Are you serious about your recovery?
Nehemiah might be for you. We will help you take that next step into the community.
The Nehemiah Project is an abstinence-based charity which helps men recover their lives from a cycle of addiction, offending and/or homelessness. You can break this cycle with our professional support and move on to recover and rebuild your life. We have 4 houses in London – 14 first stage spaces and 9 move-on spaces.
At Narconon, we are dedicated to one thing: helping you overcome addiction for good. Part of what makes this possible is the Narconon environment. Every detail has been taken into account to give you the stability and comfort to help you free yourself from addiction and rebuild your life without drugs.
Notaro ARBD Care comprises 3 residential homes situated in the South West of England. Our unique, successful provision is open to accepting referrals from across the UK. We provide effective residential support for individuals living with long term effects of misuse, such as Korsakoff’s syndrome.
Our unique 3-step enablement programme focuses on regaining independence through tailored activities and monthly assessments. It’s essential that clients have gone through detox before admission. We focus on supporting their recovery by developing structure and routine and working closely with their individualised goals. For some their diagnosis is permanent, in this instance, we can provide a home for life.
Mount Carmel is a centre of excellence for alcohol treatment. We deliver safe, supportive, and non- judgemental help through both residential and day programmes.
Although our focus is alcohol, we also address the many other addictions of our clients, including drugs, food, gambling and exercise.
Our prices are very affordable, and over 35 years we have helped more than a thousand clients to get well and to change their lives.
Livingstone House provides a family environment where Service Users can access help for their addiction, using a 12 Step Programme, in conjunction with any alternative therapies that support recovery. This will include providing detoxification for addictive substances in a controlled and medically supervised environment via an agreed clinically indicated detoxification protocol all facilitated within the 12 Step Programme.
Following treatment, Service Users who have completed the programme benefit from after care for up to three months and beyond if required. Livingstone House offer an open door policy.
Littledale was established in 2006 and has been consistently recognised by CQC and commissioning authorities as a provider that delivers a high standard of innovative and evidence-based care to people recovering from addiction. The model at Littledale has evolved through 25 years’ experience and addresses all the key elements associated to an individual’s addiction. Littledale offers each resident an opportunity to develop a greater understanding and insight into the complexities of their addiction and we believe all residents can be empowered to make positive life choices.
Linwood House is an established drug and alcohol detoxification and residential rehabilitation centre located in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. The centre provides adult in-patient treatment for substance abuse and dependence including alcohol, cocaine, cannabis, heroin, opiates, legal highs and prescription drugs. Our therapy approach is focussed on helping you address your dependence on drugs or alcohol and empowering you to make choices and the changes you need to make in order to achieve your recovery goals.
The Ley Community makes recovery real by providing the ideal therapeutic environment for lasting change.
Everyone leaves us with everything they need to succeed first time; employment, accommodation, extended aftercare, and well established peer networks. We don’t just point them in the right direction, we ensure they reach their destination.
Kenward Trust is a residential Therapeutic Community working with men, and women offering expertise
in dealing with Drug and Alcohol Addiction through recovery, resettlement and reintegration programmes. Retaining aspects of the Recovery Model of treatment delivery, alongside a wide range of activities with both therapeutic and skills based training in our Social Enterprise, which will allow people to take evidence of recognised training skills with them into the work place.
TRANSFORMING LIVES, CREATING NEW FUTURES
At Kairos Community Trust, we are dedicated to helping homeless men and women with drug and alcohol problems. We do this through our abstinence-support hostel, our rehab programmes and our network of 29 supported Move-on houses, most of which are in south London.
Our core services provide: sober hostel accommodation, day programme rehab, residential rehab, supported housing and aftercare. Each service can be accessed separately or they can be combined to build individual pathways to recovery over a period of time. All our services are delivered by experienced teams of qualified therapists, support workers and administrators.
Access to a place at River Garden Auchincruive is free if you are motivated to turn your life around. In return for your residential place, you are asked to contribute to the life of the community through voluntary work.
Sheffield, Sefton, Barnsley and Durham Supported Housing
We provide housing related support to individuals
to develop the skills required to manage homes, live confidently, remain in recovery and ultimately achieve independent living.
We also deliver group-based activities to support clients to promote health and wellbeing, employability and active-citizenship.
The services are open to both men and women and provides single, self-contained accommodation.
The services focus on housing-related support and developing the skills required to sustain a tenancy, recognising this as a key factor in maintaining recovery.
We provide a holistic approach to their recovery that includes a combination of therapies over six months. These include psychotherapy, one-on-one and group counselling, anger management, access to sport, yoga, peer support, life skills training, family therapy and work experience – in preparation for settled independent living.
