I treat everyone with the same level of courtesy and respect…

“Being an Appropriate Adult makes me feel like I have a purpose and I’m useful again. I was feeling really down, but it gave me something to focus on and something new. It’s something that really saved my sanity. I’m always trying to recruit other Appropriate Adult’s to join me!”

Peer Mentors

Glenice is a peer mentor at Kettering Substance to Solution. She uses her personal experience to help reassure people using our services. Here’s what she has to say:

photo of Glenice “I chose to volunteer here because I wanted to help others the way I’d been helped by the service, putting people in the right direction.

“My role involves meeting people who are looking for support at the door. I introduce myself and if someone is nervous, I take them to one side and if needed, reassure them that nobody is judging or pointing the finger at them. I just want them to feel at home and know that we’re here to help them…

“Another part of my role is to co-facilitate peer support groups and coffee mornings where we talk about positive topics including hobbies, and I write and facilitate quizzes for the people we support. The atmosphere here is great!”

A big thank you to Arron, Karrol, Lynne, Paul and Glenice, and of course every other Change Grow Live Volunteer – all 1,400 of you!

Have their stories inspired you to give volunteering a go? Check out our volunteering opportunities today.

This blog was originally published by Change Grow Live. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by Change Grow Live

England on track to end new HIV transmissions by 2030

News

DDN

June 8, 2023

New HIV transmissions in England have fallen by nearly a third since 2019, with the country on track to meet its target of an 80 per cent reduction by 2025 – and an end to new transmissions by 2030.

NHS England is expanding opt-out BBV testing in areas with high HIV prevalence, including London, Manchester, Blackpool and Brighton.

Increased testing levels also mean that fewer people are unaware of their HIV status, says an update to the HIV action plan for England from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and NHS England.

As part of the action plan, NHS England is investing £20m in the three years to 2025 to expand opt-out BBV testing in emergency departments in areas with high HIV prevalence, including London, Manchester, Blackpool and Brighton. The expanded testing helped to diagnose 2,000 BBV cases in the first year, says the update, including more than 340 people living with HIV. National HIV testing week in February this year also saw nearly 22,000 testing kits ordered, with at-home kits for self-testing with instant results now available for the first time.

Cases of AIDS have also fallen by more than a fifth since 2019, the document adds. According to the original action plan, however, while rates of new HIV diagnoses were falling among many groups, they remained stable among ‘people who probably acquired HIV through injecting drug use’ – at around 100 per year.

‘It’s positive to see new HIV diagnoses continue to fall, but our work is not done – late HIV diagnoses remain high in England which sadly increases the risk of death,’ said the government’s chief advisor on HIV and chair of the HIV action plan implementation steering group, Professor Kevin Fenton.

‘Improving quality of life for people living with HIV and addressing stigma is a key objective in our HIV action plan and we will continue working with UKHSA and key delivery partners to understand, measure and address stigma in all its forms. We are very thankful to our many partners from government, NHS, local government and communities across the country who are working together to drive progress on the action plan. It is only through collective, focused action on ending HIV transmissions that we will be successful.’

HIV Action Plan: annual update to Parliament at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hiv-action-plan-annual-update-to-parliament/hiv-action-plan-annual-update-to-parliament

Celebrating Volunteers Week 2023

Partner Updates

DDN

June 7, 2023

Forward Trust shares stories of recovery and giving back to celebrate Volunteers Week 2023.

Katie’s Story – Reach Out Volunteer

I was about 13 when I first got drunk. It’s funny looking back now, my relationship with alcohol was abnormal from the start. My other friends would just try a drink, but I wanted more. I was always the one who took it that little bit further. Always. We’d get bottles to share together but it was always me who finished the bottle. My friends knew when enough was enough and I would just keep going. When I was in my early twenties, I realized it wasn’t normal to drink like I did.

I remember one night thinking, “If I just have one or two, I’m OK. If I get really drunk, I’m OK. In the middle I feel strange and anxious, so I’ve got to choose one or the other and normal people don’t think like that”.

That’s when my mental health issues started. I had a very normal, happy childhood. I passionately believe I was born an alcoholic, but the trigger was my mental health problems. That was what took my drinking over the edge. I had a whole host of mental health issues, including agoraphobia. I would drink to be comfortable going out, but the anxiety would feed into the agoraphobia more. For about five years, I worked for social services, with people with learning disabilities, but I had to leave due to my mental health.

When you talk about alcoholism, you say there is “an invisible line”. There’s a point where you cross it and most people don’t really know it, but I can clearly remember crossing the line. I was 22 and had moved to London to try and solve my problems. I moved to get away from my own head, but my head followed me. I was very anxious at night time and one night I thought; “If I’m drunk, I’m not anxious when I go to bed – I don’t lie awake worrying, I just go to sleep. So maybe I’ll just do that, maybe I’ll just get drunk at night times.” And that’s what I did. From that moment on. So, to me, even though I didn’t realise what was happening at that time, I crossed an invisible line.

Not long after that, the day drinking began. I moved back to Kent after a year in London and my drinking really progressed. I couldn’t go out without having a drink. At that point, I was drinking about two bottles of brandy a day for maintenance. That wasn’t even just getting drunk. That was just to keep me “normal”. Eventually, in my mid-twenties, I did get some help. I had to detox, and I stayed sober for quite a while, but it was awful. I stopped drinking for several years, but it was a constant white-knuckle ride. I had contact with the 12-step programme, but I didn’t engage with it. I was existing. I wasn’t living. It was awful. I wasn’t drinking but I hadn’t addressed the underlying behaviours. People call it being “dry drunk”. I was in this horrible, horrible state and I was self-harming because I couldn’t cope with my feelings.

I relapsed, and over the years I drank on and off. There were a few times I would go from drinking again to trying to stop, or not drinking and being a dry drunk. They didn’t feel that different to me, because I wasn’t addressing the root cause of why I was drinking, so it was the same situation. There were many years of stopping, starting, stopping, starting. As soon as I started drinking again, I would pick up from where I left off. Then it would just get worse and worse because it’s a progressive illness.

2020 was when things got bad. I had started drinking heavily again on a daily basis, before the lockdowns even started. Because of my agoraphobia, I had to persuade people to get it for me, or order alcohol online, praying that they would deliver it quickly enough. It was harder to hide my drinking from others, because it wasn’t normal to get booze delivered to your doorstep. And then Covid happened. It all changed during lockdown. Now I could order vodka from the shop down the road, and they would deliver it. Everyone was doing it. I didn’t have to make any elaborate arrangements to get drink any more. I could have a bottle of vodka waiting for me in 10 minutes. And it was like the rest of the world joined my gang. They were all stuck inside like I was stuck inside. I had access to everything I needed. In my head, I could be happy and comfortable inside, safe and drinking.

Soon, I was drinking two bottles of vodka a day. And although I tried to tell myself I was happy and comfortable, deep down I knew I was in serious trouble. I was self-harming. I was suicidal. I couldn’t see a way out. My partner was in bits and in the end, I got taken to hospital. This was at the beginning of the pandemic. I was in a five-day detox at the height of Covid and I couldn’t have any visitors. I joined a 12-step programme but within three months I relapsed again. This was rock bottom. I was instantly back to where I was before, back on two bottles of vodka a day.

That’s when I contacted Forward. I needed to detox under supervision because I was physically dependent on alcohol. I knew it would be dangerous if I just tried to stop. I had to wait a while for the detox, and that was really tough. My withdrawal symptoms were so bad they would wake me up in the morning. I couldn’t stand up by myself for more than five minutes. I didn’t eat, I lost my mobility, a lot of my hair, and the skin off my feet. I genuinely think that I didn’t have much longer left.

I finally got my detox in March 2021. The relief. It was so much more than it had ever been before because I was so desperate. It was so amazing to me, a new start.

A week later I started on the Dover Day programme (a day treatment service delivered by Forward) remotely, something I wouldn’t have been able to access in normal times, where I would have been expected to come in for treatment in person. It’s funny, because Covid lockdowns, and where they took my drinking to, could have been my killer. But they ended up being my saviour. Before the pandemic, my agoraphobia would have meant that I would have struggled to get help and stick with it, because so much of the focus was on coming in person into services. But because of the restrictions on meeting in person, all the support offered was available online, in the safety of my own home. I had a community of people who knew what I was going through, who could help me understand. And I didn’t need to leave my living room to speak with them.

I began learning what it meant to be an alcoholic. Before that, I didn’t really understand it. I knew I drank too much, but I just thought that was because I was weak. I didn’t understand that it was a disease and that I’d probably had it all my life. I learned there’s no quick fix. I knew I needed something more than the day programme, so I went back to my 12-step programme. I had another alcoholic to help guide me. The day programme gave me a structure to my day, it got me up in the morning and doing something. I’m incredibly lucky, I had very good group. There are six of us now who are still in touch, who are still in recovery. We chat and we see each other. Forward supported me through all that. Since the programme finished, I’ve been back and to support on the day programme every week. I enjoy that so much.

Since June, I’ve been working on Forward’s Reach Out service as a volunteer two days a week. Reach Out is an online chat service, for people who need advice or just someone to talk to.

We take calls from people with drug or alcohol problems or mental health issues and signpost them to services. Sometimes we just chat through what’s going on for them right now. For me, that’s such a huge thing to be part of. To be giving back. My recovery has not only saved my life, but it has put me in a position to be able to help other people. Hopefully I can stop them from getting to the point I was.

I feel that I’m doing what I was always meant to do. I still have my struggles with my mental health, but recovery has helped me more in that respect so much. So now in my day-to-day life, I feel great. I have a few challenges, but I know that a drink won’t solve that. It will only ever make it worse. I’m getting some counselling for my agoraphobia. I’ve started walking the dog a little a little bit and I have a little job across the road in a restaurant which I love. It’s still a process, but I feel now I believe I can do something about it. Before I was in such a hopeless state that I didn’t see a future. I didn’t see anything. But now I do.

I want to be able to tell people that there is help. So many people die because they don’t know there’s help. I want to tell them that it is a disease, it’s not just someone being weak. I like to think one day we can be in a world where you can go to the doctor, and they can explain that addiction is an illness. That they tell you that you are sick, but that there is help, there is hope. That was the biggest thing for me.

As soon as I saw that there was hope, it made a huge difference.

This blog was originally published by The Forward Trust. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by The Forward Trust

Volunteers Week 2023

Partner Updates

DDN

June 7, 2023

In celebration of Volunteers Week 2023, Phoenix Futures shares Michelle’s story, who is a Volunteer at its Wirral Residential Service.

Michelle came into treatment at Wirral Residential in February 2023, and after a couple of months at Wirral Residential soon decided to make a referral with the support of her keyworker to Wirral Supported Housing.

Michelle joined us at our Wirral Supported Housing service in April and was doing so well and took the step to begin volunteering at Tomorrow’s Women, a charity that offers free courses, activities and support in an all-women’s safe space. During Michelle’s time volunteering for Tomorrow’s Women, she successfully completed multiple training courses such as Counselling and Adult Social care.

Michelle showed an interest in returning to Wirral Residential as a mentor, looking to help others who are on the same journey she travelled. Michelle was so supportive to other residents as they could relate to her lived experience.

Michelle also supported staff running the floor, supporting with residents’ needs, phone calls, accompanying to health appointments, and taking the lead with groups. Michelle is an expert in the therapeutic model and is enabled to support and challenge both residents and staff, with a positive respectful attitude.

Since making these huge strides, Michelle has her children back in her life and her health has improved massively. Michelle’s aim is now employment with Phoenix Futures, and she is looking forward to investing in training and working along staff making a difference for community members.

Michelle said, “Being a volunteer keeps me connected and allows me to be in a position to help those going into treatment as I was once myself in that position. I feel I can demonstrate through my own experience that by working on ourselves through the support from the therapeutic workers, that we can turn our lives around and live without the use of substances.

“It took me a while to get to this point in my recovery, and I feel I have only been able to achieve my sobriety, through the support given to me by both Wirral Residential and Wirral Supported Housing staff. I am able to look forward to living my life with a bright future.”

This blog was originally published by Phoenix Futures. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by Phoenix Futures

Turning Point launches dual diagnosis training

Partner Updates

DDN

June 6, 2023

Turning Point has launched a new training resource to increase the awareness and understanding of substance use and mental health.

The initiative started with a donation from a mother whose daughter, an NHS nurse, lost her life after a long history of mental health illness and alcohol addiction.

Turning Point’s online course has been designed by experienced specialists and will be available for anyone to access for free, regardless of level of knowledge. It has information and guidance on how to recognise and support people who have a co-existing or a co-occurring condition.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities revealed that nearly two thirds of adults (63%), starting treatment for substance misuse from 2020 to 2021, said they had a mental health need.

In 2002, the Department of Health reported that supporting those with both substance use and mental health issues, was one of the biggest problems that frontline mental health services faced and highlighted that fragmented care leads to people falling between the cracks in services.

One of these people was Joanna P, a specialist mental health nurse who worked for the NHS for 25 years. She was a politics graduate, a talented writer and also ran three London Marathons for charitable causes.

However, since her teenage years, Joanna had suffered from bouts of mental illness, leading eventually to alcohol addiction.

Joanna fought bravely to try and overcome her struggles with several hospital admissions and periods of rehab.

In 2019, she was given a place at a rehab facility, but following five successful months of a six-month programme, despite protesting her innocence, she was summarily discharged after being accused of “illegally obtaining mind altering substances” due to miscommunication of a medication prescription between the rehab facility and their designated GP surgery which provided prescriptions to all the rehab patients.

With her mental health deteriorating, but still battling her addiction, Joanna visited an organisation which had helped her previously and she was prescribed new medication.

Sadly, before the new medication could start to take effect, severely weakened by her long struggle, she died of alcohol poisoning in nearby sheltered accommodation.

“If this could happen to her, a highly qualified mental health professional, what hope is there for others?” said Joanna’s mother Helen.

“At the inquest, the document submitted by the hospital trust stated that although prior to Joanna’s death they had been unable to fund dual diagnosis nurses they were now employing two. I see this as my daughter’s legacy, but it does not lessen the pain of losing her. I firmly believe that all NHS trusts should have this resource.

“Another failure was the chaotic and piecemeal approach to Joanna’s condition. Vulnerable children with complex needs have a single key worker co-ordinating the support and care provided by various agencies. There is no such provision for vulnerable adults.

“Joanna was supported by some wonderful people such as A and E staff, who focused professionally on the immediate problem in front of them, but the lack of any joined-up thinking meant the severity and complexity of her situation was completely overlooked. At one point, after going missing for several days she was found with seven different hospital wrist bands yet, as these accumulated, no one thought to look at the bigger picture.”

Julie Bass, CEO at Turning Point, said: “We would firstly like to thank Helen and the rest of Joanna’s family for the donation that has enabled Turning Point to develop this new training resource. Joanna was a credit to her family, which included her three children, and to the NHS where she worked diligently for over 25 years.

“Turning Point want to ensure that healthcare professionals learn from Joanna’s story and this is why we have launched this resource.

“Our trained professionals work with clients who present with substance use issues as well as mental illness every day. As a provider of both specialist mental health and drug and alcohol treatment services, we know what the issues are in each part of the system, which is why we launched our Substance Use Mental Health (SUMH) Resource Pack in 2021. This new online training course builds on this and will hopefully result in support that is more joined up and more responsive to people’s needs.”

To access Turning Point’s Dual Diagnosis course, click here.

This blog was originally published by Turning Point. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by Turning Point

Reducing alcohol-related harm should be a key part of ICS action

Partner Updates

DDN

June 5, 2023

Reducing alcohol-related harm should form a key pillar of ICS action on health inequalities, writes Julie Bass, Chief Executive at Turning Point.

NHS England is currently consulting on a framework for NHS action on Inclusion Health, aimed at capturing best practice in this area.

The framework will support national and regional NHS leaders, and local systems, to identify specific priority actions to tackle health inequalities faced by vulnerable groups. Integrated care systems (ICSs) are central to this work due to their leadership role in efforts to identify and reduce health inequalities, as well as improving population health.

The framework’s view of vulnerable groups is broad – including those who experience homelessness, drug and alcohol dependence, vulnerable migrants, and other socially excluded groups. I would like to focus for a moment on those struggling with alcohol dependence, as tackling alcohol related harm through effective partnership working must be a priority within wider ICS action on reducing inequalities.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recently published its report on alcohol treatment services, concluding that alcohol harm is not taken ‘sufficiently seriously’ emphasising the scale of harm caused by alcohol particularly within deprived communities.

Alcohol causes significant harm to individuals, families, communities, and public services. In 2012, the Department of Health estimated the annual cost of alcohol harm to the NHS at approximately £3.5 billion. Alcohol is linked to over 100 illnesses, can drive mental disorder, self-harm, and suicide, and is a major cause of preventable death. The ONS reported that alcohol was linked to 42% of all violent crime in 2019–20, and evidence suggests that harm is most prevalent within deprived communities – with five times as many liver deaths as their most affluent counterparts.

An estimated 10 million people in England regularly exceed low risk drinking guidelines, including 1.7 million who drink at higher risk and around 600,000 who are dependent on alcohol. Excessive alcohol consumption has huge consequences when it comes to population health and growing pressure on NHS and wider health and care services. Alcohol-related hospital admissions have risen steadily to 976,000, an increase of 16% over the four years to 2019–20. Serious attempts at addressing alcohol-harm need to be situated within broader efforts to improve population health, oriented towards early-intervention, with a particular focus on promoting healthy lifestyles.

Alcohol harm is more pronounced within our most deprived communities. ICSs have been tasked with leading efforts to identify and reduce health inequalities, alongside broad objectives to improve population health and contribute to social and economic development. Combatting alcohol harm will require ICSs to coordinate a range of local services and stakeholders, where provision is matched with a detailed mapping of local inequalities, alcohol harms, and health needs.

To achieve this, ICSs need to facilitate regular intelligence and data sharing amongst local stakeholders including the VCSE sector, local authorities, NHS services. ICSs are well placed to support a truly joined-up approach to service provision with hepatology departments, community treatment services, local authorities and mental health services working together to get more people who are drinking at higher or increasing risk support to cut down or stop altogether.

The extent to which ICSs have prioritised efforts to improve population health and reduce health inequalities varies hugely across the country and coordinated ICS led partnership working on alcohol-related harm remains patchy. Some ICSs, such as West Yorkshire, have delivered well on integration and outcomes. Within West Yorkshire ICS, alcohol harm has been central to wider efforts towards preventing ill-health. The ICS set itself the target of reducing the number of people admitted to hospital due to alcohol consumption by 500 every year and reducing the number of ambulance call-outs for related incidents. However, many ICSs have yet to publish priorities.

Where there are strong partnerships between local providers and ICSs, these tend to pre-date the development of ICSs. In many cases, ICSs have simply carried forward their engagement with local providers from their predecessors, rather than using the creation of new institutions as a chance to ‘reset’ and build better, more effective partnerships.

In Somerset, the local Combatting Drugs Partnership (CDP) reports into the ICS governance structures. Addiction is a key priority area for the ICS. The Somerset Director of Public Health chairs the CDP and sits on Somerset’s ICB. This structure has enabled clear pathways between place-based actors and the systems level and has led to key priorities being raised at ICS level, including continuity of care for people in hospital and community settings.

Alcohol causes significant harm to population heath and public services. If ICSs are going to tackle health inequalities, they need to prioritise reducing alcohol-related harm. The right response will require ICSs to support a joined-up approach between hospital and community services and to tackle the huge level of unmet need which currently exists when it comes to alcohol harm within this country. It is my hope that the upcoming inclusion health framework will direct ICSs in placing greater emphasis on preventing alcohol harm – delivering huge benefits for individuals, families and the health system.

This blog was originally published by Turning Point. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by Turning Point

The quiet crisis: alcohol deaths in England and Wales

Partner Updates

DDN

June 5, 2023

Alcohol is a major part of British culture. From a pint at the pub after work to a night out on the town with friends, alcohol is deeply ingrained in the social fabric of the UK. However, behind closed doors, a quiet crisis is unfolding, writes Forward Trust’s Sally Benton.

In 2022, the number of deaths related to alcohol in England and Wales reached an all-time high, including deaths caused by alcohol dependency.

This catastrophic public health crisis is not making headlines as it should be. Any other ‘all-time high’ published this spring would be leading news stories, commentaries and Parliamentary debate.

It can only be the stigma and shame of addiction that holds back a large-scale enquiry into why such devastating statistics continue to rise. These factors not only prevent people from seeking help but also perpetuate the lack of access devoted to recovery.

In 2022, the number of alcohol-related deaths in England and Wales rose to an all-time high. According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 7,423 alcohol-related deaths registered in England and Wales for the year. The vast majority of those deaths were due to alcohol dependency. This represents a significant increase from 2019, when there were 5,698 alcohol-related deaths in England and Wales.

The rise in alcohol-related deaths during the pandemic and post-pandemic period was not unexpected. Surveys conducted by Taking Action on Addiction during this time have shown an increase in drinking among the general population, with many people turning to alcohol as a way to cope with stress, anxiety, and other pandemic-related problems.

The latest survey found that not only did an estimated 2.4 million people who had been in recovery from an addiction before the pandemic experience some form of relapse, but an estimated 9 million people in the UK increased their intake of alcohol overall during the pandemic (source: YouGov poll commissioned by the Taking Action on Addiction campaign. More information here.)

All of these figures are deeply concerning, with long-term health and social implications.

Alcohol dependency, or addiction, is a complex issue. It not only affects the individual struggling with it but also has a ripple effect on families and future generations. The stigma and shame associated with addiction often prevent individuals from seeking help, as they fear being judged or ostracised, particularly from the professionals they may encounter on the journey to access treatment. This leads to a lack of access to the necessary support and care that is essential in order to address issues early, recover and, in turn, reduce the need for hospitalisations and deaths.

Families of those with addiction experience significant strain as they try to support their loved ones – often without specialist support, in isolation and in secret. The impact of addiction can linger for generations, with children of addicted parents, being more likely to develop addiction issues themselves. There is a systemic lack of support that is desperately needed if we are to address the UK’s addiction crisis and the intergenerational trauma that surround it.

It is imperative that the shame and stigma associated with alcohol addiction be removed. Addiction is not a choice, and those struggling with it need help and support, not judgment or shame. These devastating figures show that Government and health leaders need to increase access to and training on addiction for frontline primary care providers. This will ensure that more people can access the help, empathy, and care they need to overcome addiction.

The crisis is quietly happening behind closed doors.

It’s time to acknowledge it and take action. More resources, and continued research on effective treatments, are required to provide the necessary support for individuals and families affected by alcohol dependency. It’s time to address the underlying issues and provide effective prevention, treatment, and recovery measures.

The recent figures for alcohol-related deaths in England and Wales are alarming. The crisis is unfolding behind closed doors, hidden in secrets and shame, making it harder to keep it in the public eye. However, addiction is a public health crisis that requires urgent attention. Now is the time to give it the attention and intervention it deserves.

If you’re finding things tough right now, our Reach Out online chat service can help. Our friendly team is here to offer support and someone to talk to. The service is available between 9am and 3pm Monday-Friday (excluding Bank Holidays).

If you think you might need more structured support, please visit our website to find out what services we offer, or find out more about our residential rehabilitation centre Clouds House.

This blog was originally published by The Forward Trust. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by The Forward Trust

Joining the Dots

Features

DDN

June 5, 2023

Improving systems to ensure that people leaving prison are motivated and supported to engage with community services is a priority for both the government and the sector. Ilo Edwin and Sarah Clowes describe how the Forward Trust is trying to address the challenge.

The high risk of relapse and reoffending amongst substance-misusing offenders and their susceptibility to drug-related death in the period following release from prison has been understood for many years, and underlined by the 2017 evidence review of drug treatment in England. Therefore, an integrated and seamless care pathway from prison to the community is necessary to both reduce risk for those recovering from substance misuse and address reoffending rates.

With more than 30 years’ experience of delivering services across the prison estate, The Forward Trust (formerly RAPt) recognises the importance of continuity of care (CoC) in reducing risk, and achieving and/or maintaining recovery goals. We strongly believe that continuing support following release contributes to enhancement of wellbeing and subsequent reduction of overdose risks. One example: more than 20 years ago Forward established a team of volunteers to act as a ‘meet and greet’ service at the prison gate – overseen by our recovery support team – and accompany people to community appointments.

Sarah recalls why she stayed with the Forward Trust having started as a volunteer in 2012. ‘I attended a RAPt event as we were then presenting on through-the-gate,’ she says. ‘It was this presentation that inspired me to apply for a job with Forward, seeing the care and responsiveness to the needs of those leaving custody and/or indeed involved with the criminal justice system. I share the belief that we need to collectively address these issues if we were ever to reduce re-offending’.

More than ten years later, Forward’s determination for supporting CoC continues. Forward now manages three RECONNECT services (Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex), which reinforces our mission to contribute to reducing inequalities faced by those leaving custody and the impact this has on their health, wellbeing and re-offending rates. RECONNECT practitioners conduct bespoke needs assessments up to three months before release and supports people to integrate into the community and access the services they need to reach their full potential.

Recent data shows that successful continuation of treatment from prison into the community remains low, however. Undoubtedly work to embed the government’s Guidance for improving the continuity of care between prison and the community was impeded by COVID, with release planning and CoC practises having to be adapted accordingly.

The key areas of challenge to CoC from our experience include:

Unknown and/or wider geographical release areas, which delay community integration.
Limited or no accommodation options for released prisoners.
Unplanned releases from court, impeding services’ ability to make referrals and community pick-ups.
Varying interpretations of ‘structured treatment’ between community and prison providers – we’ve seen that prioritising only those on OST as being in structured treatment presents a challenge to CoC efforts.
In response to the new CoC target of 75 per cent, Forward Trust’s service development team, alongside service managers, worked on a CoC best practice strategic framework to support services to achieve the best-post release outcomes for their service users, providing structure, guidance and support to our prison and community-based employees.

Alongside this, within prison service delivery we have:

Embedded through-the-gate workers (where funding permits) to support with release planning and follow-up engagement on release, as well as supporting re-engagement where necessary and signposting/referral to support services.
Managers proficient in training staff on CoC procedures are actively identifying their main release areas in order to build relationships/CoC protocols. For example, our service manager at HMP Wormwood Scrubs chairs a bi-monthly CoC forum with key stakeholders across London, and our Brixton service manager carries out ‘data match’ meetings with key release areas.
Practitioners who are dedicated in liaising with other key agencies such as OMU and dependency and recovery staff, flagging barriers and utilising digital technology, telephones and face-to-face methods to facilitate post-release appointments.
Continuing the ‘meet and greet provision’ by our recovery support service.

Undoubtedly, the sector is responding positively towards the 75 per cent target. We have seen the input of Collective Voice London workshops, centred on CoC, and also Surrey county’s drive towards improving communication and partnership working – of which Forward Trust are committed members.

But more effort is needed to drive forward treatment retention and recovery outcomes. Reaching this target is ultimately dependent on the motivation of prisoners to want to stay in positive and meaningful contact with services, which in turn is dependent on what happens while they are in prison. Prisoners who are genuinely engaged in treatment, and motivated towards recovery, are much more likely to stay in contact with services.

Through its recovery support division, Forward Trust also offer variety of other support mechanisms that exemplify its CoC commitment, including:

Forward Connect peer support: nationwide community for current and former clients. Membership includes:

Access to online mutual aid meetings, social activities, peer advice and support.
Access to Fuse online learning platform containing self-help materials.

Reach-out service: Our online chat support function provides free, confidential advice on a range of issues including signposting to local support services.

Probation dependency and recovery service: Commissioned to support people on probation engage with relevant community substance misuse support upon release. Although its main focus is community engagement, each region has a number of prison link workers who are engaging with prisoners while in custody and who support continuation of care on release. Referrals for this service come directly from probation, and are an important link for prison substance misuse services by supporting teams with coordinating post release support.

Reconnect (Norfolk, Suffolk & Essex): A care-after- custody service seeking to improve CoC of vulnerable prison leavers by increasing access and uptake of support services for individuals who would otherwise struggle to engage – with a focus on engagement whilst in custody and supporting continuation on release.

Ilo Edwin is head of custodial substance misuse services and Sarah Clowes is regional manager for Essex services at Forward Trust.

We Are Via

Features

DDN

June 5, 2023

Anna Whitton, CEO of Via (formerly WDP), shares the news about changing their name and brand, the story of why they’ve made this big step, and what’s next in their journey.

This year WDP (Westminster Drug Project) turns 30 and, at this milestone, we’re also changing our name.

For people who know us and what we do, the decision to make this change will probably make sense. We aren’t a drugs project in Westminster anymore, and haven’t been for some time. Our services are now delivered in lots of different areas across England. These services also now include young peoples’ services and IPS services, for example, as well as the integrated community and residential drug and alcohol services that people know us best for. So our growth and development have led us to a really positive point where we’ve outgrown our original name.

In saying this, changing the name of an organisation is a big decision and finding a new name is not easy. Because of that, we invested time in listening to what people had to say about who we are, how we do things and what makes us different. We wanted to know what people really thought about our name and brand, both now and with an eye on future changes and developments.

Asha & Co led this piece of work for us and spent time with people who use our services, those who work and volunteer for us, and commissioners who know us well – along with those who don’t. They conducted one-to-one and small group interviews to explore in detail perspectives from a diverse group of people across a number of different roles, as well as undertaking broader research, review and reflection work.

The feedback from this initial phase was really clear and consistent. People told us that they wanted a name that was more discreet, that was simple, clear and not tied to any particular geography or substance. Importantly, they also told us to reflect our humility in our name and brand, that the work we do is inspiring, but that claiming this in a name can be off-putting and doesn’t really reflect the way in which we already communicate. So, the task for any new name and brand was not a simple one and came with many requirements, including not losing the legacy of the last 30 years and our development over time.

Our new name and brand were developed by Asha & Co, utilising the research they had undertaken, and the strong perspectives communicated from many different voices. Critically, while our senior team and board of trustees have known about the new name and brand for several months now, other than participating in the final approval process, our influence over its development was no more significant than anyone else who contributed to the original research phase. This was important to us – we wanted a name and brand that really reflected who we are, not what I or we as the ‘senior team’ thought it should be.

OUR NEW NAME IS VIA

Via reflects that we are part of a journey, that everyone’s journey is different, and that we work with people along their individual route. Our logo reflects that too. You’ll see that it changes, signalling the different paths that people take and choices that can be made.

You’ll also see that our logo is black and white. It is clear, simple and easy to recognise in its different forms. It changes as you click through our new website and on our different service materials, but it is very clearly us.

The colour in our brand comes from photography. That photography reflects the real world, not a perfect world. Our headline photographs purposefully don’t include faces, as we think that can feel limiting or excluding and so instead the images reflect moments, beauty in the everyday and people connected to the world that they live in. In effect, real life and lived experiences.

The way that we’re using photography means that over the next 12 months we want to move to a position where all of our headline photographs are taken by the people who use our services, or who work or volunteer for us. We want to have a brand that can really feel owned by those who are central to what we do. That’s something we’re really excited by and I hadn’t anticipated that a change of name could bring such compelling opportunities to connect our work.

The new name and brand also support changes across our service premises. We aren’t just changing the external signage but are taking the time to enhance our internal spaces too. Many already have murals that have been co-developed with people who use our services, so we’ve thought carefully about how the new brand works with those spaces and we’re excited about how it all comes together to support safe, welcoming and positive service environments.

There has been lots to do to implement this initial but big change, and we’re really lucky to have had a great team of people to make that happen. We’ve got an exciting programme of work ahead of us, building on much of the progress that we’ve been making over the last few years. It’s important that we don’t lose sight of that, and that we continue on our really exciting and important journey too. This includes completing the implementation of our women-only inpatient detoxification unit (more to come on that soon) and a new learning and development offer, which builds on the work we’ve completed to shape our values and approach very explicitly into our employment offer.

You can check out our new website here – www.viaorg.uk – which includes links to our social media channels, a short film that explains our decision to change the organisation’s name and why we think Via is a good fit for us. And, as always, if you’ve got feedback about what you like and don’t like or suggestions about next steps, please get in touch. We hope that you like our new identity as much as we do!

DDN June 2023

DDN

June 5, 2023

‘Everyone will gain from sharing experiences’

We’re in the final run-up to the annual DDN Conference on 13 July. We’ll hear from people with personal experience of all the issues reflected in our pages, including making a path from the criminal justice system – a key theme of this issue.

In February 2008 I wrote in my editor’s letter, following the first DDN Conference (in partnership with The Alliance, back then): ‘Reactions to our first DDN/Alliance service user conference have been illuminating, interesting and inspiring for the next attempt. Most of the responses have been overwhelmingly enthusiastic; it’s on the online forums that discussion gets more open.

Some contributors suspected there was no point to the event, as nothing would change. Others found it a less than polished experience compared to a standard conference format. Some didn’t go – but were sure it couldn’t have been worth it. That’s the most frustrating comment to hear!’

So where are we 15 years later? Still hosting the dialogue and convinced that everyone will gain a lot from sharing very diverse experiences –see Anna’s article on p22. I still hear the occasional comment ‘it isn’t for me’ – but these days I want more than ever to know, why not?

Read the June issue as an online magazine or download the PDF here

Claire Brown, editor

Please send your letters and comment to claire@cjwellings.com

Forward’s Employment Services retain the matrix standard accreditation

Partner Updates

DDN

June 2, 2023

Nina Royle, Head of Quality and Compliance at Forward Trust, celebrates achieving the matrix standard, a symbol of Forward’s commitment to providing high quality employment services in prisons and in the community.

We are thrilled to announce that Forward’s Employment Services Directorate has successfully met the matrix standard, the Department for Education (DfE)’s benchmark for ensuring the delivery of high-quality information, advice, and guidance (IAG). This achievement means we can continue to display the matrix quality mark, a symbol of our commitment to providing first-rate services both in prisons and in the community, including our Adult Education Budget and Restart programmes.

Collaborating closely with our matrix assessor, we underwent a comprehensive assessment process, which involved two days of interviews with our dedicated staff, trustees, and learners/participants. The assessment encompassed a thorough review of our Strategic Plans, Self-Assessment Reports, and Quality Improvement Plans, resulting in the identification of strengths and areas for development.

We strongly believe in obtaining an independent evaluation of our services, incorporating valuable input from our participants. During the assessment, we had the opportunity to hear from many clients who expressed their appreciation for their involvement and the support they had received. One individual shared their personal journey, stating:

“This was the third service I’d been referred to. Staff here were way more friendly, understanding, made it easy to be honest. I was helped with a CV, interview clothes, interview preparation; they helped my confidence. The impact for me – a job! Two plus months into it now, and they keep in touch as they said they would”.

The report also acknowledged our strong partnerships with external agencies, including employers. Feedback from these partners demonstrated their enthusiasm for working with us, with comments such as:

“It’s really refreshing to have a partner who welcomes feedback”; “We’re very impressed with how they (Forward’s Employment Services) have worked on the contract”; “They took time to get to know us and the roles we have – result, right candidates”.

Our effective use of technology was recognised as a key strength. For example, learners/participants said they enjoy using Onefile, an e-portfolio platform to help manage their learning, and the Kudos Adult Directions Careers Platform, which offers careers guidance. Many of our IAG teams in prisons have been quick to utilise the digital Personal Learning Plans.

Staff say they feel supported with their training and continuing professional development (CPD) and we are committed to supporting them with this, including through the attainment of Level 4 qualifications in IAG or the Employability Practitioner Apprenticeship Standard. There are clear opportunities for staff members to develop their own practice, which raises the standard of quality provision and is seen as a positive by staff members.

Recognising the challenges our teams face while working with disadvantaged and challenging learner or participant groups, we with the rest of the organisation have recently introduced Wellbeing Days. These dedicated days provide valuable support for staff members’ mental health and self-care, an initiative that has been welcomed by colleagues.

Our teams are challenged and supported by managers who are available, accessible and visible, providing the necessary guidance and encouragement. This has been acknowledged by staff and by our commissioners. Regular observations of workplace practices, Quality Improvement Plans and structured one-to-ones with managers all help to shape and improve the quality of our services.

We are aware that are areas for further development and improvement, and we will be engaging with our Advisory Group and Trustee Board to explore effective strategies for addressing them. The matrix assessment has been a very positive experience. We and those interviewed have enjoyed the opportunity to showcase our strengths and reflect on areas to improve.

This blog was originally published by The Forward Trust. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by The Forward Trust

A dignified end

Features

DDN

June 1, 2023

Compassionate end-of-life care for people using substances has often been sadly lacking, says Sarah Galvani.