We have a capacity for 11 undergraduates in our first and second stages. When completing the six-month residential programme, graduates have the option to enter our third stage supported houses, for which our capacity is 12 beds.
Holgate House residential unit is staffed twenty-four hours a day. It offers a structured programme, i.e. looking at dealing with unresolved, here and now issues that would be too painful to deal with. It is warm, friendly, safe and a healthy environment to live in, and as a professional team we can offer support, structure and discipline in a caring nurturing way.
We offer move on accommodation for those that do not want to return to the area they came from and are supported in the community.
Help Me Stop offers the first US-style Dayhab treatment for alcohol and drug problems in the UK. Our unique non-residential treatment programme fits around daily life, meaning work, study or family responsibilities don’t have to be put on hold. And because our costs are low, we put recovery within reach of most people.
Affordable: From £2,500 – Intensive: 160 hours – Effective: Proven success rates
Accessible: non-residential
Hebron House has been changing lives for 30 years. We are situated in Norwich, Norfolk in two beautiful houses.
We offer a 12-step programme including: a tailored care plan; therapeutic key worker; two, one to one counselling sessions per week; group therapy; CBT; sport, leisure and gardening activities; assistance to address financial/debt problems; move on house.
Gloucester House is a CQC outstanding treatment centre that recognises the damaging effects caused to individuals, families and communities through substance misuse.
Our holistic, integrated 12-Step programme is designed to empower and support every individual to attain a life free from dependency, to look beyond their issues and to explore ways of changing their lives for the better. We pride ourselves on delivering a programme that is structured, supportive and personalised, and we take clients from anywhere in the country. We also welcome referrals from veteran services and self-funded clients.
Gloucester House offers both first stage, second stage and resettlement.
Gilead Foundations Charity provides supported living accommodation for women who have experienced difficulties such as addictions, homelessness and domestic abuse. Situated on a farm work experience in milking cows, poultry and horticulture among other activities is on offer. Fees can be covered by housing benefit and we fundraise to provide the skills training and other support costs.
Freedom Recovery Centre is a day and residential programme for men and women 18+ who want to maintain abstinence from alcohol and drug misuse.
Fully Residential drug and alcohol treatment including medically assisted detox. CQC assessed and rated. Supported 24/7. Single rooms. Regular one-to-one counselling with experienced addiction counsellors. Ongoing comprehensive aftercare. Family support. Maximum of eleven residents to ensure we provide the best possible support with the right amount of personal dedicated time from our experienced professional staff.
Set in the heart of the Warwickshire countryside away from everyday distractions providing a safe and supportive setting to address life and addiction issues. Competitive prices for local authorities and service providers.
Churchfield Road is a 12 bed recovery focussed accommodation for individuals in active addiction whose homelessness is a barrier to accessing and or committing to treatment packages and goals. Staff work with service users to access and maintain treatment and reduce negative impact on themselves and the wider community.
Cherington Road is a 5 bed abstinence based accommodation for individuals that have completed first stage treatment but have ongoing housing and treatment needs.
Both services offer an in-house community programme, one to one key working and signposting to other services such as ETE advisers, Hepatitis screening, fellowship meetings.
Brook Drive is a CQC registered, residential community drug and alcohol detoxification unit, providing medically supervised alcohol and drug detoxification programmes for people aged 18 and above.
Many of our service users also have other needs including diagnosed mental ill health, pre-existing physical health needs and challenging life circumstances.
Brook Drive is a big and busy service with an NHS supported complex care pathway and a full time GP service integrated on site.
There is a multidisciplinary staff team of 20, including nurses, recovery substance misuse/mental health workers, complementary therapy workers and group workers.
Equinox Aspinden Wood is a CQC registered service that provides long-term 24 hour care and support to men and women with a history of alcohol dependence, mental ill health and homelessness.
The centre supports people who have been drinking for many years and while service users can continue to drink when they live at Aspinden Wood we work with them to find ways to reduce the harm caused by their drinking.
We offer service users many options for them to improve their quality of life and wellbeing, and work with them to give them back their dignity and self confidence.
Since 2001, East Coast Recovery has supported thousands of people to free themselves from addiction. Our expert approach to recovery promotes personal empowerment and perseverance in a welcoming, nourishing, progressive atmosphere.
Edwin House is a unique, modern CQC registered care and reablement centre that provides high-quality, dignified care to people with complex health needs related to long-term misuse of alcohol and/or drugs.
Located in a quiet corner of Nottingham, we provide high quality care, nursing and recovery-orientated treatment and support people living with chronic physical, emotional or mental health issues.
Our home, which can accommodate up to 63 people, is made up of 48 care and reablement beds. Located within the service is a smaller 14 bed inpatient detoxification unit.
At Oxygen Recovery we offer a four step pathway which aims to meet the needs of clients suffering from substance misuse issues. The pathway is able to offer clients two years of supported recovery, including; Residential Detox and Rehabilitation, Second Stage Recovery, Third Stage Recovery and Sober Living. We recognise that needs differ, and as such our programme is flexible and client led. Clients can enter Oxygen Recovery at any point of their treatment journey.
ChangesUK Clarity House provides an opportunity for detox for people to work towards abstinence and begin their recovery journey. They are supported by our Peer Mentors and specialist medical practitioners in safe and comfortable surroundings. It is an intensive residential programme with a person-centred approach to achieve a state of mental, physical, emotional, social and spiritual wellbeing. All of our homes are fully equipped and furnished to an excellent standard.
St Thomas Fund is a residential rehabilitation service based in Brighton and Hove that offers a safe place for adults wanting to become free of drugs and alcohol, and make positive steps towards recovery. It is a free service for adults over the age of 18 with a local connection to Brighton and Hove; places are agreed with all parties following referral and assessment.
Park House is an 18-bed unit staffed by an experienced team of specialist doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants and group work specialists. The detox centre is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and supported by clinical and operational on-call systems. Park House has beds allocated to both Birmingham residents and non-Birmingham residents.
Carlisle House is a residential substance misuse treatment centre situated near the centre of Belfast.
We aim to provide a safe and therapeutic space for individuals who have substance use difficulties. A space that provides structure, enabling new choices to be explored and a rediscovery of self without the substance. This opportunity is offered within an ethos of acceptance, respect and compassion.
The Programme offers a range of interventions including – Structured Living, Individual Therapy, Group Therapy, Family Therapy, Art Therapy, Eco Therapy, Personal Development, Complementary Therapies, Peer Support, and Post Programme Support.
Parkland Place offers therapy for people with experience of alcohol addiction, drug addiction, gambling addiction and other harmful behavioural conditions. Our therapeutic programme is tailored to the needs of each of our guests, and is delivered by friendly, expert staff. This bespoke approach allows us to address the social and psychological needs underpinning your addiction, and support you as you make key lifestyle changes.
We are a secular organisation delivering evidence based interventions primarily as part of a residential treatment programme.
Brynawel has a unique position as we are the only residential rehabilitation centre in Wales with a programme which has Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Social Learning at the core of its treatment programme, which includes psycho-social interventions, is client centred and offers a holistic approach. We therefore offer individuals a real choice.
Established in 1974 Broadway Lodge provides 12-step abstinence based treatment supporting people into recovery from a wide range of addictive behaviours including substance misuse, sex, co-dependency, gambling and gaming; also supporting clients with secondary issues such as self-harm and eating disorders
Detoxification can be provided for alcohol, illicit drugs, novel psychoactive substances and prescribed medication including pain relief and benzodiazepines.
Change Grow Live has responded to Dame Carol Black’s Review of Drugs – Part 2.
Today we:
Dame Carol Black’s independent report on drugs calls for a radical change in the UK’s approach to drug use.
She argues for a renewed collective commitment to tackling drug use; better coordination across Government departments; an emphasis on vulnerable young people; more effective support for people who are often stigmatised, and a spending review cash injection for depleted services.
We support Dame Carol Black’s conclusions and welcome the Cross-Government Joint Combating Drugs Unit.
A new multi-agency approach to drug treatment is needed, including:
Mark Moody, our chief executive, is calling for a new approach:
“Dame Carol is right that we need urgent change. The current situation is intolerable and the people who use our services, the communities they live in, and ultimately the whole country pay the price.
We urge the government to come forward with a new strategy.
As stated in the review, for every £1 spent on treatment, we save £4 on costs of other services. A new strategy, backed by ring-fenced spending review investment, must do three things.
It must make sure effective, evidence-based treatment is available everywhere that it is needed so we can support more people.
It must have new measures of success. Recovery is much more than total abstinence. For some people, success is no longer using illicit drugs, stabilising their lives and keeping their families together. For others, success is about getting a job or going back to education.
And it must get commissioning right. We want to see an end to fragmentation of services and short-termism. All the organisations involved must come together to put stable local services in place where they are needed.”
We have the evidence about what gets people into treatment, what keeps them there and what works in the long-term. A new strategy is urgently needed to put this into practice everywhere in the UK.
Collectively, we must make a step change in treatment.”
Read the full blog 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
The Bridge is a non-profit organisation bringing hope to men and women recovering from drug and alcohol addictions while also being able to serve the needs of those exiting prostitution. We run two supported accommodation houses in Birmingham, providing support in recovery, right through to re-engaging with employment and establishing independent living.