People who are at, or near, the end of their lives deserve to die with dignity, care and compassion. But this is often not the case for people using substances, particularly if they are homeless too. Many people using substances have few, if any, options about their care towards the end of their lives. The care they receive from some professionals can be poor and their families, friends and carers are left wondering how to cope – usually without adequate information and support.

In 2019, a team of researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) started to develop a new approach to care for people using substances – alcohol and other drugs – who were approaching the end of their lives. This was done in partnership with people with lived experience of substance use and loss, through our community partner VoiceBox Inc., and in partnership with ten social and health care providers in Liverpool and Sefton.

Liverpool is fortunate to have some dedicated professionals working together, particularly for homeless people or people living in hostels. These include the Brownlow group of GPs, Marie Curie Hospice staff, With You and Ambitions Liverpool staff, and housing agencies such as the Whitechapel Centre and YMCA. However, across the wider system and away from the hard work of these agencies there is a genuine ignorance about how to support someone who is using substances and approaching the end of their lives.

To develop a new approach, the team asked people about their experiences of living or working within the existing system. Finding out what worked and what didn’t was an important first step in developing a different way of working. What we heard were examples of shocking and prejudiced ‘care’, with only a few examples of good practice.

The research team worked alongside people with lived experience of substance use, as well as families, friends and carers, and social and health care practitioners to develop the new model of care. Through a series of online workshops, the group agreed the short-, medium- and long-term goals for a new model.

THE LONG-TERM GOAL:

‘To provide compassion-focussed palliative and end-of-life care for people using substances, and their families and carers, which addresses current health inequalities.’

This doesn’t mean the responsibility lies just with palliative and end-of-life services; it means that no matter where the person is in the ‘system’ when they become seriously ill, the people around them should be better equipped to have conversations with them, whether that’s a substance use practitioner, family member, hostel worker, or medical staff. It also means family members (we use the term loosely – it could be a close friend or neighbour) should be better supported, both in their own right and in terms of the information and emotional support to help them in their caring role.

To reach the long-term goal there are a series of ‘stepping stones’ including short- and medium-term goals. For our short-term goals, the working group said everyone needed more knowledge and understanding of the issues people faced, information on how to talk to someone about end-of-life wishes or substance use, and that families, friends and carers – paid and unpaid – needed better support. This meant providing knowledge and resources to professionals, family caregivers and people who are unwell, including examples of good practice of how to raise the subject with someone else and information on end-of-life care and/or substance use. As a result, a range of booklets, practice pointers, leaflets and podcasts were developed and uploaded to the project’s website: https://endoflifecaresubstanceuse.com

The resources also offer suggestions on how to challenge a GP or other professional who might not be helpful, such as taking someone else to the appointment or saying, ‘I think I could be seriously unwell. I know I drink/use drugs, but it’s more than that. I need someone to take my concerns seriously.’

Of course, talking or thinking about dying is still taboo, despite the fact that it’s an experience we’re all guaranteed to share. The resources also include pointers on raising the subject with family and friends, as well as suggestions for professionals and family members about how to start conversations.

Depending on the circumstances of our ill health we may not always be able to get things the way we would want them at the end of our lives but there’s a far better chance if we’ve given it some thought ahead of time, written it down, and told some other people.

The research team heard that what was important was having someone who listened properly and didn’t judge, someone who clearly cared about them and wanted the best for them, and professionals who were direct about what was going on but kind at the same time. They also wanted care in a holistic way, where professionals considered all of their needs rather than just one. Family caregivers and practitioners wanted to know how to take care of their friend, relative or patient well and where to go if they had questions or needed support.

Perhaps the main message from the group and the wider research is that people deserve a ‘good death’ and to die with dignity, with as much control as they want, and with as much choice as possible. Making sure that happens is everyone’s responsibility.

Sarah Galvani is part of the SUAB (substance use and associated behaviours) research group at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Email: s.galvani@mmu.ac.uk

Seamless Systems

Features

DDN

June 1, 2023

Strong partnerships with community teams are just one of the elements needed for successful continuity of care after prison, say Jim Barnard and Avril Culley.

A seamless transition from prison to community is important for those prisoners being supported in their recovery from substance misuse. Evidence suggests that prisoners who relapse on release from custody are more likely to reoffend, resulting in a return to custody. It’s also important as people being released from prisoners are – in the first six weeks – four times more likely to overdose on opiates, resulting in high drug related deaths in this group. This is something that was recognised by Dame Carol Black’s review, which stated the importance of ‘keeping prisoners engaged in treatment after release – improved engagement of people before they leave prison and better continuity of care into the community.’ Furthermore, it’s one of the performance indicators in the public health functions agreement to which NHS England monitor compliance.

At Inclusion we are a provider of both community and prison drug and alcohol services, so we see the issues of continuity of care from both sides of the fence. We always thought we were doing this quite well until the national figures came out, suggesting that the number of people successfully continuing their treatment in the community after leaving prison was only in the mid-30 per cent range. We felt that it was a high priority to improve this, so we tasked our prison and community services with concentrating on this area. This focus was increased when the national target of 75 per cent successful transitions was announced.

Psychosocial interventions

The psychosocial intervention (PSI) pathway no longer ends when an individual leaves the prison gates – our health in justice (HIJ) psychosocial substance misuse teams are committed to ensuring their journey continues into the community when the need is identified. Our teams embraced the wider drug strategy agenda and began monitoring continuity of care, having a keen focus to support success for release – once individuals were released, we started contacting community drug and alcohol teams to follow up attendance. This gave us real-time information, which allowed us to be responsive to themes and respond to barriers affecting continuity of support and treatment.

The continuous demand on the prison population has also meant that the majority of sites have seen an increase in the number of prison releases. Given individuals are most at risk of overdose following periods of abstinence while in custody, the need for the psychosocial teams to commence effective release planning and coordination of continuity of care is crucial, and there has been an increase in the numbers of naloxone kits, training and harm reduction advice disseminated to patients prior to release.

Patient feedback

Patient feedback has been paramount to determining the next steps on this journey – our teams tried to further understand the barriers to continuity of care upon release, enabling them to respond accordingly. For example, patients feedback typically suggested they would like to meet their community worker prior to release, and our teams where possible were able to support community prison link workers accessing the prisons to meet people as part of their release planning process.

Supporting and coordinating specialist community staff to access the prison to provide a collaborative seamless approach to care has seen an increase in the number of patients attending their community appointments following release.

Alongside this, since the pandemic the prison substance misuse teams are seeing an increase in the demand for support with alcohol and non-opiate substances, mirroring drug trends in the community. We’ve implemented collaborative non-opiate patient release pathways, which include obtaining an appointment upon release and a stringent transfer of care for this population.

Another example relates to feedback around the length of time elapsing between release and a community appointment – it was recognised that an increased period of time until the appointment corresponded to lower attendance rates.

Community teams

Our teams made a conscious effort to strengthen our excellent connections with community teams, which has supported joint working and outreach for those individuals who do not attend. Prison leads met with community leads to review the continuity of care process, sharing ideas, innovation, and physically cross referencing each individual release each month to provide assurance regarding the accuracy of the NDTMS data.

They have been collectively working with teams in the community to strengthen this pathway, and working alongside OHID to complete data exercises to improve accuracy and overall support for the people in our care. Consideration was given to how our services can replicate the community model – providing assurance that the people in our care in custody had access to the same quality of care, as well as accessibility to a varying range of interventions. Staff feedback was also compiled, and further training and guidance provided to teams to support the transitional NDTMS data metrics compilation.

Service user pathway

Another area of development included the service user pathway for remand prisoners. Our teams linked with communities to ensure continuity of care for court releases, which included educating remand patients on this pathway and creating discharge packs for those attending court. These responded to service user feedback and positively promoted patient choice, identifying treatment/support options available following release from custody.

The standardised PSI pathways have also strengthened how our services respond to need and how our services engage individuals at different stages of their recovery. These pathways embed evidence-based interventions that provide structure and guidance, and strengthen recovery capital in preparation for release. We recognised that our patients at different stages of their recovery require varying levels of support and intervention. We developed needs-led, strengths-based interventions within flexible service user pathways. Our HIJ teams recognised that preparation for release must begin as soon as a prisoner arrives in custody, with treatment plans focused on long-term recovery and continuity in the community.

Collaborative approach

Within our Yorkshire and West Midlands HIJ sites we saw an impressive increase in the number of individuals attending their community appointments. Last quarter, the cumulative average from local data of individuals engaging with the community treatment providers and continuing on their recovery journey following release increased to 72 per cent for Yorkshire prisons and 69 per cent for HMP Hewell, West Midlands – given the current national average is approximately 37 per cent, these results highlight the effectiveness of a collaborative approach to recovery.

However these statistics are not always being replicated by the national figures, which we think is a problem for many services nationally. For instance, from following up all service users who left HMP Hewell it was found that 83 per cent had attended their appointment in Telford, while the national statistics put Telford at around 41 per cent in terms of successful transition. We think this may be partly the result of people being discharged to a different locality initially and so not showing up on our data or theirs. We are also aware that this is an issue that affects many services where the actual successful transition rate is much higher than the national data would suggest.

We feel that the target of 75 per cent successful transitions as achievable, but that the problems with how the data is collected will need to be resolved first. We are shortly meeting with NDTMS to try to begin resolving this.

Jim Barnard is deputy head of operations for community drug and alcohol services and Avril Culley is deputy head of operations for health in justice services at Inclusion.

Help for children of alcohol-dependent parents supports whole family

News

DDN

June 1, 2023

The government’s Children of Alcohol Dependent Parents (CADeP) Programme innovation fund helped to ‘improve wellbeing, relationships and life satisfaction’, according to an independent evaluation.

‘Alcohol misuse can have a particularly devastating impact on children,’ said health minister Neil O’Brien.

The fund provided almost £6m over the four years to March 2022 to areas including Brighton, Knowsley, Portsmouth, Swindon and Haringey.

The scheme – which was run by the Department of Health and Social Care and Department of Work and Pensions – aimed to better identify and support children of alcohol-dependent parents and their families, as well as increase awareness of parental conflict. The children were more able to access support, the report said, with activities designed to help them explore their feelings, understand their parents’ drinking, make a safety plan and identify someone they could rely on.

Supporting the family also encouraged the parents to seek treatment, said the evaluation from the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations. The government is encouraging local authorities to take advantage of drug strategy funding to increase tailored support for families.

‘Alcohol misuse can ruin lives and destroy families, and can have a particularly devastating impact on children,’ said health minister Neil O’Brien. ‘The toll it can take on their mental health and wellbeing can last throughout their lives. We owe it to these children to make sure support is available.’

‘This scheme has equipped local authorities with the tools they need to get people into treatment and on the road to recovery, and this independent review clearly demonstrates the success of the scheme. I’d encourage local authorities right across England to use the funding we’ve provided to adopt similar approaches and to get more people into treatment.’

Read the report here

The DDN Conference 2023

Features

DDN

June 1, 2023

Many roads to an amazing day!

The DDN Conference 2023

We’ve consulted, we’ve listened, we’ve debated. So here’s how we’re taking on board your ideas for this year’s DDN Conference.

The theme of this year’s event, Many Roads, has fired the imagination – ‘Because there is never one way, there is never just one straight route. We are never just waking this alone.’

You talked about the key issues facing members of the community, and the barriers to treatment. We discussed the overriding stigma that affects everything – housing, employment, every aspect of daily life – and you said that if we can’t (all of us together) address and integrate these needs, then the treatment system is a waste of time.

We looked at the rising cost of living, and how it’s stopping people from even getting to services. And we wanted to do more (in Gabor Maté’s words) to meet people where they’re at, embracing diversity and being more responsive to those under served – or even ignored – by the current system.

We recognised that a support network of family and friends is just as important as working in partnership with our healthcare providers, services and commissioners, and we wanted to support families in their own right, including them in the conversation.

We agreed that it’s good to talk about stigma… but not good enough just to talk:

‘We need action, social disobedience, accountability – we’ve had enough and want to take responsibility for this. Let’s campaign and make noise.’

‘When are governments going to start listening? I’m doing this because I’ve lost too many people.’

‘I want to see people being able to make a difference – peer power.’

‘We need to convert passion to purpose.’

So addressing stigma will be the main thread running through the conference, learning from each other during the day, and creating action points on a national level to take beyond the event.

Alongside this, we will show how strong partnerships – with peers at their centre – can achieve so much.

While it’s good to feel the solidarity of the crowd in the main sessions, we also considered that the smaller conversations are invaluable in examining issues at a personal level. So the afternoon’s roundtable sessions will offer a chance to ask questions and talk in a small group about specific issues, from treatment updates to legal advice.

As ever, the exhibition area will be lively and informative, with peer displays, information, opportunities and advice – and the best networking in the land!

We’re now finalising the programme, inviting our speakers, and planning every aspect of a great venue (including frequent refreshments, as usual!). Thank you to everyone who organised consultations and participated in them, especially Anna Millington and Lee Collingham who ran an inspiring online event, and to all of you who sent in suggestions through our online consultation form. Every suggestion been invaluable – not just to the conference programme, but also to our content planning for DDN magazine.

We’re looking forward to a dynamic, productive and enjoyable day together, and hope you are too.

THE DDN CONFERENCE…
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

What is it?

The UK drug treatment field’s largest and most inclusive event

Now in its 15th year the DDN conference is a unique opportunity for people with lived experience, services, commissioners and policymakers to come together to challenge stigma, share best practice and new initiatives, and build more inclusive, fairer treatment for all.

The event includes a full conference programme, presentations, personal stories, and skill-sharing sessions. Its aim is to be highly interactive, with opportunities to have input into campaigns, give feedback on policy and join activists to make a difference to people’s lives.

The exhibition and networking area will have over thirty stands and stalls from peer-led projects, treatment services, and companies showcasing the latest products and services. It is a fantastic chance to learn about all of the support available, including legal advice and employment guidance, as well as new skills and naloxone training.

It’s not all work though! Get involved in sports activities and games, watch films and find out about entering the Recovery Film Festival. Relax with some free complementary therapies, and enjoy music, art and poetry.

If that’s not enough to get you revved up, we’ve arranged free tickets to visit the National Motorcycle Museum at the end of the day!

When is it?

Thursday 13 July, 9.00am – 4.00pm

Delegates can register from 9.00am and catch up with friends (old and new!) over refreshments.

The programme will run from 10.00am–4.00pm, with breaks for refreshments, a full cooked lunch and a chance to network and visit the exhibition stands.

Where is it?

The National Conference Centre, also known as the National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham, B92 0EJ.

Set on junction six of the M42 this fantastic venue provides easy access for cars, with ample free parking. Just a short five-minute taxi-ride from Birmingham International Station and close by Birmingham Airport, getting there couldn’t be easier.

If you’re looking for overnight accommodation the DDN team are staying at the Arden Hotel and Leisure Club just five minutes from the venue. We’ve secured a discounted price of £99 inc vat (reduced from a rate of £139) and you can find the discount code and booking instructions on our site.

There are other hotels close by, or there is a large choice of accommodation to suit all budgets just a short hop away in central Birmingham.

Who should come?

Everyone, it’s as simple as that!

What makes this event unique is the diversity of its delegates. It’s a chance to meet and network with harm reduction advocates, recovery communities, representatives from central and local government, family support services, drug policy campaign groups, and inspiring individuals who are challenging stigma and fighting for social justice.

We want to make every person in the room feel welcome and get so much out of the day. Bring delegates who have never visited a conference before and see them inspired!

If you’re a commissioner that truly believes in co-production you have to be there to learn from presentations on partnership projects and see real examples of this working across the country.

This is a one-off opportunity for services to showcase your work and engage colleagues.

If you’re a long-serving professional who’s seen it all… you haven’t unless you’ve been to a DDN event! Get re-energised meeting colleagues from across the sector and share the enthusiasm of people running new, innovative projects.

How do I book?

You can book individual places, exhibition stands and group packages here.

We’ve kept prices as low as possible and you can book tickets either as an individual via our website from as low as £75 or get in touch to discuss bringing a group along.

To get funding, approach your local commissioner or service, explain the benefits of being there and ask them to support you and your group to attend.

Be part of something!

Join over 500 individuals and organisations for an inspiring, life-changing day!

Preventing the harms of intergenerational drug use through the delivery of whole family interventions

Partner Updates

DDN

May 31, 2023

Michaela Dean, Registered Manager, Specialist Family Service Sheffield at Phoenix Futures explores how whole family interventions can help prevent the harms of intergenerational drug use.

For over 20 years, Phoenix have been delivering residential services that support parents whilst they are still looking after their children. These services are whole family interventions. They deliver treatment to the parents for substance use and help develop parenting skills needs whilst providing care and developmental support to their children.

Scientific studies show that alcohol and drug problems can be, and often are, transmitted across generations via complex biological, psychological, and social processes.

This generational transmission comes from being in close proximity to people using drugs and alcohol but also the trauma and deprivation that comes from living in a family experiencing addiction.

Any type of support for people that have children has a protective and restorative influence for the family unit – recovery seeps through families – but there is added benefit to providing support that is specifically tailored to supporting the whole family.

Phoenix has two services in the UK that offer whole family interventions: Harper House, Specialist Family Service in Scotland and our Sheffield-based Specialist Family Service supporting England and Wales. Both services work to prevent the harms of intergenerational substance use, poor mental health and improve wellbeing.

The programme in our family services bring together three main elements of support.

Therapeutic intervention for parents to address their addiction, mental health and improve wellbeing which includes group work, one-to-ones, CBT
Evidenced-based parenting skills development – enhances parenting to support in raising their children
Childcare and child development support provided by specialist childcare workers delivered to the highest standards.

Crucially, these elements of support are delivered by an onsite multi-disciplinary team working on a coordinated care plan for the family unit. This model of care aims to meet all support needs under one roof. In line with our other residential services, the model of care within our family services includes all the elements of the Therapeutic Community (TC) but with some modifications that allow space for childcare and parenting.

The family unit is the centre of the whole programme, and a lot of time is spent preparing each member of the family for the time that they will spend with us. This can include visiting the service and, in some cases, spending the night with us before a placement starts. We work with social workers, keyworkers, housing support workers, nurseries and schools to help prepare the family and on arrival allocate a more senior community member as a buddy to help them settle into the programme.

We spend time understanding individual children’s needs and what it is that will make the placement more comfortable for them. Where possible we try and retain some elements of normality, whether that be riding their bike to school, or if local, visiting family members.

Harper House offers responsive aftercare for 18 months to two years after the programme is finished and we link families in with doctors, social services, schools, recovery networks, support networks in their local area, all having a comprehensive aftercare plan.

The families leave confidently knowing what their appropriate role is in the family and with all the tools to sustain a happy and healthy life.

“So, I now feel when I leave here, I won’t feel like I’ve been in this rehab for three months and then flung back into life. Because I’m waking up with my daughter here, I’m making breakfast, I’m ironing her clothes, I’m getting her out to school, and then I’m doing work on myself in here. I’m working on my recovery, which is going to help everything. When she’s getting in from school, I’m being a mother.”

Community Member Harper House

Harper House

“We cannot begin to thank you enough for the opportunities and foundations you have helped us build for our future. We are beyond grateful for the time, effort, and care the service has put into helping us in our journey as individuals and as a family.”

A mother and father recently completing the programme successfully in the Sheffield Family Service

Specialist Family Service Sheffield

Our family services are not just residential TCs with a crèche, all the childcare is registered provision that support the developmental needs of each child whether that is babies, toddlers, or older children.

We pride ourselves on our childcare approaches. In Sheffield, we are one of a few childcare settings in the city to be awarded an outstanding grading by OFSTED.

Harper House is a new service, but we are already seeing significant improvements in child development. The headteacher at the local primary school commented:

“We hope more families get the chance to access Harper House. One of the children has progressed three reading stages since he has been staying at Harper House, this is incredible in such a short space of time” – Headteacher, local primary school

The treatment completion rates from our family services are consistently high year on year. This demonstrates the power and the potential of recovering families. It demonstrates that families can do better if they can stay together, and that recovery is sustained.

Whilst many families come to us in the midst of care proceedings, in a study across our Sheffield Family service following 41 parents and 42 children, 70% of families were still together up to 4 years after completing treatment.

We have an average completion rate of 86% across all our family services.

Providing a treatment approach that supports the whole family keeps children safely outside of the care system, breaks down barriers for parents accessing treatment knowing that they will not have to be separated from their children to access treatment.

It also supports children’s development and helps them to overcome some of the negative consequences of being part of a family experiencing addiction. And it provides long-term sustainable recovery for the whole family.

We believe that whole family approaches should be available to all families experiencing addiction and should be considered before the decision is made to remove children into the care system and separate families.

This blog was originally published by Phoenix Futures. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by Phoenix Futures

The sky is the limit for Recovery Street Film Festival 2023

Partner Updates

DDN

May 30, 2023

Are you a budding filmmaker with a story to tell? The annual Recovery Street Film Festival is now accepting submissions for its ninth annual competition.

This festival aims to tackle the stigma surrounding people who use drugs and alcohol and celebrate their journey to recovery. This year’s theme, The sky is the limit, encourages participants to view recovery as an opportunity for healing, growth, and exploration.

The festival is open to filmmakers with lived experience, whether it be their own or through a loved one. There is a prize fund of £500 in Amazon vouchers up for grabs for the winners, with the first-place filmmaker receiving £300, second place receiving £150, and third place receiving £50. Additionally, the top three entries will have their travel to the official award ceremony and screening in September paid for.

Last year’s winner, Ceri Walker, created a stop-motion animated film titled Understanding the Child in Me, which explored the impact of growing up with a parent who drank too much. Ceri, an ambassador for National Association for Children of Alcoholics (Nacoa), explained how creating these films can make a big difference in providing support without shame, keeping people alive, and making a difference for generations to come.

“These films are going to make a big difference because if people can get support without shame, it will keep them alive and it will make such a difference for generations to come.

“What I’m doing now is for my children and their children. So just keep going one day at a time. I know that I’m in this for the long haul. I know my recovery is lifelong, and I’m ok with that.”

John Paul Chapman, whose music video, My Head Feels Like a Washing Machine, was placed in the top three in 2022, was filmed on a mobile phone and edited together on an “old, knackered laptop”.

Films are judged based on the quality of the idea, creativity, and how well they relate to the theme, so participants do not need expensive equipment to win. The competition’s rules state that film entries should have a runtime between one to three minutes, and there is no limit to how creative the films can be. Whether it is a short drama with actors, a stop motion animation, a documentary-style piece, a personal story, a monologue, a song, a poem, or anything else, the festival welcomes a variety of film formats.

Over the past nine years, hundreds of films have been entered into the festival competition, which have been watched by over one million people. This festival gives people with lived experience a platform to share their stories with the public without shame.

Once the shortlist for the 2023 event is announced, screenings will take place throughout the UK during Recovery Month in community hubs, classrooms, theatres, conferences, and cinemas. The Recovery Street Film Festival will share the top ten shortlisted films on their YouTube channel, allowing contestants to hold their own screenings of their films.

If you have a story to tell, don’t hesitate to enter the Recovery Street Film Festival. To learn more and submit your film, visit their website at https://rsff.co.uk/.

This blog was originally published by Turning Point. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by Turning Point

Government to close youth vaping ‘loophole’

DDN

May 30, 2023

The government is set to close a ‘loophole’ that allows shops to give free vape samples to young people, it has announced. It has also launched a review into banning the sale of ‘nicotine-free’ vapes to people under 18.

young person vaping — The government intends make it easier for trading standards officers to issue on-the-spot fines to retailers selling vaping products to children illegally.

Selling vapes to under-18s is already illegal. However, the government also intends make it easier for trading standards officers to issue on-the-spot fines to retailers selling the products to children illegally. The risks of vaping will also be included in Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RHSE) lessons, the government said, while OHID is also developing a vaping resource pack for schools.

‘Whilst vaping can be an effective quitting tool for smokers, it is important that non-smokers are not encouraged to start vaping,’ said chief medical officer Chris Whitty. ‘There has been a particularly worrying rise in the number of children using vapes, with companies clearly marketing these products at children using colours, flavours and cheap disposable options.

‘Closing the loophole that allows companies to give out free samples of vaping products to under 18s is a very welcome step in tackling some of the harms caused by the vaping industry. We should continue to encourage smokers to swap to vaping as the lesser risk, whilst preventing the marketing and sale of vapes to children.’

Government complacent on ‘appalling’ toll of alcohol harm, says Commons committee

News

DDN

May 24, 2023

It was unacceptable that the number of people receiving treatment for alcohol issues has been falling despite alcohol-related deaths increasing by almost 90 per cent over the last two decades, says a new report from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee.

Dan Carden MP: ‘Alcohol harm is a deepening public health crisis that affects us all.’

Around 10m people regularly exceed the recommended alcohol guidelines, and around 600,000 are estimated to be alcohol dependent. Despite this, however, a ‘staggering’ 82 per cent of dependent drinkers are not in treatment, despite success rates of around 60 per cent and clear evidence of cost effectiveness.

Alcohol is linked to more than 100 illnesses and 42 per cent of violent crime, yet there has been no new alcohol strategy since 2012, the committee points out. The Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) inflation-adjusted estimation of the annual total cost of alcohol to the NHS and society – £25bn – also dates back to the same year.

DHSC, as lead department, does ‘not have sufficient understanding’ of the total cost of alcohol harm, the document states. Drinking patterns were changing with the young ‘generally drinking less’ and older people drinking more. ‘Based on analysis dating back to 2012, the department put the annual cost of alcohol harm to the NHS at £3.5bn, and to wider society at around £21bn – or around £25bn adjusted for inflation. This analysis is over a decade out of date, and we are concerned that these estimates may not reflect the full scale of harm. The department’s understanding of the prevalence of dependency also dates back to 2018–19. As overall owner for alcohol policy, it is for the department to coordinate a cross-government effort to understand how and where costs are rising to inform an effective response.’

DHSC needs to ‘secure a consensus’ and act on the best evidence for what works around price, availability and marketing, the report states, as well as address barriers to accessing treatment, local variations in outcomes, worker shortages and funding uncertainty for local authorities. The committee was ‘surprised and disappointed’ that DHSC was not taking a ‘more proportionate and serious’ approach to addressing the issues, it stated. This week the Irish government became the first to legislate for mandatory health warnings on alcohol labelling.

‘The harms from alcohol are appalling’ said committee chair Meg Hillier MP.

‘The harms from alcohol are appalling and the benefits of every £1 spent on treatment are immediate and obvious,’ said committee chair Meg Hillier MP. ‘It is linked to over 100 illnesses, mental disorder and suicide and to 42 per cent of violent crime. It also costs the NHS and wider society at least £25bn a year with inflation – and possibly more. But the government has had no alcohol strategy in place since 2012 and abandoned its latest effort in 2020 – just as deaths from alcohol began to rise sharply over the terrible, unacceptable toll it was already taking. What more does DHSC need to see to act decisively on this most harmful intoxicant? In doing so it must give local authorities the certainty and stability over funding to maintain and improve the treatment programmes that are proven to work, and stop dithering over the evidence on industry reforms.’

The government’s record on alcohol harm was one of ‘policies scrapped and promises broken’, added committee member Dan Carden MP. ‘Alcohol harm is a deepening public health crisis that affects us all and it is wrong and unfair to believe that it is only alcohol-dependent drinkers who are affected. In recent years, there has been a concerted and somewhat successful effort from the government to implement strategies aimed to tackle obesity, gambling, tobacco, and illicit drugs. Arguably the most harmful and legal drug, alcohol, remains unchallenged. During the Public Accounts Inquiry, the department provided no credible justification as to why alcohol remains a conspicuous outlier.’

The report shone a spotlight on alcohol’s damage not only to individuals but to ‘families, communities and public services’, said Turning Point chief operating officer and Collective Voice vice chair Clare Taylor. ‘It is unacceptable that deaths from drinking rose by 89 per cent in the last two decades. We see first-hand the need for greater long-term funding for treatment services and better integrated care for individuals with complex needs. The lack of a national strategy has resulted in an uneven and uncoordinated response to public health and alcohol use. Action must be coordinated to addresses barriers and inequalities which prevent people with alcohol dependency from getting the treatment they need.’

Alcohol treatment services report at https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmpubacc/1001/report.html

Ireland introduces mandatory alcohol labelling

News

DDN

May 23, 2023

Ireland will become the first country to introduce mandatory comprehensive labelling for alcohol products, after its health minister Stephen Donnelly signed the Public Health (Alcohol) (Labelling) Regulations 2023 into law.

The regulations, along with the Public Health (Alcohol) Act, mean that all alcohol labels will need to state the calorie content and number of grams of alcohol in the product. They will also be required to include warnings about the risk of liver disease and alcohol-related cancers, as well as about drinking while pregnant. The same information will made available to people drinking in licensed premises, the government says, with the laws coming into force in May 2026. Health campaigners in the UK have long been calling for similar measures to be introduced here.

‘This law is designed to give all of us as consumers a better understanding of the alcohol content and health risks associated with consuming alcohol,’ said Donnelly. ‘With that information, we can make an informed decision about our own alcohol consumption. Packaging of other food and drink products already contains health information and, where appropriate, health warnings. This law is bringing alcohol products into line with that. I welcome that we are the first country in the world to take this step and introduce comprehensive health labelling of alcohol products. I look forward to other countries following our example.’

The Alcohol Action Ireland charity said the government’s announcement was a ‘very significant development’ in alcohol policy. ‘We are very aware that many countries have been closely observing Ireland’s progress in this regard and believe, that like the smoking ban, other jurisdictions will likely adopt similar labelling measures,’ said its CEO, Dr Sheila Gilheany. ‘We can be proud that Ireland is leading the way in this regard. There will be a three-year lead in period – we urge the alcohol industry not to cause any further delay and indeed to show their own commitment to better business practices by adding the labels ahead of the implementation date.’

public health minister Hildegarde Naughton

Meanwhile, Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) has announced a drug-testing pilot introduced last year will be rolled out to festivals across the country this summer.

‘I am delighted to see the HSE Safer Nightlife Programme progress and expand into its second year,’ said public health minister Hildegarde Naughton. ‘It is an excellent example of reducing the harms of drug use through interagency work and engaging closely with people who may be considering using drugs. The programme was incredibly successful in 2022, and allowed us to highlight particularly dangerous substances encountered in festival settings while also creating greater awareness for people who use drugs as part of the night time economy.’

DWP launches £3.7m mentoring scheme

News

DDN

May 22, 2023

A new peer mentoring programme that will place people with experience of drug or alcohol dependency in Jobcentres to help others get back into work has been launched by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The scheme will be trialled in 40 Jobcentres across England from this month, says DWP.

The mentors will be contracted by the department following recommendations from partner organisations. They will then ‘draw on their lived experience of drug or alcohol dependency to support people in the same position’, the government states. The aim is that people will then feel comfortable in disclosing dependency issues ‘without fear of reprisal’ and signposted to appropriate support, as well as being equipped with skills to access training, volunteering or employment.

Mims Davies: ‘Work can be a crucial part of someone’s journey out of substance dependency’

The programme is open for referrals to Jobcentres in Cosham, Fareham, Gosport, Halton, Havant, Hull, Knowsley, Liverpool, Portsmouth, St. Helens, Sefton, Southport and Wirral, as well as the London boroughs of Camden, Croydon, Hackney, Islington, Lambeth, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Westminster. DWP will also be expanding its individual Placement and Support programme for drug and alcohol dependency to all local authority areas in England by 2025, it says.

‘Our new peer mentors are proof that work can be a crucial part of someone’s journey out of substance dependency, transforming their life,’ said social mobility minister Mims Davies. ‘Their lived experience will help them provide expert one-to-one advice and support from DWP in our Jobcentres, helping people recovering from addiction move into work. This new form of support will not only give people in recovery the tailored help they need to get on in life and prosper, but it will also help grow our economy by getting more people back into the workforce.’

Economic cost of smoking is £14bn a year, says ASH

DDN

May 17, 2023

The impact of smoking on the nation’s economy adds up to £14bn annually, according to a new analysis of national data by ASH. The figure does not include the additional estimated £3bn impact on health and social care budgets, the charity points out.

According ASH’s economic analysis, £6.6bn annually is lost to smoking-related unemployment, £6.1bn to smoking-related lost earnings, and £1.3bn to smoking-related early deaths. When health costs such as £1.9bn in smoking-related hospital admissions and primary care treatments – along with £1.1bn to local authorities for smoking-related illnesses in later life – are factored in, the ‘overall cost of smoking to society in England is £17.3bn’, states ASH. The analysis breaks the costs down by local authority area, including overall cost, healthcare costs, productivity costs and social care costs.

The charity and other campaigners have long been calling for a ‘polluter pays’ levy on the tobacco industry to help pay for prevention and treatment. A similar levy on the gambling industry formed part of the government’s recently published gambling white paper
(www.drinkanddrugsnews.com/government-plans-mandatory-levy-on-gambling-firms/).
‘The tobacco industry makes billions of pounds in profit each year, as smokers and their families pay the price for addictions established in childhood’, the charity states. According to the figures, tobacco costs each smoker an average of £2,451 every year.

The most recent ONS figures showed just over 13 per cent of UK adults were current smokers, down from 14 per cent in 2020 and the lowest proportion since records began
(www.drinkanddrugsnews.com/proportion-of-smokers-falls-to-lowest-ever-level/). However, the government is still likely to miss its ‘smokefree’ England target of fewer than 5 per cent of the population still smoking by 2030, says ASH.

Hazel Cheeseman: ‘Smoking is a massive burden on society.’

‘Smoking is a massive burden on society,’ said ASH deputy chief executive Hazel Cheeseman. ‘It costs individuals in terms of their health and wealth and it costs us all when smokers are too ill to work. Smoking is still the leading cause of preventable ill-health and death in the country but resources to tackle it have been reduced. Recent announcements by the public health minister will not be enough to meet the government’s ambition for England to be smokefree by 2030. We urgently need a levy on tobacco companies to pay for services which support people to quit smoking and to prevent uptake among young people.’

ASH smoking ready reckoner at https://ash.org.uk/resources/view/ash-ready-reckoner

How can we help more people access alcohol support services?

Partner Updates

DDN

May 16, 2023

Welcome to the second blog in With You’s Cost of Living series, where we are looking at the impact of the increased cost of living on people’s drinking habits. In our first blog, we explored how the cost of living has led to an increase in drinking at home and drinking alone. You can read that blog here.

In this blog, we are looking at barriers to people accessing drug and alcohol treatment services. This is a very important issue, particularly as we know that people with issues related to alcohol consumption are unlikely to come forward for treatment: around four out of five people who need alcohol treatment do not access it.

A third of people would not feel comfortable asking for support for their alcohol use

Our polling, conducted in January 2023, found that many people would not feel comfortable talking to anyone if they were worried about their alcohol consumption. Over a quarter of respondents said there was no one they would feel comfortable talking with. Meanwhile, when asked about accessing different types of support services, a third of respondents (33%) said there wouldn’t be any type of support that would be preferable to them.

Alcohol Change UK estimates that only 18% of dependent drinkers are in treatment. The number of people being treated solely for alcohol issues is also decreasing. According to the latest OHID data, there were just under 85,000 people treated for alcohol in 2021–22, and though this was an increase of 10% from the previous year, this comes after a decline from a peak of 91,651 in 2013 to 2014.

Male respondents were more likely to not feel comfortable talking to anyone if they were worried about their alcohol consumption being too high compared to female respondents (32% vs 26%). We also know, however, that women can be put off attending drug and alcohol drug and alcohol treatment and support services, which can be male-dominated and may be attended by abusive ex-partners. It is vital that services can provide tailored services for people of all genders, providing safe and confidential spaces for anyone who needs help to access it.

Our polling also found that over a quarter of respondents (29%) would feel most comfortable talking to a family member about help with alcohol consumption. This means it is really important that family members have easy access to resources to manage these potentially difficult conversations and provide support. Our website contains lots of resources for families and friends looking to help a loved one who may be struggling with drug or alcohol use. This includes advice on how to set boundaries, and how to support someone who has stopped drinking recently.

Accessing support for the first time can be especially difficult

Looking for help can be daunting, and we have previously researched the specific challenges faced by those entering treatment for the first time. We found that the first four weeks after accessing help is when people are the most likely to drop out of services. When we looked into the causes of this, we found that potentially intrusive assessment questions our staff are required to ask new service users could feel alienating and off-putting. This led us to develop our Conversation Tool, designed to be less formal and more open-ended. Our staff say this helps them to provide a warmer, more personalised service.

For many people, looking for help online can feel more comfortable, whether for themselves or someone else. Anyone can speak to a trained advisor for free, confidentially and without judgement via our webchat service at: wearewithyou.org.uk. Last year, we helped 18,000 people via our webchat. Our staff work with people to develop a plan of action which feels personal, manageable and accessible.