Bosence Farm is a CQC registered (rated GOOD) charity providing residential treatment from three distinct services:
Detox and stabilisation for adults and 17 year olds who are in need of a medically led detoxification or stabilisation from illicit drugs, alcohol or prescribed medications.
Rehabilitation for adults who wish to address their drug and alcohol misuse utilising the 12-step model.
Young People offers a bespoke treatment programme for young people experiencing issues with substance misuse and related needs.
Birchwood is an inpatient residential treatment centre providing a range of services for drug and alcohol users in need of in-patient care. Birchwood is part of Kaleidoscope, a drug and alcohol charity that has been providing community and residential substance misuse treatment services across the UK since 1968.
We offer tailor-made treatment packages for detoxification, stabilisation and rehabilitation, providing both clinical and psychosocial interventions. Our unit comprises of 20 single occupancy bedrooms – with three DDA compliant rooms on the lower floor for those with more complex needs or mobility issues. We provide services for both men and women, including pregnant women and those with complex needs.
We have supported people into abstinent recovery from alcohol and drug addiction since 1998. Our evidence-based programme is designed to provide clients with the best opportunity to move into recovery and develop improved living skills and increased enjoyment of life.
Our clients work in groups and 1-1 with their named therapist to identify and consider patterns of behaviour and gain the necessary awareness and tools to move forward. We pride ourselves on our highly qualified and experienced team of therapists who, together with our skilled house and support staff, provide a safe, supportive environment to enable recovery to begin.
Ark House Rehab Ltd is a fully residential abstinence based 12-Step Treatment Centre. Founded in 1993 with the basic premise of offering low cost fully residential treatment, using the most successful method of treating addiction to date (the 12-Step Model of Alcoholics Anonymous) in order to bring treatment to all, not just those that can afford it.
Set by the Solent in Portsmouth, Hampshire, ANA offers residential treatment for drug and alcohol addictions and associated disorders. We provide excellent, accredited, caring, tailored programmes for men and women who want a life free from addiction and we also work closely with families. We offer three stands of services; therapy, health & well-being & life skills.
Based at three residential centres in Devon, Wiltshire and Surrey, we offer a supported housing environment that’s a little bit different. Not just training and support to address specific personal issues but new experiences and opportunities that raise aspiration and challenge residents to take responsibility for their lives and move forward positively.
Young people who come to Amber are aged from 16 to 30 and share their home with a community of around 30 others. The average stay is 6 to 12 months but there is no fixed limit. We have clearly enforced rules and a tight structure to the week at Amber but it’s also a fun a caring place to be – a temporary home that offers the time, space, support and encouragement that young people so often need to turn their lives around.
In 2006 we launched ARC, a new kind of UK rehab for alcohol and drugs.
We find that each individual responds better to two or three treatment methods, but not everything works for everyone. So for our desired level of deep change to be possible for every single client, ARC’s unique rehab model uses several different core treatment methods.
We monitor which methods each individual client finds helpful and then refocus their treatment. It’s a tailored approach rather than one size fits all. Each of these treatment methods is based on an understanding of the science behind addiction.
A 17-bed Adult Residential Centre for men and women. Based on a person-centred approach, our experienced and dedicated team will develop a tailor-made programme to support the individual within a structured package of group programmes, 1:1, life skills and drama based therapeutic intervention (RAFT). Dogs welcome. Aftercare Provision. Move on flats available. CQC rating: Good.
Clouds House has provided detoxification and residential treatment for addiction since 1983. We treat all forms of addiction in our private and tranquil setting in the heart of Wiltshire. Our specialist GP, consultant psychiatrist and 24-hour nursing team ensure safe, medically-supervised withdrawal, while our interpersonal group therapy model, alignment with the 12-step fellowships and complementary therapies help clients address the underlying causes of addiction and build a secure life in recovery.
Our aftercare programme and family work ensure clients stay connected to their recovery. Owned and managed by Action on Addiction, our services are rated good by the CQC.
Acquiesce employs a combination treatment programme which incorporates both therapeutic and 12-step interventions. Acquiesce has found delivering a combination treatment programme extremely effective. The therapeutic and 12-step interventions complement each other and work well in combination.
Our innovative recovery services enable individuals and their families to break free from drug, alcohol and other addictions. At Acorn we support people throughout their recovery journey in a compassionate way, focussing on the long term solution, even beyond treatment.
At Acorn Recovery clients can live in our supported housing for a temporary time with full support for a move back into the community for independent living. We also run a thriving volunteer community with in-house training schemes also on offer.