With You during the cost of living crisis

The increase in the cost of living has caused a great amount of stress and anxiety for lots of us. As we discussed in our previous blog, many people turn to alcohol when they feel anxious, depressed, or isolated. In these difficult and uncertain times, it is especially important that everyone knows they can access free and confidential support. This can be through whichever method they feel most comfortable: online or in person, one-to-one or in groups.

Once someone has accessed treatment for the first time, we will work with them to ensure a completely personalised service. We know that stressors associated with the cost of living increase, such as insecurities around housing and employment, all need to be discussed as part of the recovery process. Our approach is always non-judgemental, caring, and approachable.

This blog was originally published by With You. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by With You

Forward wins new contract to continue to deliver services in HMP Wormwood Scrubs

Partner Updates

DDN

May 16, 2023

Forward are thrilled to have been awarded the contract to continue to deliver substance misuse services in HMP Wormwood Scrubs, in partnership with PPG.

The new service is a five-year contract, with the option for a two-year extension. It went live on 1 May 2023. Forward are providing the psychosocial element of the service.

The new service will build on the excellent work we have been doing in HMP Wormwood Scrubs for many years and will be fully integrated with healthcare. It will be trauma-informed, with local stakeholders (including service users) co-producing elements of the new service. The service will also be recovery-oriented and have a whole family approach, and we will be increasing the variety and range of family interventions on offer. We will be taking a proactive approach, with wing-based pop-ups and a re-engagement strategy for those who have dropped out of the service.

We will also be building on the great work already going on in the Incentivised Substance Free Living (ISFL) unit, where service users tackle their addictions through substance misuse courses and regular drug testing. Clients who are making progress towards getting clean receive extra time out of their cell for education and work opportunities.

Interventions on the ISFL unit will include peer-led mutual aid, complementary activities such as acupuncture, resilience workshops, therapy dogs, creative sessions, a recovery library and peer-led drop-ins.

This blog was originally published by The Forward Trust. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by The Forward Trust

NHS makes free confidential hep C tests available

News

DDN

May 15, 2023

People aged over 18 and living in England can now order a free confidential home test for hepatitis C via the NHS. The self-sample testing process involves taking a few drops of blood from the finger.

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) global hep C elimination target is to reduce new infections by 90 per cent and deaths by 65 per cent among member states by 2030. However, last year the NHS announced that it was on track to eliminate the virus five years ahead of the WHO target date as a result of new drugs and dedicated ‘find and treat’ programmes.

Rachel Halford: It’s never been easier to find out if you have hepatitis C

According to the most recent UKHSA report on hepatitis C, around 81,000 people in England are currently living with a chronic HCV infection, down from almost 130,000 in 2015. More than 60 per cent of these are people with a past drug injecting history, while 27 per cent are ‘current or recent PWID’. As injecting drug use is the main driver of HCV transmission, it was concerning that ‘a significant proportion of PWID remain unaware of their HCV infections’, the report added.

‘If you are concerned about hepatitis C, it’s never been easier to find out if you have it,’ said Hepatitis C Trust CEO Rachel Halford. ‘You can go many years before you experience any symptoms of hepatitis C but the damage the virus can do to your liver as it goes undetected can be life-threatening. Free, at-home testing kits will give anyone who is worried about hepatitis C the ability to find out their status quickly and confidentially. Thankfully, hepatitis C can be treated via a short course of tablets. Order your test now so that you can get cured as quickly as possible.’

Tests available at https://hepctest.nhs.uk/

Hepatitis C in England 2022 report at report.pdfhttps://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1057271/HCV-in-England-2022-full-report.pdf

A Second Chance

Features

DDN

May 15, 2023

Andrew Cass Change Grow Live Change Grow Live’s commitment to supporting people caught up in the criminal justice system goes right back to our approach as an organisation that believes in people.

People who have been involved with the criminal justice system sometimes come from a place where they haven’t been afforded much belief. Many of them face the stigma of being labelled as offenders, and may come from backgrounds affected by social inequality and injustice.

Fortunately, we are at a point where we can make a difference and begin to turn this around. The government’s drug strategy and Dame Carol Black’s report both have criminal justice running right the way through them. We are well placed as an organisation to ensure that recovery and treatment play a crucial role.

Within the last year Change Grow Live has launched four new dependency and recovery services across the country that are at the forefront of our approach. In Kent, Surrey and Sussex, Hampshire, South Yorkshire and the West Midlands, we have formed partnerships with probation services to better help people receive support for substance misuse. People will be referred by probation to our services, where they’ll receive support and treatment in the same way as anyone else accessing our services.

For some of those people, the support we offer will be exactly what they need to achieve their goals and address the actions on their rehabilitation plan. For others with more complex needs, we can refer them on to the support services that are right for them and their situation. We can connect them with treatment and opportunities that they wouldn’t have had before.

This is part of a much wider approach to transforming and redesigning how we work with people involved with the criminal justice system. This is an approach that can cover everything from the services we provide, to the language we use. At our service in the Wirral, we relaunched our criminal justice approach with our community integration team, clearly defining the goals of the service. We made sure that people weren’t spoken to or treated like they were offenders – they were people who used our services like any others.

People previously involved with the criminal justice system have often had the least amount of support to change their situations, and the least amount of hope. Of course you can argue that there is no such thing as a victimless crime, but we believe it’s for us to invest in their futures and work in partnership to look at the assets and skills people have as we support and empower them to achieve positive goals.

The challenge within the sector is to make sure that people who have been involved with the criminal justice system receive support that is responsive to their needs. Roughly half of people leaving prison have drugs or alcohol flagged as a risk factor for reoffending or harm, but the level of knowledge and expertise in supporting them has been diluted over the years due to funding cuts and outside pressures.

Innovative approaches such as the one being taken by our dependency and recovery services are incredibly positive steps towards criminal justice work becoming an intrinsic part of service delivery for the sector. Expertise and specialist knowledge are crucial, but they can’t stand alone from the rest of the support we offer.

It all comes back to tackling the idea of stigma and of people being defined by their labels – the idea that someone can’t access the same treatment as everyone else because they’ve been caught up in the criminal justice system.

It’s tough enough as it is for some people to take that first step and engage with a service, worrying about the stigma they might face, without also worrying that they’ll be labelled as an offender as well. By changing the way we engage with people, and by offering specialist support as part of our service delivery, we can help people to take that step and break that cycle of stigma.

Andrew Cass is head of community criminal justice and probation services at Change Grow Live.

Humankind set to offer drug and alcohol support to people in Sheffield

Partner Updates

DDN

May 12, 2023

Humankind has announced that it will soon be offering drug and alcohol support and treatment to people in Sheffield, having been funded by Sheffield City Council.

The new contract starts on 1 August 2023 and will be run in partnership with Project 6, a local voluntary sector drug and alcohol charity who have been working in the area since 1978.

Greg Fell, Director of Public Health, said, “Sheffield City Council welcomes Humankind as our new provider of substance use support services in the city. It is important people in Sheffield can access the support they need to live happy and healthy lives. Humankind’s services will prove invaluable to individuals and communities in Sheffield.”

Ted Haughey, Executive Director of Operations at Humankind, added, “We are delighted to expand our services in South Yorkshire and partner with Project 6. We have many years’ experience providing integrated drug and alcohol treatment services across the country and are looking forward to bringing this expertise to the people in Sheffield.

“We’ll be working closely with commissioners and other partners across the city as well as listening to the people we will be supporting to continually develop and improve the service for the communities across Sheffield.”

Vicki Beere, CEO of Project 6, also said, “We are thrilled to be partnering with Humankind to deliver services in Sheffield. We have many years’ experience of supporting people in Sheffield to make and sustain positive changes to their alcohol and drug use. We look forward to being able to develop and expand this work, to afford more people in Sheffield the support to access recovery services and improve their wellbeing.”

The new service will include a range of support including harm reduction, care coordination, clinical and therapeutic interventions. As part of our aftercare and recovery support we will continue to work with people who become abstinent to help them create a healthy and meaningful life.

The service will also provide support for family members.

This blog was originally published by Humankind. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by Humankind

Swedish social enterprise cooperative visits 5 WAYS

Partner Updates

DDN

May 11, 2023

Staff from Vägen Ut! visited 5 WAYS, Humankind’s Recovery Academy in Leeds, on Wednesday 3 May for a seminar with members and staff about setting up and managing social enterprises.

Pictured from left to right are 5 WAYS manager Jo Byrden with Linda Tolly, Charlotte Gustavsson and Angelica Lindblad of Vägen Ut!

Vägen Ut! is based in Gothenburg, Sweden and runs 13 social enterprises that provide real jobs for people who struggle to gain employment due to past issues with alcohol/drugs, criminal justice or disabilities.

They provide environmentally friendly products and services then reinvest the profits to create more jobs. The cooperative has an annual turnover in excess of £33 million. Vägen Ut! means ‘A Way Out’ in English.

5 WAYS manager Jo Byrden said, ”The work that the Vägen Ut! team do in Sweden is incredible. Helping people who are unable to find work to create their own businesses is fabulous. Not only that, the diversity of the business they run and the people they support is so impressive and they do it all with the highest green credentials.

“It’s been a wonderful learning opportunity for us and has really motivated the team and the members to look at how we might begin to create our own social enterprises here in Leeds, using the many skills and experiences of the members. Our members are full of creativity, ideas and enthusiasm. Now it feels like just a matter of deciding where and how we start.”

The staff from Vägen Ut! were also impressed with 5 WAYS. Linda Tolly of Vägen Ut! said, “It’s truly inspiring to come to 5 WAYS and see what they are doing. It’s clearly a real meeting place of hope and creativity where people can help each other. We don’t have anything exactly like this in Sweden.”

Vägen Ut! visited a range of recovery services in the North of England that also included Aspire in Doncaster and Recovery Connections in Middlesbrough.

This blog was originally published by Humankind. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by Humankind

‘I Am More Than’ exhibition launched

Partner Updates

DDN

May 9, 2023

Thursday 4th May saw the launch of the Brighton Fringe Bursary Winner 2023, SIG Equinox Brighton Women’s Service exhibition: ‘I Am More Than’.

‘I Am More Than’ is an artistic project set up by SIG Equinox’s Brighton Women’s Service, which supports women in the city experiencing homelessness. The project empowers these women to use their creative voices to tell their communities who they are and that they are not defined by homelessness or any of the many issues that run alongside it. It aims to help women to challenge their own negative belief systems about themselves and help them regain self-worth and confidence.

This year they collaborated with Bloom Café, Brighton – a project of Safehaven (St Peters) and Brighton Probation.

Janie Pamment, service manager at Brighton Women’s Service, said, “We are very pleased to present the courageous artistic work of the women at Brighton Women’s Service. These women have overcome their own personal challenges to share with us their experiences of what it feels like to be homeless in Brighton. Our hope is that this will encourage people to view them from a different perspective.”

‘I Am More Than’ is a Brighton Fringe art exhibition encouraging women with homeless experiences to explore their own identity and seek different ways to view themselves by celebrating their strengths and attributes.

“We are strong! We want to use our voices to share stories and experiences in our own words.”

This creative work expresses all aspects of such varied lives. The positives and the negatives. Joining up with local hostels and charities on this project, they invite the community to challenge their own perceptions and beliefs. We are proud to showcase Brighton Women’s Service and the therapeutic value of working with this diverse group of women across Brighton and Hove.

The exhibition runs from Thursday 4th May – Wednesday 31st May.

This blog was originally published by Social Interest Group. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by The Social Interest Group

Change of scene

Features

DDN

May 5, 2023

As he retires from his role as the Scottish Drug Forum’s CEO, Dave Liddell reflects on a sector that’s in many ways unrecognisable from the one he started out in.

‘There were maybe 20 services, mostly two people and a dog,’ says outgoing Scottish Drugs Forum CEO Dave Liddell of Scotland’s drugs sector in the mid ‘80s. ‘There were no local planning structures or anything, so you had almost a blank sheet to develop policies and ideas.’

He’s retiring this month, having worked at SDF since it was set up in 1986 – the longest job he’d had before ‘was about 18 months,’ he says, so his tenure has safely beaten that record. He’d previously trained as a biochemist, then become a social worker before going to work for SCODA, the forerunner of DrugScope.

Parts of Scotland were already in the grip of a serious heroin problem when SDF was set up, and he was one of the people calling for the establishment of needle exchanges. ‘There was a complete lack of knowledge in terms of the development of anything like that, but obviously HIV drove those changes so even the Tory government at the time had to agree to needle exchanges being developed.’

‘Dungeons of Death’

The arguments were not dissimilar to later debates around naloxone and the current back and forth over consumption rooms. ‘It’s like all these things – there’s a period where they’re completely controversial, then they become mainstream and no one remembers the time when you were pilloried for suggesting them,’ he says. ‘I remember we had a conference in 1996 on drug consumption rooms with a speaker over from the Netherlands – the headline in one newspaper was “Dungeons of death”.’

The whole debate around drugs has moved on significantly, with a growing recognition that many people with a drug problem will have underlying trauma or other mental health issues. ‘We’ve obviously still got a huge way to go, but we have made progress. Incremental change is mostly the way things happen, particularly in controversial areas.’

Looking back at the biggest changes he’s seen over almost four decades in the sector, the current level of service provision is a ‘huge one’, he says. ‘I think we forget that we have pretty well-developed provision of help and support. We’ve just been through so many epochs – from the abstinence approach in the mid ‘80s to HIV and public health and the move towards harm reduction.’ Then came the ‘whole focus on recovery, particularly abstinent recovery. I think we suffered significantly from that in terms of a narrow focus. We’ve obviously come through that now, but at some considerable cost.’

Good Progress

In the Scottish context while there’s more money in the system there’s now another issue which is ‘one of bureaucracies and the numbers of policy folk involved’, he says. ‘I guess the difference from ’86 is that we could produce a paper or run a conference on anything, and there was no one to tell us we couldn’t. Now it’s so cluttered, and that’s the bit I won’t miss – it becomes quite a lot harder to achieve anything because of the slowness. We’ve made quite good progress with medication-assisted treatment and same-day prescribing – all that stuff is brilliant and I think we can say we were significant drivers of that, particularly in the early stages, but it’s become very hard to see the wood for the trees just because of the number of people involved.’

It mirrors a wider problem in the system with the move to much larger providers and the potential that the therapeutic relationship might suffer as a result, he believes. ‘It can sometimes be hard to provide a really individualised service. In the peer research we do, people name a particular person who’s helped them to get better.’ When someone who presents to a service gets seen by a different person each time, it not only means those vital relationships can’t be built but also risks re-traumatising people, he states.

There can also be a failure to recognise why ‘people find it difficult to trust services when their whole lives they’ve been failed by everyone around them’, he says. ‘We’ve thankfully moved through the punishment model, where if you miss two or three appointments you get kicked out or your methadone cut, but it’s the problem of people having to navigate such a complicated system.

‘The population we’re trying to help have very specific needs about engagement with services that are different to the general population. We’ve almost set up services in the general health service model, and then failure to attend appointments means you’re pushed out. To me it’s about building that trusting therapeutic relationship over the long term, and that’s the bit we still haven’t got to, sadly.’

Shocking Rates

Over the last decade the sector in Scotland has been dominated by the shocking rates of drug-related deaths. There was a tiny fall in 2021, and while the provisional figures for the last quarter of 2022 showed an increase (DDN, April, page 5) the prediction is that figures for the whole year will be down. Does he think we may finally be turning a corner? ‘My view is that we probably are,’ he states. ‘But I think that because the numbers have been so tragically high, a fall at some point is inevitable – that could not go on at that level. I’d like to think that the responses like naloxone and medication-assisted treatments are starting to have an impact, but the reality is even if it goes down it’s still colossal.’

At the end of 2020 when the highest-ever figures came out, SDF described it as a national tragedy and a national disgrace, and it wasn’t long after that Nicola Sturgeon used similar language and admitted her administration had taken its ‘eye off the ball’. ‘That was the first time the government had owned the problem at that high level,’ he says. ‘It became a political issue that couldn’t be ignored.’

The sheer scale of the deaths has perhaps also helped to change people’s attitudes and go some way to challenging stigma, he believes. ‘I think it may have led to more compassion for people with drug problems overall, and we’ve tried to explain to the wider population that drug problems tend to be a symptom of underlying issues. We do a lot of stigma training ourselves, and you still see stigma even within the addiction services let alone other services like housing. Our view is that’s the place to start. It links back to those issues around being trauma-informed and building therapeutic relationships. There’s nothing new in any of that, but it’s slow to change.’

While the sector is full of dedicated and compassionate staff, some can be hamstrung by structures they work in that make change difficult to deliver, he says. ‘Some of the challenges of service delivery are very difficult to change overnight. You have areas that have got additional monies for medication-assisted treatment, but a year or two on they still haven’t spent that money. The lesson is always I guess that government thinks it can kick local areas to deliver, but the accountability lines are not always there to do that.’

Peer Research

So what is he most proud of during his time at SDF? ‘Certainly our influence in terms of the amount of resource going into the sector,’ he says. ‘More specifically, the peer research programme that we’ve been running for 25 years. When we first started that programme the notion that we could have volunteers who were still using and they could interview people who were still using was very, very controversial – that you would listen to the views of people who were still using drugs. That’s quite hard to imagine now, but it was absolutely the case. What’s interesting now is that peer research has become mainstream in the Scottish context, and I might argue that because of our track record we’re probably still doing it better than most. The other one would be the addiction worker training programme – the positive outcomes of those who completed it are 85 per cent into employment. We’ve probably had 300 or more folk through that programme, and obviously there’s opportunities to do more around that.’

Policy Influence

And then there’s SDF’s influence on policy and strategy over the years. ‘It’s gone up and down. Sometimes you’re in the tent and sometimes you’re out, and the membership has often criticised us for being either too close to government or too far away. So that balance is quite tricky. But one of the things we’ve often done is saved government from doing something that could have made the situation worse, and that can be entirely unseen as an outcome because it’s behind the scenes. What we’ve had is that longevity and corporate memory, which is completely lacking in government because the civil servants change every three years – the number of times we’ve had “new” approaches that aren’t new at all. And the other thing is that we’ve stuck to our principles all the way through in terms of our approach. We’ve never wavered.’

So will he miss it? ‘I will, for sure, in terms of the cut and thrust of all of it. I’m planning on doing quite a bit of travelling – one of my granddaughters lives in Prague. Someone said to me, “don’t agree to anything in the first four months of your retirement”. I’ve had a couple of offers, but if they’re writing funding applications I think I’ll have to give it a miss.’ DDN

Poets’ Corner

DDN

May 4, 2023

Jody Lee struggled with drink and drugs for 20-plus years. During that time, and through his subsequent recovery, the one thing that has remained constant in Jody Lee’s life was his love of poetry, which he now uses to help others.

pen for poetry Lee’s raw, honest and inspiring poems are part of a series of poems and illustrations from people with experience of mental health or drug and alcohol problems that have been collected in a book titled, Writing for our lives. The book, which aims to a shine a spotlight on the role that expressive arts can play in the road to recovery, was launched at the Victoria Library in London in March.

Lee, who is known as The Skinny Poet, appeared on the World at One on BBC Radio 4 to promote the book and explained how writing kept him ‘connected’ to part of himself during his 20-year struggle with cocaine and heroin addiction.

‘Poetry helps me to be able to express myself with some of the things that I struggled with, some of the dark parts of my addiction, my anger, my fear, my self-destructive tendencies,’ he says. ‘To be able to express these in a creative and healthy way helped me deal with the sadness and grief I felt over the time I’ve lost through my addiction. By sharing this work with other people who’ve been through that process as well, they really seem to connect to it, which is what pushed me to share it with others.’

Turning Point Poetry recital Lee grew up in a house were drugs were ‘readily available’, as his father was a drug dealer. He started drinking and smoking cannabis at 13. It then progressed to speed, cocaine and eventually heroin, and any other drugs he could get his hands on. ‘It was just completely normal to me,’ says Lee. ‘Drinking and drug taking was just a way of life. I watched my dad and all of his friends do it. Most people I knew did it.’

His love of literature also started at a young age, however. ‘I’d always enjoyed writing. As a kid I used to love reading things like Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales. I used to love storyteller books, listening to the cassette tapes as you turn the page and I started writing short stories because of that,’ he says. ‘As I got older, being a ‘90s kid, I got into hip hop and I used to write rap. I realised I just loved the structure in the wordplay of things. I loved hip hop, but it wasn’t my experience. I started to find my own voice and write about things that related to me and my experience.’

After ten years of suffering with addiction, Lee admits he got to a point where his life was spiralling out of control. ‘As heroin took hold, I started to lose jobs, my friends, family. I turned to crime to feed my addiction. I wasn’t very good at it at all – I ended up getting caught, and escaped prison by the skin of my teeth.’

What turned out to be his saving grace was poetry. The magistrate happened to be a poetry lover and encouraged him to keep writing and put him on a 12-month Drug Treatment and Testing Order (DTTO). He managed to stay abstinent for 13 months but then relapsed. ‘It was a pattern of going back into recovery and relapsing for a long time until I was 38 years old – around five years ago – that I became fully clean,’ says Lee.

Lee credits his mother, who also suffered because of his father’s ‘oppression’, as the main reason why he managed to ‘hold some part of my life together’ during the years he was battling with addiction. ‘I would say I was high-functioning addict. I did a BTEC National Diploma in engineering and managed to get a job at an engineering firm where I stayed for 17 years going in and out of addiction,’ he says.

It was through Turning Point’s Suffolk Recovery Network that he managed to recover. ‘Turning Point are the first organisation that have stuck in Suffolk for a long time, which has made it more stable,’ says Lee. ‘I’ve had the same key worker and worked with the same people for a long time. When I started using drugs I wrote a lot of dark poems that were very nihilistic and destructive. And then as I got clean, my poems changed and I wrote about recovery and about life beyond addiction. I just built a huge catalogue of poetry which I decided to share with some of the key workers.

Turning point on radio 4 ‘Turning Point offered brilliant avenues for me to be able to share my poetry,’ he continues. ‘They run a really good event in Suffolk called Recovery’s Got Talent. Since performing at that, I would say my poetry took off and I managed to do recovery festivals, poetry slams, open mic sessions and give lived experience talks to people in services.’

Writing for our lives is part of the Turning Point School of Art programme which supports its people to learn new skills, make something they’re proud of and put aside the negative things that affect them.

The programme started in 2019 and came at a crucial time for many clients who struggled through the pandemic and numerous lockdowns. Professor Sarah Perks supported the delivery of the programme and introduced clients and staff to art history, techniques and opportunities to try out the skills they were learning and developing.

There are also opportunities to learn from sculptors, illustrators, mask makers, and photographers. Some of the images included in Writing for our lives, were created following these art sessions.

‘In terms of people’s mental health and how creative arts can support people with their recovery, I think it’s really important, and certainly the book reflects this, whether it’s writing poetry like Jody, or whether it’s doing creative arts through drawings, illustrations, paintings, photography,’ says Gaye Founders, Turning Point’s regional head of operations – mental health. ’If people are struggling to express how they’re feeling, using art and creativity, it allows them to express themselves in a different way. It’s supporting people to explore different ways of communicating of what is going on internally and to externalize that and that often helps.’

Jody Lee Lee hopes he can continue to help people to express what they are going through and take steps to recovery. The 43-year-old will finish doing a BA Honours degree in counselling and psychotherapy next year. ‘I want to support people recover from not just alcohol and drugs, but also domestic violence issues, mental health issues, and other health problems,’ says Lee.

‘A lot of my poetry is about compassion, human nature and having compassion for what people go through in all walks of life. Not to pass judgment and understand that it’s okay to mess up, that we are fallible, that we make mistakes, that we’re only human and to look at each other from a humanistic lens.’

Writing for our lives is available to buy online at Waterstones and The Telegraph online bookshop.

Clare Jakeman is senior operations manager at Turning Point Suffolk Recovery Network.

Forward Leeds director selected for international honour

Partner Updates

DDN

May 3, 2023

Dr Joe Tay, a clinical director at Forward Leeds, the city’s alcohol and drug service, is one of only four people from the UK selected to be a Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice by the US based Commonwealth Fund in 2023.

Forward Leeds is Britain’s second biggest multi-agency project to tackle alcohol and drug problems. It is partnership made up of staff from Humankind, BARCA-Leeds, St Anne’s Community Services and the Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

This prestigious international placement provides an opportunity for medical professionals committed to advancing health care policy and practice to spend a year in the United States.

Dr Tay said: “This is an incredible privilege for me, made possible partly due to the amazing work that Forward Leeds as an organisation undertakes in supporting people with their alcohol and drugs issues.

“I’m looking forward to learning and bringing back insights and experiences helpful to Yorkshire, and hopefully opportunities for national and international cooperation as well.”

While he is there, Dr Tay will share his experiences of working in the UK. Dr Tay will also undertake research related to his role at Forward Leeds and engage in a series of leadership development activities.

Humankind executive medical director Dr Roya Vaziri said: “As part of the Humankind senior clinical team, Joe has demonstrated a relentless energy to advocate for the needs of people who use drugs and alcohol.

“He consistently brings a methodical, systematic, and analytical approach to developing new ideas and collaborating with colleagues to improve service delivery and pathways. I’m proud to have supported Joe’s application and commend his tireless work.

“We will all look forward to witnessing his Harkness work progress across the pond, and to welcoming him back another year older and wiser as a key part of the Humankind team.”

The Commonwealth Fund was established in 1918 in New York with the broad aim of enhancing the common good. The mission of the Commonwealth Fund is to promote a high-performing, equitable health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society’s most vulnerable.

This blog was originally published by Humankind. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by Humankind

New Scottish campaign gives voice to people bereaved by substance use

News

DDN

May 3, 2023

A new Scottish anti-stigma campaign has been launched by the University of Stirling, SHAAP, Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs and the Salvation Army. See Beyond – See the Lives – Scotland (https://www.seebeyondscotland.com/) shares video letters to loved ones who have died, as well as resources for people with substance issues, their families and friends, and reporting guidelines for the media.

Families are sharing their personal pain to save lives

The aim is to ‘shatter myths’ around drug and alcohol use, say the organisers, with the campaign website also asking visitors to sign a pledge committing to being ‘respectful and compassionate’, use non-judgemental language, and ‘reach out to those they know have been affected’ to help reduce isolation and stigma. The guidelines for reporters and editors include only using images of alcohol and drugs where appropriate, and avoiding use of stigmatising language or images of people in vulnerable conditions.

‘These are stories that will challenge stereotypes and hopefully provoke people to think differently,’ said co-director of the University of Stirling’s Salvation Army Centre for Addiction Services and Research, Tessa Parkes. ‘Problems with drugs and alcohol affect many people in Scotland, no matter what their background, job, family situation, or income is. See Beyond – See the Lives – Scotland aims to dispel the images that persist of someone in a gutter surrounded by syringes or empty bottles. Everyone knows someone affected.’

‘Each year there are new statistics on the number of people who have died through alcohol or drugs,’ added CEO of Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs, Justina Murray. ‘Over the past ten years, Scotland has lost over 20,000 people through alcohol and drugs – a really shocking toll of grief and heartache. This campaign shines a powerful light on families’ personal pain and loss, but also their enduring love and hope for a better future. This campaign will help us change Scotland’s story around alcohol and drugs, to reduce harm and save lives.’

Meanwhile, Elena Whitham has replaced Angela Constance as Scotland’s minister for drug and alcohol policy, following Constance’s appointment as justice minister. It was crucial that the focus of the national mission to reduce drug-related deaths was maintained under the new minister, said SDF CEO Dave Liddell, particularly the medication-assisted treatment (MAT) standards. ‘We still have a long way to go to deliver these and there remain other significant challenges, particularly with regard to the workforce in terms of recruitment, retention and staff burn out.’

The new, UK-wide Anti-Stigma Network is also launching to help amplify the work already being done by a wide range of organisations, with a steering group that includes Adfam, Build on Belief, DDN and Phoenix Futures. See the May issue of DDN for details.

Forward’s inclusion co-ordinator Darren Lacey interviewed by ITV News

Partner Updates

DDN

May 2, 2023

Watch Forward’s Inclusion Co-ordinator Darren Lacey speak about his addiction and recovery journey, as well as the work that Forward are doing to support members of the LGBTQ+ community with substance misuse issues.

To learn more about Forward’s work on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, please visit our EDI web page or read about our work in our latest Impact Report.

This blog was originally published by The Forward Trust. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by The Forward Trust

New Hope’s coronation celebration

Partner Updates

DDN

May 2, 2023

SIG’s New Hope service hosted a BBQ on Friday 28th, April, in celebration of King Charles’ Coronation.

Based in Lewisham, New Hope is a high-support service for men on a mental health journey of change and recovery.

Service Manager Stella Asiimwe said that the BBQ was an opportunity for staff and residents to be part of the wider national celebrations, and everyone had gotten into the spirit of things. The residents helped with shopping, decorating with flags, and prep for the BBQ. One resident even taking responsibility for mowing the lawn, while another mended the fence. Staff did the cooking and welcomed and entertained guests.

Many felt honoured to be able to mark such an important event. Recovery worker Shepherd Chikumbindi, who took control of the BBQ, said that the coronation is a unique moment in our lives. He said: “I first met King Charles in Zimbabwe in 1980 as Prince Charles when he came for Zimbabwe’s independence celebrations. It is a great privilege to be part of his coronation celebrations, and I am so excited.”

The atmosphere was relaxed yet celebratory, with lots of food and drink.

Attendees included the South London Head of Service, other services’ managers, recovery workers from other services, central services staff, as well as New Hope residents and staff.

Attendees waved flags and cheered, although the planned rendition of the national anthem did not go ahead due to a lack of volunteers.

All agreed it was a lovely celebration.

This blog was originally published by Social Interest Group. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by The Social Interest Group

Strength to Strength

Features

DDN

May 1, 2023

Identifying key character strengths can work wonders in recovery, says Lisa Ogilvie.

The Values in Action (VIA) character strengths model lists 24 strengths that humans can possess. The model was created following an extensive study of the world’s major belief systems and philosophies, from which 24 character strengths were identified. This created a common language to define what’s best about people and show that character strengths can apply to any population. This makes them a flexible resource that can be used in a multitude of psychological interventions, from wellbeing advocacy to those that can counteract the symptomology of mental illness.

The strengths are versatile when looking at the wellbeing of groups with a demographically diverse intake such as people in addiction recovery – the membership base for which can be as varied as the contributing factors to addiction itself. Furthermore, in support of ongoing and successful recovery, research has shown that character strengths can help an individual build on what works well and reframe what does not from a positive perspective.

Strength in recovery

The link between strength of character and addiction may not seem an obvious one. However, it offers the opportunity for people in recovery to maximise their own strengths to help build a happy and engaging way of life. The idea of taking positive aspects of self and developing them to support recovery is not new – the concept of recovery capital sees an individual accrue valuable internal and external assets that help them strengthen their recovery.

These assets include supportive friendships, improved interpersonal skills and the implementation of healthy coping strategies. Recovery capital has proved to be an effective way for people in recovery to conceptualise the internal and external resources that help them to sustain their recovery. Character strengths can be considered a type of recovery capital – one where an individual leverages their own positive qualities to uphold and improve their recovery.

Character strengths can help protect and enrich recovery in many ways. For example, having gratitude for no longer being trapped in the cycle of addiction is often reported by people in early recovery, and appreciating this can provide motivation for maintaining abstinence. In later recovery, this strength becomes more sophisticated, growing from the gratitude of leaving something behind towards the appreciation of what is yet to come. Similarly, honesty can be an important part of having the courage to accept oneself as the protagonist in the sometimes shameful consequences of addiction. In later recovery, it can evolve to a protective strength, supporting healthy self-analysis that can protect against a return to potentially damaging ways that risk relapse. All 24 of the strengths can be evaluated in a similar manner to the advantage of addiction recovery.

Developing strategies

The VIA character strength survey is freely available on the VIA website at www.viacharacter.org. Practitioners can request their clients complete this survey to find out what their signature strengths are, and encourage them to use them by developing strategies and interventions that promote positive addiction recovery. Encouraging clients to practise using their signature strengths is an exercise in building on what is known to work well for them and affirm their individual capability. If a client has gratitude as a strength for example, suggest they actively use it as part of a regular routine using mini interventions such as advocating that each evening the client think of something they’re looking forward to about the next day; or if they have appreciation of beauty and excellence, urge them to enhance a regular activity such as noticing something different on their walk to the shop.

Improved wellbeing

The more a client exercises their strengths, the more able they are to use them with efficacy in their daily interactions, and by using certain strengths, others are naturally enhanced. Using bravery as an example, a person with this strength might stand up for what they believe is right even if it’s unpopular. To do this successfully there’s an increased chance they’ll draw on strengths like humility and social intelligence. Here, the applied use of complementary strengths can be beneficial, serving to build resilience and improve wellbeing by broadening the repertoire of personal resources that are available to a client.

If a character strength doesn’t feature as a signature strength for a client, it doesn’t mean they don’t possess it, or that they won’t benefit from learning ways to use it. If clients are made aware that people have character strengths in different measures and are encouraged to identify them through their own observation, they can replicate the behaviours they feel would benefit them. For example, if they observe someone demonstrating persistence, they might admire how – despite having to work hard and overcome setbacks – a goal is achieved. They could in turn decide it’s worth persisting at something they find challenging.

Practitioners can also match strengths to areas that a client may indicate they’re struggling with or want to enhance. As an example, if a client reports they often feel bored, it could be suggested they engage in an activity that will draw on the strengths of curiosity and creativity. If they feel socially awkward, they could be introduced to interventions that use the character strengths of teamwork, perseverance, and bravery to help them become more comfortable in social settings.

Confidence

In recovery, encountering difficulty remains a fact of life. Awareness and regular use of character strengths not only builds resilience, but can help maintain an overall better mood and instil confidence. There are some character strengths that seem well suited to this. Forgiveness, for example, can help someone avoid developing anger towards another person when they perceive an injustice, and acting with honesty and fairness provides an effective way of maintaining a morally just stance in difficult situations. Using strengths such as these help an individual act with integrity, enabling them to take responsibility for their own actions, both good and bad.

Recent research has shown that people in addiction recovery are more likely to exhibit certain strengths than those seen in general populations. This suggests that some character strengths hold a particular significance to addiction recovery, and that they’re developed because of their importance to the process of change and safeguarding future recovery. These strengths are kindness, humour, honesty, fairness, and teamwork – encouraging identification with these five strengths will help people cultivate qualities that have been shown as inherently important to recovery.

Practice and development

At Acorn Recovery Projects, clients are encouraged to recognise, practise, and develop their signature strengths. To achieve this each client completes the VIA character strength survey and based on the results a personalised profile is created for them. This individualised profile explains their signature strengths, gives reasons why they’re important in recovery and offers suggestions on how to practise and further develop them. This intervention is complemented with a strengths-spotting workshop which encourages clients to recognise their own strengths and those in others too.

This sets the foundation for clients to appreciate they have intrinsic positive qualities that they can feel pride in using, and gives them the reassurance that they are able to constructively support their recovery by doing so. It also allows for appreciating positive attributes in others, which helps cultivate healthy and supportive relationships that are based on mutual respect. Having completed the character strengths interventions, clients report feeling more optimistic and confident in their own abilities for their future recovery.

Lisa Ogilvie is a counsellor at Acorn Recovery Projects, and a doctoral student at the University of Bolton specialising in addiction recovery and wellbeing.

DDN May 2023

DDN

May 1, 2023

‘We can build on what works well for us’

‘Encountering difficulty remains a fact of life,’ writes Lisa Ogilvie (p6) and we know that for many people involved with treatment services, the dice have been loaded against them from the minute they were born. But as we look for opportunities around Mental Health Awareness Week (9-15 May) she offers advice on developing strategies to boost resilience and improve wellbeing. The model is based on identifying character strengths so we can all build on what works well for us and reframe what doesn’t – an empowering and motivating message.

Of course there’s much to do in changing the landscape to a fairer outlook for everyone, and the Anti-Stigma Network (p15) aims to be inclusive and ambitious, harnessing its members’ ideas and initiatives to campaign for change. DDN is fully involved in the campaign, and we hope you will be too. Listening to lived experience is important, and we should never forget that in any context. Chrissie’s story (p20) is a reminder that management decisions must involve the people they affect – in this case a dedicated mental health nurse with years of experience. What choice did she have but to walk away – but what an opportunity missed.

Read the May issue as an online magazine or download the PDF here

Claire Brown, editor

Please send your letters and comment to claire@cjwellings.com

All in the Family

Features

DDN

May 1, 2023

For more than 20 years Phoenix has been delivering residential services that support parents while they are still looking after their children. These services are whole-family interventions. They deliver treatment to the parents for substance use and help develop parenting skills while providing care and developmental support to their children.
Studies show that alcohol and drug problems can be transmitted across generations via complex biological, psychological, and social processes.