Abbeycare provide comprehensive residential detox and rehabilitation treatment for alcohol or drug addiction. We advocate an abstinence-based model, supporting clients through alcohol or drug detox, rehab, and aftercare planning. Clients work with a personally assigned addiction case manager on a bespoke care plan and treatment goals.
Abbeycare’s rehabilitation programme combines the 12-step model with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, and structured relapse prevention planning, for the strongest possible start to recovery, and a life free from addiction.
This is a highly anticipated report that arrives at a critical time for the many thousands of people directly affected by substance use problems and the millions indirectly affected as a family member, friend or carer, says Phoenix Futures.
Substance use dependency and addiction is a complex health condition but with personalised care delivered in the right setting it is treatable and many of the associated harms can be avoided. However, left untreated in an underfunded and poorly connected health and social care system those harms can be life threatening. With drug-related deaths and harms at record levels it is vital we take this opportunity to realise the huge potential of investing in improving and saving lives.
The report has identified the fault lines in our treatment system and provided a whole system approach to fixing them. Dame Carol Black has given a robust business case for the changes, including additional funding, and set out a clear narrative for why we can’t get it wrong.
There is much to support in this report.
At Phoenix we have been campaigning for many years for improved access to, and funding for, the vital health and social care services for people with substance use problems. People who use, or have used drugs, despite our knowledge of the personal and social drivers of addiction, are some of the most marginalised and stigmatised people in society. Despite these efforts, and those of others, we have a long way to go to address this life-threatening inequality.
In particular the report highlights that high-cost low-volume services like residential treatment and inpatient detox have been starved of funding and should be commissioned on a regional basis. We support the recommendation that DHSC, NHSE and the Office for Health Promotion review commissioning and funding mechanisms by the end of 2021/22.
We believe this is a once in a generation opportunity to redress the inequality faced by people from all walks of life. In particular to focus on how we can all work together to create genuinely effective, inclusive, connected and caring services and support that lead to sustainable recovery.
Read the full blog 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
WDP has welcomed the publication of the second part of Dame Carol Black’s independent review on drugs.
As a third sector provider of recovery treatment and support services, we took part in the consultation and are supportive of the recommendations being outlined and feel there is a lot of potential for positive change.
We are grateful to see a strong recognition of the disinvestment in our sector over the past few years, as well as the recommendations for increased and protected funding. The acknowledgment of the complexity and challenging nature of recovery worker roles and the recommendations around workforce development and investment are also appreciated.
The recurring themes around the importance of holistic care, supporting individuals who use drugs with their health and wellbeing (mental and physical), housing needs, and opportunities for education, training and employment, are especially pleasing to see. It is also encouraging to read that the review includes input from and highlights the value of including people with lived experience in shaping the support available for those who need it.
As an additional next step, we would advocate for a similar independent review to look at alcohol or a formal recognition that many of the report’s findings around drug prevention, treatment and recovery issues also overlap with sector and public health concerns about alcohol use.
Read the full blog 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 WDP
A new drugs unit will be set up to help ‘end illegal drug-related illness and deaths’, the government has stated, following the publication of the second part of Professor Dame Carol Black’s Independent review of drugs.
The Joint Combating Drugs Unit will bring together multiple departments of state – the Department of Health and Social Care, Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions, Ministry of Justice, Department for Education, and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government – as recommended in the report, and in recognition that ‘treatment alone is not enough’.
‘When I first commissioned Dame Carol to do this review as home secretary, we knew the sale and use of drugs drives serious violence and homelessness but this review shows that the health implications are just as devastating,’ said health secretary Sajid Javid. ‘Tackling this issue requires strong collaboration across government and the new specialist Joint Combating Drugs Unit will help us to do just that.’
Among the reports other recommendations were appointing a single, responsible minister for drug policy to hold the government to account, introducing a national commissioning quality standard, ringfencing treatment funding and boosting treatment staff numbers, along with diverting more people from the criminal justice system into treatment and making sure everyone leaving prison has easy access to treatment. The government would look closely at the recommendations, and ‘publish an initial response shortly’, said Javid.
‘Drug treatment services save lives and help many people recover from drug dependence, improving not only their lives but those of their families, their communities and wider society,’ said PHE’s director of drugs, alcohol, tobacco and justice, Rosanna O’Connor. ‘We know treatment works and so it’s essential that everyone can easily get the treatment they need. We welcome Dame Carol Black’s recommendation for increased funding that is protected and prioritised for treatment and recovery services to ensure that everyone can get the support they need to move forward with their lives.’
The Calico Group is pleased to welcome Tom Woodcock in a new role as director of treatment and recovery.