This generational transmission can come from being in close proximity to people using drugs and alcohol as well as the trauma and deprivation that comes from living in a family experiencing addiction. Any type of support for people with children has a protective and restorative influence for the family unit. Recovery seeps through families, but there is added benefit to providing support that is specifically tailored to supporting the whole family.

Phoenix has two services in the UK that offer whole-family interventions – Harper House specialist family service in Scotland and our Sheffield-based specialist family service supporting England and Wales. Both work to prevent the harms of intergenerational substance use and poor mental health, and improve wellbeing.

The family unit is the centre of the whole programme, and a lot of time is spent preparing each member of the family for the time they will spend with us. This can include visiting the service and, in some cases, spending the night with us before a placement starts. We work with social workers, keyworkers, housing support workers, nurseries and schools to help prepare the family and on arrival allocate a more senior community member as a buddy to help them settle into the programme.

Harper House, offers responsive aftercare for 18 months to two years after the programme is finished and we link families in with doctors, social services, schools, recovery networks and support networks in their local area. The families leave with all the tools to sustain a happy and healthy life.

‘So, I now feel when I leave here, I won’t feel like I’ve been in this rehab for three months and then flung back into life,’ said a community member at Harper House. ‘Because I’m waking up with my daughter here, I’m making breakfast, I’m ironing her clothes, I’m getting her out to school, and then I’m doing work on myself in here. I’m working on my recovery, which is going to help everything. When she’s getting in from school, I’m being a mother.’

Our family services are not just residential therapeutic communities with a crèche – all the childcare is registered provision that supports the developmental needs of each child, whether babies, toddlers, or older children, and in Sheffield we’re one of a few childcare settings in the city to be awarded an outstanding grading by OFSTED.

Harper House is a new service, but we’re already seeing significant improvements in child development. The headteacher at the local primary school commented, ‘We hope more families get the chance to access Harper House. One of the children has progressed three reading stages since he has been staying at Harper House – this is incredible in such a short space of time.’

The treatment completion rates from our family services are consistently high year on year, demonstrating that families can do better if they can stay together. While many families come to us in the midst of care proceedings, a study across our Sheffield family service following 41 parents and 42 children found that 70 per cent of families were still together up to four years after completing treatment. We have an average completion rate of 86 per cent across all our family services.

Providing a treatment approach that supports the whole family keeps children safely outside of the care system, and breaks down barriers for parents accessing treatment as they know they won’t have to be separated from their children. We believe that whole family approaches should be available to all families experiencing addiction and should be considered before the decision is made to remove children into the care system and separate families.

Michaela Dean is registered manager at Phoenix Futures specialist family service, Sheffield

Lukewarm response to gambling white paper

News

DDN

April 29, 2023

The gambling white paper has finally seen the light of day (www.drinkanddrugsnews.com/government-plans-mandatory-levy-on-gambling-firms/), almost two and a half years after the government launched its review of the 2005 Gambling Act.

Among its key proposals are:

A mandatory levy on gambling firms to fund treatment and research
New stake limits for online slots games of between £2 and £15 per spin, as well as a further consultation on ‘greater protections’ for 18- to 24-year-olds
‘Frictionless’ player protection checks to kick in before ‘unaffordable or harmful’ losses are incurred
A new industry ombudsman to deal with disputes and rule on redress where customers suffer losses ‘due to an operator failing in their player protection duties’
Closing ‘loopholes’ to ensure that under-18s are unable to gamble online or on fruit machines
Extra powers for the Gambling Commission to tackle black market operators via the courts, and to work with internet service providers to take down illegal sites

What the document doesn’t contain, however, is any real measures to strengthen regulations around advertising of gambling products, despite widespread public support for tighter restrictions or even a complete ban (www.drinkanddrugsnews.com/three-quarters-back-tighter-gambling-ad-restrictions).

While some gambling charities have given the document a cautious welcome and said it represents a ‘start’, there is also anger that the proposals don’t go far enough – and that the consultation process is still far from over. ‘We now need to push further for an end to all gambling advertising, we need preventative affordability checks when losses reach £100 a month, and we need to do more to make the most dangerous products safer, further reducing stake sizes and play speeds,’ said co-founder of Gambling With Lives, Charles Ritchie. ‘Only then will we be able to see a real reduction in the deaths caused by gambling.’

Below is a round-up of reactions:

‘While the publication of the government’s white paper is a step in the right direction, the scale and pace of the proposed changes are disappointing and represent a significant missed opportunity to fully tackle the harms associated with gambling…We are disappointed there are no proposals to limit gambling advertising, sponsorships and loot boxes targeting children. Like alcohol and tobacco, there is a very strong case for prohibiting or severely limiting gambling advertising and sponsorship on public health grounds. Everyone should be able to live in an environment that is free from gamification and advertising, particularly children.’
Henrietta Bowden-Jones, Royal College of Psychiatrists

‘People who suffer harm from gambling are not weak. They are not unwell because of any so-called vulnerability. They have been sold highly addictive products, designed and promoted to keep them gambling, no matter what. Gambling addiction is a recognised mental health disorder. Somebody has neglected to tell this to Lucy Frazer, secretary of state at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, who has rolled out tired industry lines that everyone loves a flutter and just a small number of people are so weak it harms them … To push new policies out to consultation again is cruel, and the Gambling Commission must now be held responsible for getting on with it without delay and free from industry influence. Let’s see if they have the strength required to stand up to the industry they regulate.’
Will Prochaska, Gambling With Lives

‘The biggest health problem is coming from smartphone games that allow people to carry Las Vegas in their pocket. The risks are very different to someone playing the national lottery or playing bingo, and there is little in the white paper addressing this with any urgency… The recently announced voluntary ban on front-of-shirt advertising in football sends a confusing message (https://www.drinkanddrugsnews.com/premier-league-clubs-to-voluntarily-withdraw-shirt-front-gambling-ads/), since it will continue on shirt sleeves, in stadiums, TV, radio and online. Many European countries have imposed significant curbs on advertising, and this represents a big failure of the government to reduce harm. The white paper acknowledges that gambling is harmful to health and must be regulated, but the government seems to struggle to understand that gambling harm and addiction is not the product of a minority of flawed, weak, vulnerable people. The problem is that we are mass advertising and marketing an addictive product that could ensnare anyone.’
Dr Matt Gaskell, Guardian

‘The four-times delayed gambling white paper has finally surfaced – and it’s another win for nanny state enthusiasts. The paper is set to usher in huge breaches in privacy at a relatively low threshold… These checks on people’s background and income are so heavy-handed, they seem like the kinds of rules a government might usher in if the country suffered from a widespread gambling epidemic. But the UK doesn’t – not even close… We have a very good idea of who these problem gamblers are: young men in their late twenties and early thirties. Yet rather than target support to those who suffer from problem gambling, every adult will now be subject to bank balance inquiries and the dredging up of their financial past, which may well put a hold (or longer-term suspension) on what is classified as perfectly legal activity.’
Kate Andrews, Spectator

‘It is a sector that currently generates 86 per cent of its profit from the 5 per cent of gamblers who are addicted or at risk…So while the gambling white paper represents a big step forward in many areas, it’s disappointing that after such a drawn-out process much of the measures will be subject to further consultation… Anyone can get addicted to gambling, and through inadequate regulation the sector has grown reliant on revenues from those experiencing harm. The measures announced on Thursday must be implemented promptly: the industry cannot be allowed to slow down implementation or water down effective policy. Only then will consumers be protected and the sector restrained from the destruction it leaves behind in the pursuit of profit.’
Matt Zarb-Cousin, Guardian

‘Having consistently supported the introduction of a statutory levy, we welcome proposals aimed at improving the current system that provides funding for research, education, and treatment. Universal education is an essential part of the public health response to gambling and gaming harms, and it must be adequately funded over the long term. This is a significant point in a prolonged process, so we should all commend those who played a part in making today happen, however small or large a part they played. In particular, it has been inspiring to hear the compelling voices of lived experience contributing to this debate with real impact.’
YGAM charity

‘Gambling firms hit jackpot in shake-up: Government review introduces less drastic changes than feared’
Mail headline

‘Gambling stocks welcome watered-down white paper’
Investors’ Chronicle headline

Full document at www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-stakes-gambling-reform-for-the-digital-age/high-stakes-gambling-reform-for-the-digital-age

UK Gambling white paper aims to redress power imbalance and prevent addiction

Partner Updates

DDN

April 27, 2023

Forward Trust’s chief executive, Mike Trace, comments on the UK Government’s new white paper, High stakes: gambling reform for the digital age.

The UK Government has released a white paper that proposes several changes to gambling regulation in the country. The aim of the white paper is to redress the power imbalance between gamblers and operators while preventing addiction from occurring.

The white paper comprises several proposals that have been welcomed by the gambling industry and addiction charities.

Speaking today, Forward Trust chief executive Mike Trace commented on the white paper: “Gambling addiction is a serious mental health condition. It has lagged behind wider health and mental health priorities for far too long. We welcome new focus on market restrictions and long overdue movement on treatment levies, but it is crucial that these levies are rapidly and effectively spent on the treatment that so many people need.”

The impact of gambling addiction

Gambling addiction is a serious mental health condition. It can have a devastating impact on individuals and their families. The shame and stigma associated with it, particularly it’s associations with financial hardship, can prevent people from seeking help, which can only compound and deepen the problem and its devastating consequences.

As Mike Trace points out, gambling addiction has lagged behind other health priorities for far too long. It is a complex condition that requires access to specialist support and treatment.

The need for accessible treatment options

While the white paper is an important step forward on prevention and treatment, the Forward Trust believe that more needs to be done to address the addiction crisis silently growing in homes across the country post-pandemic.

Mike Trace goes on to say, “Prevention measures are a huge step forward, but we must recognise the addiction crisis happening today in the UK. Treatment must be available to all who need it either in specialist residential centres such as Clouds House or specialist-designed support in the community.

“Too many people struggle to access the treatment they need, and when it is accessed, it largely operates separately to community addiction services, that could offer the peer support we know is so important to recovery.

“Families struggle with limited support, which can exacerbate the emotional and psychological trauma of watching a loved one struggle with addiction.”

The Forward Trust believe that the UK Government’s white paper is an important step forward and it begins to address the power imbalance between gamblers and operators.

However, Mike Trace concludes, “The impact of gambling addiction on individuals and families requires a comprehensive treatment response. Treatment must match up to the scale and complexity of the challenges those affected face. We will be urging the government to shape a support system that not only prevents addiction but one that delivers a sufficient response when it occurs.”

This blog was originally published by The Forward Trust. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by The Forward Trust

Government plans mandatory levy on gambling firms

News

DDN

April 27, 2023

The government is planning a mandatory levy on betting firms to fund treatment services, along with reduced stake limits of between £2 and £15 per spin for online slots games.

mobile phone gambling — ‘We live in an age where people have a virtual mobile casino in their pockets,’ said culture secretary Lucy Frazer.

The moves form part of the gambling white paper, which has finally been published following multiple delays.

Campaigners have long called for a statutory tax on gambling companies, with the proposed levy on operators designed to ‘help fund treatment services and research, including through the NHS’. Other proposals contained in the document include increased powers for the Gambling Commission, new player protection checks and closing loopholes to ensure that under-18s are unable to gamble online or via physical machines. There will also be a new industry ombudsman to deal with disputes, including where customers suffer losses as a result of operators ‘failing in their player protection duties’. Some of the proposals, however, including the amount to be raised by the statutory levy, are to be put out for further consultation.

The measures add up to a ‘major reform of gambling laws to protect vulnerable users in smartphone era’, the government states. ‘We live in an age where people have a virtual mobile casino in their pockets,’ said culture secretary Lucy Frazer. ‘It has made gambling easier, quicker and often more fun, but when things go wrong it can see people lose thousands of pounds in a few swipes of the screen. So we are stepping in to update the law for those most at risk of harm with a new levy on gambling operators to pay for treatment and education, player protection checks and new online slots stake limits. This will strengthen the safety net and help deliver our long-term plan to help build stronger communities while allowing millions of people to continue to play safely.’

The review was a ‘once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver positive change for gambling in Great Britain and for all people impacted by it’, said Gambling Commission chief executive Andrew Rhodes. ‘Everyone at the commission welcomes today’s publication of the white paper and is determined to work with government and partners to make these changes a reality. Given the correct powers and resources, the Gambling Commission can continue to make gambling safer, fairer and crime free. This white paper is a coherent package of proposals which we believe can significantly support and protect consumers, and improve overall standards in the industry.’

The commission had previously been labelled a ‘torpid, toothless regulator’ by the Public Accounts Committee.

DDN Guide to gambling and health — The DDN guide on gambling addiction helps identify problems and the available treatment options.

The measures were ‘an important recognition of the changes needed to make sure that legislation around gambling is fit for the digital age’, the GamCare charity stated. ‘We will now take time to carefully review all the proposals and respond to the detail of the white paper and any related consultations,’ said chief executive Anna Hemmings. ‘We receive over 40,000 calls to our National Gambling Helpline every year and we will be looking for those people to share their thoughts on the proposals.’

The charity Gambling with Lives, meanwhile, said it welcomed some of the proposals but would be pushing for an end to all gambling advertising, among other measures. ‘After a long fight we’ve won concessions on some of the key areas but so much more needs to happen to reduce the horrendous harm caused by one of the most loosely regulated gambling industries in the world,’ said co-founder Liz Ritchie. ‘We’ve won the argument against a powerful gambling lobby but this is just the beginning. There’s another family devastated by gambling suicide every day, and we won’t stop until the deaths do.’

www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-stakes-gambling-reform-for-the-digital-age/high-stakes-gambling-reform-for-the-digital-age

Are cost of living pressures placing UK adults at greater risk of alcohol dependence?

Partner Updates

DDN

April 26, 2023

In this blog, With You explores how the cost of living is impacting peoples’ priorities when purchasing alcohol, and the changes to where people are drinking.

The rising cost of living is having a significant impact on the people we work with. It has exposed society’s fragility, and for many of us, we will be experiencing some of the most challenging circumstances of our lives.

At With You, we wanted to better understand the impact of the rising cost of living on the people who use our services.

We carried out a series of focus groups with our staff, as well as polling with over 2,000 UK adults over a week in February 2023. Our research highlighted changes to how people are drinking, and the impact of mental health issues and financial pressures on people’s relationship with alcohol. We focused on alcohol specifically because it is very widely available and is the most commonly used substance among UK adults. Equivalent research into the use of illegal drugs would have required a more nuanced exploration such as breakdowns by drug type and region, age, and demographic. You can listen to Stephen McCulloch, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications, speak more about our findings here on BBC Radio Cornwall (approx. 22 minutes 37 seconds).

More people are drinking as a coping mechanism

We heard how financial pressures related to the rising cost of living (and the isolation felt post-covid) are having a negative impact on peoples’ mental health, and this is leading to increased alcohol consumption. The most common reason we heard for people’s increased drinking was because it had become a coping mechanism. We heard how people are struggling with increased anxiety about money and not being able to make ends meet. Alcohol has become an increasingly common way for people to deal with the pressures they are experiencing due to the realities of the cost of living crisis.

This echoes what we are seeing across many of our services. Some of our services have seen significant increases in the number of people looking for support for their alcohol use over the last six months with one service seeing a 70% increase in referrals over this period We also found from our public polling that more than 10% of the population have been prioritising the purchase of alcohol over essential items. One community engagement coordinator told us “When we’re doing our assessment we’re asking: ‘When do you feel like this became a dependency?’ and there is a lot saying it’s the cost of living and the financial pressures… it’s a coping mechanism.”

In our polling, we found over a third of UK adults drink more alcohol when they feel anxious, depressed, or isolated. This can lead to a worrying cycle where people drink to alleviate their issues, but will likely only make them worse in the long run. Regularly drinking alcohol can be detrimental to mental wellbeing in a number of ways, including impacting the sleep cycle. Alcohol relaxes muscles in the body which can make it feel like it aids sleep, but in reality it prevents the body from going into the restorative rest (REM) it needs to allow someone to wake up feeling refreshed.

More people are drinking at home, on their own, to save money

The increased cost of living has compounded many of the pressures that first emerged during the pandemic and lockdowns, including mental health issues and increased isolation. Our research found more people are turning to cheaper, supermarket bought alcohol to deal with these problems, often drinking alone at home. More than half (56%) of the people we surveyed said they now bought alcohol from supermarkets due to the rising cost of living, with almost a quarter (23%) of people reporting that they are choosing cheaper drinks at the supermarket.

“It’s cheaper to buy 4 to 6 cans from a supermarket than buy drinks out. People are drinking more at home. The ones who used to go to the pub for the social aspect are now drinking more in their house.” Recovery Worker

There is also evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic had a significant impact on people’s drinking habits. We found that two fifths of UK adults (42%) are more comfortable drinking alcohol alone than they were a year ago, and just under half of UK adults (47%) said they are drinking alcohol at home more than before due to the rising cost of living.

We know that cheaper alcohol brands can often be lower in quality and higher in alcohol, however 46% of people we surveyed said they weren’t aware of this. Offers and deals at the supermarket can also make it tempting to buy alcohol in bulk. Whilst this may be cheaper, it makes it easy to drink more than planned and increases the likelihood of someone drinking excessive amounts of alcohol in a short amount of time. Our survey found over one in 10 UK adults (13%) agree they drink excessive quantities of alcohol in a short amount of time rather than moderate drinking.

For people looking for help reducing their drinking, in particular at home, we recommend buying less in each shop: for example, swap a six pack of beer for a four pack. That way, it isn’t possible to drink more than planned. In addition, when drinking at home, it’s easy to pour bigger drinks than would be served at a pub or bar. This can make it hard to cut down or monitor intake. Instead, we recommend measuring each drink when pouring. We also advise that having an extra drink-free day each week gives the body more time to recover. Alternating between alcohol and non alcoholic drinks controls alcohol intake, and may well also save money.

In our next blog in this series, we will explore our findings around accessing treatment, and how we can encourage more people who need it to seek support with their alcohol use.

This blog was originally published by With You. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by With You

Happy Earth Day

Partner Updates

DDN

April 26, 2023

To celebrate this year’s Earth Day, Iquo Edem, one of the trainers in Forward’s Employment Services Directorate, explains how her team are supporting learners to build careers and experience in the green sector.

Earth Day’s roots go back to the 1970s. In 2009, the United Nations General Assembly designated 22nd April as International Mother Earth Day.

This year the theme of Earth Day was ‘Invest in our Planet’, and everyone from Government, charities, education providers, employers and local communities were encouraged to work together and take greater responsibility for the Earth to help make a difference.

In 2021, the Employment Services Directorate at Forward started to teach green skills as part of our new Adult Education Budget programmes in London and Kent. In London, we are teaching climate change and environment awareness alongside careers advice and we offer an exciting array of Green Career Pathways, including apprenticeship roles in sustainability.

In October 2021, just ahead of the COP26 UN Climate Conference in Glasgow, three-quarters (75%) of adults in Great Britain said they were worried about the impact of climate change, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN).

Just over two-fifths (43%) reported feeling anxious about the future of the environment more widely in the past month.

We have found during our teaching that learners can also feel paralysed by the size of the problem and feel unable to act (i.e. to do their bit).

We have used Earth Day with our learners to help them think about what actions they can undertake in their lives to protect the planet for future generations. For example, learners have studied the use of ‘refill shops’. A refill shop is usually an independent store that sells non-packaged goods like food, toiletries and cleaning products. They ask shoppers to bring containers they already own and refill them from larger containers in the store, thereby providing an opportunity for people to do shopping but use less plastic. Refills shops are a network of amazing independent retailers. What they can do in local communities is phenomenal.

Some learners have discovered volunteering opportunities in conversation with our Wildlife Trust and Open Space partners. Other learners have discovered how to use technology such as carbon or environmental footprint calculators and are linking this to improving their overall health by walking more, instead of using the car. This is also being used to improve numeracy skills and knowledge on our Multiply programmes in Kent.

Through Spotlight sessions with key employer partners, such as Thames Water, The Compass Group, LDN Apprenticeships and The Felix Project, learners are being taught about how employers can integrate sustainability practices into their organisations and provide job or apprenticeship roles in the green or sustainability sector.

“I found the course very enjoyable and the course tutor was fantastic. I learnt a lot about sustainability and what is required not just from other people, but also from myself when it comes to all the things that we should be doing to look after the environment.”

– Learner on The Forward Trust Good Work for All Green Skills AEB Programme (London).

Happy Earth Day,

Iquo

This blog was originally published by The Forward Trust. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by The Forward Trust

Record seizures of cocaine and ketamine

News

DDN

April 21, 2023

Seizures of cocaine and ketamine in the year to March 2022 reached the highest levels ever recorded, according to new figures from the Home Office and Border Force.

The amount of cocaine seized was up by 68 per cent to 18,767kg, while the quantity of ketamine seized increased by almost 900 per cent to 1,837kg.

Although police forces accounted for almost 90 per cent of the seizures, far higher quantities are confiscated by the Border Force in intelligence-led operations at ports and airports. More than 90 per cent of all cocaine and ketamine, and almost 80 per cent of heroin, was seized in this way.

Coca cultivation increased by 35 per cent between 2020 and 2021, according to a recent UNODC report, leading to a ‘dramatic’ increase in global cocaine production, while last year’s European drug report from EMCDDA said that cocaine availability in Europe had ‘rapidly bounced back’ following the disruption caused by COVID-19 and was already surpassing pre-pandemic levels.

The seizure figures for England and Wales are the first to cover a period following the publication of the 2021 drug strategy, the Home Office points out. £300m has been invested in ‘pursuing and closing down’ drug gangs and supply chains, alongside the £780m for treatment and recovery.

‘These seizures send a clear message to anyone prepared to smuggle illegal drugs into the country that we remain committed to tackle often violent and exploitative drug supply chains,’ said the Border Force’s chief operating officer Steve Dann.

A diverse service for a diverse population

Partner Updates

DDN

April 20, 2023

Chris Annison, Phoenix Futures’ Head of Services in London, talks us through the importance of a diverse and flexible service.

Diversity is a commonly used term when thinking about any group of people. However, the Phoenix Futures service at HMP Pentonville is an excellent example of how a service has to flex, develop and be responsive to change.

The complexities of a Cat B local remand jail always present problems for Service Managers to overcome, with unknown release dates and a regime which has to cater to all categories of serving prisoners.

The Phoenix service manages to provide a huge range of interventions for all prisoners at all stages of their sentence. The unsung heroes of the piece are the recovery workers who assess the needs of the clients and refer them onto the many different treatment paths available. Without this work none of the clients’ needs would be identified and the whole machine would stop working.

The other key component to the success of the substance use team is the joint working and cooperation from HMPPS. The leadership at the prison are very knowledgeable concerning treatment for substance use and passionate about providing good outcomes for the people in their care.

The Incentivised Substance Free Living (ISFL) wing has a 60/40 split where 60% of the residents have a substance use treatment need. The Jubilee Recovery Group Programme is run here by Phoenix Futures quarterly. This provides the participants with a six-week group based opportunity to explore their relationship with substances. They support each other to investigate contributing factors to their struggles, such as mental health challenges or co-dependency with partners. They also look at the strengths and pitfalls of relationships with others, concerning their problematic behaviours around substances.

The second half of the programme guides the participants through the process of formulating a care-plan to navigate their path to a safer future. Different options are explored, and recognition is given to different approaches. The 12 Step model is introduced alongside other mutual aid options, and each member of the group is supported to engage in the way which suits them best.

The programme is realistic in its approach and offers tangible hope for an improved future through relapse prevention strategies and ensuring each participant is aware of where their support can be found.

Each person who completes the programme will leave with a detailed personalised plan for the future, which has been developed based on their own individual risks and needs.

Some participant’s feedback from the programme makes great reading…

“It has taught me to believe in myself, be kind, give back and understand my mental health. I am actually beginning to like myself and as mad as it sounds, being here. (What) Phoenix Futures and… Sophia has invested in me has truly saved my life thank you so much.”

“I enjoyed and at times struggled searching my memories of the pain I caused and others have also caused me. But, growth has been immense and that feeling of change and possibilities which is new to me gives me the confidence to move forward.”

The feedback received, not only rewards the staff who deliver the programme. They use this to shape and develop the programme for future cohorts. The delivery thus evolves and improves, reacting to the needs of the clients. A truly responsive and effective intervention.

Looking at other treatment options in the prison, Phoenix look to engage everyone they can irrespective of the challenges. The work we do on G1 landing is a great example of how diverse our treatment can be. This is a specialist unit supporting individuals with complex needs due to neurodiversity challenges.

Every aspect of delivery has been looked at to ensure maximum possibility of engagement. Consistent staff selection is used for delivery to build trust and support those who find change difficult. Joint informed working alongside consultant Occupational Therapists takes place, speech and language therapy is on offer. Hands on activity-based sessions look at promoting relapse prevention skills and raising harm reduction knowledge, respecting people with different learning styles and abilities.

Voices and Visions is another Phoenix intervention which takes place weekly to support clients with mental health challenges, in particular psychotic symptoms where auditory hallucinations are prevalent.

We don’t forget those with physical health issues, who can’t be supported in the main population. A monthly inpatients group is delivered on the Hospital wing.

All these different interventions run alongside the mainstream population service which has to react to the ever-changing day to day challenges of a remand prison. All those engaged in the service are linked in with community support as part of their throughcare options.

We also offer a Through The Gate (TTG) service which will support clients after release to assist in attending appointments and supporting those who find the adjustment to life outside the prison problematic and anxiety provoking.

Last but by no means least is the support offered to clients’ families by our specialist Family Support Worker, along with the TTG staff they form our Community Engagement Team to ensure the clients have the option of support from day one in custody through to reintegration into the community.

Despite all the challenges presented, the Phoenix Futures team pride themselves on being able to instil hope, and support the courage it takes to make the changes necessary to successfully reintegrate into society.

None of this work would be possible without huge amounts of networking and joint working between all the functions at the prison, and most of all reacting to client feedback to ensure the service remains relevant and effective to clients’ needs.

This blog was originally published by Phoenix Futures. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by Phoenix Futures

Being Human: our new five-year strategy

Partner Updates

DDN

April 20, 2023

Humankind’s new five-year strategy, Being Human, is centred on people: the people who use our services, their families, and the communities they are part of.

Humankind say their ambition is to drive radical change, so people impacted by drugs, alcohol and related issues experience fairer chances to flourish in their communities.

A message from Paul Townsley, Humankind CEO:

‘I am extremely excited about Being Human and what the future holds for the people we support. When developing our strategy we kept at the forefront of our minds our vision – that we want to see a world where everyone has a fair chance to be safe, build ambitions for the future and reach their full potential.

‘We wanted this strategy to stretch us and to increase our impact. It is focused on the communities and people we work with, and I am confident that we will support more people through local services embedded in their communities and partnerships that challenge the status quo. We are proud to be a national charity made up of local services. We will develop the necessary partnerships to work with communities to make sure that local needs are met and that we are there for the long term.

‘When we launched Being Human internally our ambition of driving radical change really struck a chord and started some interesting conversations. Everyone got behind the vision to make a real difference to the people we work with and recognised that we must continue to develop and grow as an organisation to do that.

‘To shape our strategy, we listened to over 3,300 people: the people we support, our colleagues and our valued delivery partners. We learnt a lot, and the strategy has genuinely been based on listening to that feedback. Thank you to everyone that contributed, we couldn’t have done it without you.

‘We want to keep listening and in the coming months will be collecting feedback on what people think about the strategy.

Having joined DISC in July 2015 as Chief Executive, I am hugely proud of the success of our previous five-year strategy, which helped us evolve into Humankind, grow and support over 90,000 people last year. Being Human builds on these solid foundations and I’m looking forward to working with our expert and committed teams and the people we support to deliver it.’

Read Being Human: a strategy for everyone.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by Humankind

The smell of home cooking and the sound of piano: a visit to Southend-on-Sea

Partner Updates

DDN

April 19, 2023

Executive Director for Research and Business Development Carwyn Gravell on his visit to one of Forward’s newest community substance misuse services in Southend-on-Sea.

Southend-on-Sea has many claims to fame. It is one of the UK’s newest cities, awarded the ‘letters patent’ by then HRH Prince of Wales in March 2022, and home to the longest pier in Europe, at over 7,000 feet. It is also the location of one of Forward’s newest substance misuse services, which I recently visited.

Walking Southend’s windy streets and seafront in winter, you need to take a moment to imagine that, come summer, these same streets are thronged with day-trippers and fun-seekers. And there’s lots of fun to be had in Southend, for sure – including the UK’s No 1 free admission theme park, the Sealife Adventure centre, and, of course, first-class fish and chips.

But Southend also has its problems. 40% of those in the town live in areas considered to be the most deprived 30% in England, with another eight neighbourhoods living in worse conditions, forming part of the 10% most deprived areas in the country. Despite a decline in previous years, rough sleeping rose over 50% in 2021-2022.

People living in deprived areas typically experience poor mental and physical health, alongside harm from drugs, alcohol and gambling. Southend is no exception, with drug-related deaths hitting a ten-year high in 2022. As a charity, Forward’s mission is to reach and support the most marginalised groups in society, to make a difference where and when people are struggling the most. Which is why we bid to run the Southend service when it came up for tender, and which we won and mobilised last year.

As part of my job is writing bids for new services, I’m always curious to see how plans and intentions translate into reality. The service is located a few streets off the sea front, at an old solicitor’s office. Walking through the front door, there’s a palpable sense of welcome. James, our Head of Services, shows me round the building and shares his vision for the future, now the new service is settled in. The rooms are high-ceilinged, full of light, ideal for group work with clients. There’s a patio area at the back, perfect for raised flower beds and the therapeutic benefits of gardening. A large bay-windowed room at the front feels like an informal café, where people drop in for tea and a chat.

I then meet the teams. When a new service is mobilised, changing provider and working for a different organisation can be unsettling for staff. And the team at Southend have certainly had their challenges, being understaffed for a while given sector-wide problems with recruitment. But the people I meet are full of energy and enthusiasm: the criminal justice team, outreach team, young person’s team (run by our partners Open Road), and clinical team. Though each has its area of specialism and expertise, the message I keep hearing is ‘We’re all one team here, we all muck in’.

Returning to the busy reception area, I’m greeted by the smell of home-cooked soup and the sound of piano. The soup is cooked for service users by a volunteer, Janice, herself a former client in recovery. “I love coming back and doing this for others!” says Janice, stirring two pots simultaneously and beaming. And the piano is played by Denise, a client in treatment. Que Sera, Sera is the tune she plays, a fittingly sweet resignation to fate, an acknowledgement that we can’t control everything and that we all sometimes need help. Denise comments in passing that the piano is a little out of tune, but she knows someone who can fix it for free. Mutual aid in action.

Recovery starts with and is sustained by human connection in such safe, nurturing environments, appealing to all the senses. This is the stuff our clients missed more than anyone during lockdown when so much support had to be delivered remotely. You can’t smell warming soup through a screen.

Saying my goodbyes and ending my visit, I take a last look at the seafront, and the long pier stretching out into the distance. Julian Barnes wrote that “a pier is a disappointed bridge; yet stare at it for long enough and you can dream it to the other side of the Channel”. I reflect there’s lots to look forward to at Southend as we harness the enthusiasm of staff and clients, and support them to bring lasting change, turning ambition into reality.

*not real names

This blog was originally published by The Forward Trust. You can read the original post here.

DDN magazine is a free publication self-funded through advertising.

We are proud to work in partnership with many of the leading charities and treatment providers in the sector.

This content was created by The Forward Trust

Scotland could be ‘sleep walking’ back to record alcohol deaths

News

DDN

April 19, 2023

Urgent action is needed to turn the alcohol ‘tide of harm’ in Scotland, says a call from more than 30 medical organisations and charities.

We are blinkered to the reality of the high levels of damage alcohol causes said Alcohol Focus Scotland chief executive Alison Douglas

Without it the country could be ‘sleep walking our way back to the record levels of deaths we saw in the early 2000s’, states Alcohol Focus Scotland. Signatories to the statement include SHAAP, BMA Scotland, the British Liver Trust, We Are With You and several royal colleges.

In 2021 there were 1,245 deaths from ‘conditions caused by alcohol’ in Scotland (DDN, September 2022), the highest number since 2008 – although the figure is still lower than at the turn of the millennium. Scotland’s alcohol-related death rate is currently around 1.7 times higher than England’s, compared to 2.9 times higher in 2001.

Scotland’s new first minister, Humza Yousaf, needs to show ‘strong leadership’, the organisations state, and prioritise ‘increased and sustained’ investment in a full range of alcohol services including community-based, residential, peer-led and mutual aid options, as well as renewing the commitment to tightening marketing regulations. While Scotland had launched a consultation into restricting marketing late last year, Yousaf has confirmed that proposals such as banning billboard advertising and phasing out sports sponsorship deals have now been paused following concerns from ‘an industry which is already facing challenges on multiple fronts’.

Identification and testing for people at risk of liver disease in primary care also needs to be improved, the organisations state, with alcohol care teams set up in hospitals for earlier identification of people with underlying alcohol problems. The minimum unit price should also be increased to 65p, they add, while an ‘alcohol harm prevention levy’ should be introduced on retailers to help fund prevention and treatment. A study by Public Health Scotland, the Lancet and the University of Glasgow earlier this year concluded that an estimated 13 per cent reduction in deaths and 4 per cent reduction in hospital admissions had already been achieved by the 50p minimum unit price.

‘Alcohol is Scotland’s drug of choice,’ said Alcohol Focus Scotland chief executive Alison Douglas. ‘It is addictive and carcinogenic. Yet because it is promoted as an everyday product, essential to having fun and relaxing, we are blinkered to the reality of the high levels of damage it causes. It’s 16 months since the Scottish Government rightly recognised there is a ‘public health emergency’ on alcohol, but there has been no plan to address it. This is unacceptable. When bold action is taken it saves lives, as we have seen with the minimum unit price. The first minister and his new team must act urgently to improve access to treatment and support and deliver on prevention, including by uprating the minimum unit price and by introducing meaningful marketing restrictions that protect people from being bombarded by alcohol ads.’

Full briefing paper, Emergency response required to prevent deaths from alcohol, at www.alcohol-focus-scotland.org.uk

Out in the Open

Features

DDN

April 18, 2023

The Listen, Believe, Affirm project came out of our work with the Centre of Expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre). With their support, we carried out a survey across Change Grow Live to understand the level of skills and knowledge around child sexual abuse. We discovered that all of the tools were there – it was just a question of making sure those conversations happen. We needed to ensure that our staff felt comfortable and supported to ask the right questions, and that people were given the space to answer openly.

We had the opportunity to bring something to light that’s so rarely spoken about. We ask so many personal questions of people as a part of their support with us – why not ask them if they’ve experienced childhood sexual abuse?

Our first step was to train a series of practice leads to act as our organisational experts on psycho-educative work, myth busting, and how to build confidence and communication with people who’ve experienced childhood sexual abuse. Since then we’ve continued to build on this work and embed our learnings across the organisation. We’ve created accessible learning tools and run national conversation sessions to bring together voices of staff, experts, and people with lived experience of childhood sexual abuse. Through joint working with the Victim Support charity, we’ve carried out free online training for more than 800 of our staff and volunteers.

As the work began to take shape, the project became Listen, Believe, Affirm because those are the things we were hearing that people wanted. Not everyone wants extra support or a specific intervention based on their experiences – people just want to be asked the question and be heard, and to have their experience validated. Then they can make the decision that’s right for them.

We want to move towards a whole-person approach that considers all the factors in someone’s life. It’s about creating the conditions where people feel safe and where their substance use is seen as a symptom of trauma instead of a lifestyle choice. We’ve had people tell us that they’d never really discussed their experiences before, and that their lives might have been very different if someone had just asked them, and acknowledged what had happened to them.

Normalising the conversation around childhood sexual abuse is an important step in helping people feel comfortable linking past experiences to their current selves. And that process of normalising the conversation includes the conversations we are having as an organisation. By asking the right questions we can empower people to make the changes they want.

Ellie Reed is head of social work and Nicola Wendel is national CSE lead at Change Grow Live.

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Change Grow Live’s services work with so many people who have experienced trauma, including sexual abuse as a child. We know that childhood sexual abuse can be a contributory factor in problematic drug and alcohol use in adulthood, but there’s still so much stigma around discussing it openly.

It’s something that people may never have been asked about, or even felt comfortable to talk about. There’s a lot of fear across professionals – if they ask the wrong question, will they bring something up and make things worse?