Calico’s Treatment and Recovery services include Acorn Recovery Projects and Delphi Medical, both leaders in their field of providing drug and alcohol treatment and rehabilitation. Between them, Delphi and Acorn deliver community and residential treatment, prison and community services and supported accommodation across the North West.
The new role will oversee the collaboration and delivery of these services, maximising positive outcomes for individuals, their families, and wider communities.
Tom is a proven leader with extensive experience of working within substance misuse, homelessness, criminal justice and mental health having occupied key roles within the NHS, local authorities and voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations.
He brings to The Calico Group a track record of improving outcomes and delivering system level change for individuals and their families
Tom said: ‘I am really excited about joining The Calico Group and becoming part of an organisation that is making such a positive impact across so many communities in the North West.’
Welcoming Tom to the role, Helen Thompson, executive director of operations said: ‘I am delighted to be welcoming Tom to Calico. Supporting people going through difficult times is what Calico is about and we know the need for vital support services is only growing. Tom’s role will support our existing services and teams, meaning we can do more, for more people into the future.’
‘This role is a key investment, demonstrating the importance of these services as part of The Calico Group, and combines service strengths and specialisms within the group to further enhance the positive impact for its customers and service users.’
Find out more at www.calico.org.uk
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.
Mike Trace, The Forward Trust CEO, responds to the long-awaited review into drugs policy by Dame Carol Black.
The independent review commissioned by the government considered the effectiveness of the current treatment system.
It considered how steps introduced in the local commissioning environment have responded to growing complexity and scale of drug addiction in the UK. Conducted during the pandemic, the review considered how to improve an already pressured system and escalating drug deaths across, alongside reports of pandemic related increases in addiction rates.
Speaking on the review, Mike Trace, The Forward Trust CEO said:
“The Carol Black review is an important moment, not just for drug policy but for addiction treatment. For some time, the addiction treatment system in the UK has been struggling with the ‘perfect storm’ of rising demand and funding cuts. The opportunity to get help towards long-term recovery has become more and more scarce, inequitable, dependent on where you live and increasingly whether you can afford to pay for residential treatment or not.
“The current treatment system isn’t sustainable. Reducing budgets have resulted in diminishing and inconsistent access to treatment from one local area to another. It means that the experience of individuals, families and children struggling with an addiction is too often one of frustration and isolation when they most need help.
“Last week, we published a You Gov poll which indicates a continued rise of addiction following the pandemic. As we emerge from Covid and make decisions on future health priorities it is vital that addiction treatment, access to recovery, early intervention and support for families and children are firmly on the agenda so that we avoid a continued increase in avoidable deaths from this devastating illness.”
Read the full blog 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
Adfam, Collective Voice, English Substance Use Commissioners Group and NHS Addictions Provider Alliance look at how Dame Carol Black’s Review of the UK’s drug policies represents an opportunity to renew and reset the treatment and recovery system.
As organisations which see the impacts of drugs and alcohol on people, families and communities on a daily basis, we have come together to advocate collectively for change.
We welcome the scope and ambition of Dame Carol Black’s Review which represents the best chance to reset and renew our treatment and recovery system in over a decade. Dame Carol has engaged with our field with admirable rigour and heard the many challenges brought about by the profound disinvestment of recent years – as well as the passion, skill and tenacity used to support thousands of people every year into recovery.
It offers an evidence-based, person-centred response to drug and alcohol addiction, laying out the full array of challenges facing people with drug and alcohol problems. We commend the author’s wide focus on the inter-connected systems which support people with drug and alcohol problems. Efforts to address ‘addiction’ without work with partners in criminal justice, health, homelessness and mental and physical health fields are futile. The recommendation of increased funding for young people’s services is welcome, however we do believe there should be wider recognition of the harms to others, including children, drug and alcohol problems can bring. Families deserve recognition as a vital source of recovery capital but, equally, require support in their own right.
We wholly endorse the Review’s call for strong, sustained local and national political leadership. The proposed Drugs Unit should be created as soon as possible and used to bring together the six key departments of state with a crystal-clear structure of accountability and action. This must be mirrored at the local level through the health, justice and crime partnership mentioned.
Compassion and political leadership are essential ingredients – but so is funding. Our field has lost more than one pound in every four since 2013 with a proven association with falls in numbers entering and completing treatment. Real impact requires real investment – Dame Carol is right to make a call for major, sustained and protected investment over the next five years. With the right resource we can together support many more people (and their families) into recovery and help deliver the Government’s commitments to levelling up our poorest areas.
Vivienne Evans, chief executive, Adfam
Oliver Standing, director, Collective Voice
Chris Lee, chair, English Substance Use Commissioners Group
Danny Hames, chair, NHS Addictions Provider Alliance
Read the full blog 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 Adfam, Collective Voice, English Substance Use Commissioners Group, and NHS Addictions Provider Alliance
The government needs to invest an additional £552m in the drug treatment system over the next five years through the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), says the second part of Professor Dame Carol Black’s Independent review of drugs – one of more than 30 recommendations in the long-awaited document.
An additional £15m in employment support through the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is also urgently needed, it says, along with extra funding for housing support through the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
Drug dependency issues need to be recognised as ‘a chronic health condition’ like diabetes or hypertension, with the necessary long-term follow-up, it states. While discharge after short-term treatment is currently used as a measure of success this should be stopped as it ignores the fundamental relapsing nature of the condition. Meanwhile, physical, sexual or psychological trauma and mental ill-health need to be fully recognised as ‘the drivers and accompaniment’ of drug issues and classed as co-morbidities rather than separate problems for dual diagnosis, with more done to make sure people don’t ‘fall through the cracks’.
The report into the first part of the review was published eighteen months ago and looked at drug supply and markets (DDN, March 2020, page 4), with the second part focusing on treatment, recovery and prevention. The public provision for these is ‘not fit for purpose, and urgently needs repair,’ says the new document, with the government now facing ‘an unavoidable choice: invest in tackling the problem or keep paying for the consequences.’
A whole-system approach is needed with coordinated action by multiple departments, it stresses, with Dame Black telling a recent Westminster Social Policy Forum event that the government’s response to drug dependency was uncoordinated and ‘not owned by any one department of state’ (DDN, July/August, page 8). The government needs to establish a ‘national drugs unit’, says the report, which would then develop a national outcomes strategy to hold departments to account. DHSC needs to ensure that local authorities spend treatment funding ‘on these services and not on other things’, and introduce a national commissioning quality standard that requires local authorities – as a condition of their funding – to work together with health, housing, employment and criminal justice partners to develop joint needs assessments and publish commissioning plans.
Although departments would obviously have competing priorities they needed to work together to improve treatment, employment, housing support and the way that ‘people with addictions are treated in the criminal justice system’, Dame Black states, with increased funding insufficient on its own. ‘Greater co-ordination and accountability at national level must also flow through to the local level, where responsibility sits for the delivery of drug treatment and wider recovery outcomes.’
Capacity in the system also needs to be ‘significantly’ rebuilt, it says, including ‘recruiting many more professionally qualified staff and trained support workers’, with a recommissioning of depleted inpatient detox and residential rehab services to ensure national coverage. More investment in interventions to help reduce demand was also needed, it adds, while other recommendations include that DWP recruit peer mentors in every Jobcentre Plus area to encourage people with drug issues to access employment support and equip its staff to do more outreach work in the community.
Although the report is calling for significant investment ‘the payoff is handsome’, it says, with £4 saved for every £1 spent ‘from reduced demands on health, prison, law enforcement and emergency services’.
Launching the report on 8 July Dame Black announced to the sector and partners, ‘I hope you feel it’s your review.’ Engaging many stakeholders, including people with a very wide range of lived experience, Dame Black and her team had ‘examined treatment and recovery in detail and found it to be broken and wanting’. Funding had decreased against ‘a backdrop of increasing harm and widening inequalities’, resulting in ‘a great deal of unmet need’.
The conclusion was that ‘whole system change underpinned by additional investment’ would be the only effective option, and this involved strong government leadership supported by effective local partnerships, ‘together with clear accountability’.
‘We can’t do this without investment,’ she emphasised, beginning with £552m invested in treatment over the next five years. ‘It seems a lot but it only takes us back to the levels of 2012.’
Minister for crime and policing Kit Malthouse welcomed the ‘insightful’ report that was ‘filled with evidence and the product of a lot of collaboration’, which included input from recovery champion Dr Ed Day, Prof Keith Humphries, and people with lived experience. ‘It is our moral duty as a government to do something about drug-related deaths,’ he said, and called the Central Drugs Unit a ‘coherent and strategic’ way of linking health, housing and employment with crime prevention. Part one of Dame Black’s report had ‘laid out in horrific detail’ the scale of the drug problem and the prime minister was receptive to the proposed solutions in part two, he said, which would include expanding successful initiatives to dismantle county lines and supply chains and continue partnerships between health, police and social care, such as Project Adder.
Jo Churchill, minister for public health and primary care thanked Dame Black for her ‘commitment to public health’ and said the report championed evidence-led policy and the importance of empathy. The proposed budget, the largest increase in the last 15 years, signified a moment of change, but was necessary because ‘drugs wreck lives’ – of families and everyone around, as well as the person with an addiction.
She welcomed the joined-up approach as ‘addiction doesn’t exist in isolation’ and related to past traumas and complex morbidities. Many people with addiction problems didn’t make it past 40, so ‘intervention needs to be smart and it needs to be early,’ she said. ‘If COVID has taught us anything, it’s that we don’t have to do things the same way,’ she added. ‘The review presents us with an opportunity for action.’
‘Dame Carol is right that we need urgent change,’ said Change Grow Live chief executive Mark Moody. ‘The current situation is intolerable and the people who use our services, the communities they live in, and ultimately the whole country pay the price.’ The government needed to come forward with a new strategy, he said, including new measures of success as recovery was ‘much more than total abstinence’, and it also needed to ‘get commissioning right. We want to see an end to fragmentation of services and short-termism. All the organisations involved must come together to put stable local services in place where they are needed.’
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The review represented ‘a potentially defining moment in the course of drug treatment in the UK’, added With You’s executive director for services Jon Murray. ‘At a time when drug-related deaths have reached record levels, its recommendations provide a clear way forward for getting more people the help and support they need, whilst reducing the harm of drugs in our communities. The focus on trauma-informed service delivery is crucial and we are pleased to see recognition of the interconnected nature of problematic drug use and mental health issues.’
While the document could ‘signal a long overdue turning point’ it needed the government to commit to ‘major financial and political investment and a truly collaborative approach to delivery, drawing on the strengths of a wide range of partners’ he added.
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The treatment system had long been struggling with the ‘perfect storm’ of rising demand and funding cuts, said Forward Trust CEO Mike Trace. ‘Reducing budgets have resulted in diminishing and inconsistent access to treatment from one local area to another. It means that the experience of individuals, families and children struggling with addiction is too often one of frustration and isolation when they most need help. As we emerge from COVID and make decisions on future health priorities it is vital that addiction treatment, access to recovery, early intervention and support for families and children are firmly on the agenda so that we avoid a continued increase in avoidable deaths from this devastating illness.’
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‘There is much to support in this report,’ said Phoenix Futures chief executive, Karen Biggs. ‘We believe this is a once in a generation opportunity to redress the inequality faced by people from all walks of life. In particular to focus on how we can all work together to create genuinely effective, inclusive, connected and caring services and support that lead to sustainable recovery.
‘The report highlights the need for reform and repair of the system can only be solved through coordinated action by multiple departments including the Home Office (HO), Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
‘It will take improved coordination between national and local government departments, the NHS and voluntary sector and many others, including the media and business worlds, to realise this opportunity. This is an opportunity not just for inclusive, effective services but to realise the potential of an inclusive society that works for everyone.’
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We welcome the scope and ambition of Dame Carol Black’s Review which represents the best chance to reset and renew our treatment and recovery system in over a decade. Dame Carol has engaged with our field with admirable rigour and heard the many challenges brought about by the profound disinvestment of recent years – as well as the passion, skill and tenacity used to support thousands of people every year into recovery.
The time for political action is now. Following years of disinvestment and a lack of political leadership, we are now experiencing a drug death crisis. We implore the new Health Secretary to urgently respond to the report’s recommendations – to reduce the harms caused by drug use, stem the flow of deaths, and enable thousands more citizens – and their families – to recover.
As a sector, we stand ready to work together with government and wider partners – both local and national – to make the most of this vital opportunity. The hundreds of thousands of people touched by addiction in this country are counting on us all to get this right.
Vivienne Evans, CEO Adfam
Oliver Standing, Director Collective Voice
Chris Lee, Chair English Substance Use Commissioners Group
Danny Hames, Chair NHS Addictions Provider Alliance
Read the full joint statement here
Review of drugs part two: prevention, treatment and recovery at www.gov.uk
Dr David Bremner, consultant addictions psychiatrist and medical director at Turning Point, explains why the NHS and the third sector both must play a part in providing safe, effective substance misuse services.
Recent articles in the Health Service Journal and the Guardian expressed concerns about the quality of drug and alcohol treatment in this country, calling for a greater role for the NHS in the commissioning and delivery of services.
Today, the third sector (primarily large, national, specialist organisations run on a not-for-profit basis) deliver the majority (approximately two thirds) of drug and alcohol services with the remainder delivered by the NHS. Services are commissioned by local authority public health teams.
Between 2001 and 2008, investment in drug treatment rose from £250 million a year to £750 million a year. During this period, many local services transferred from the NHS across to the third sector. Numbers in treatment increased from 80,000 to 230,000 and waiting times reduced from nine weeks to five days.
There were steady improvements in treatment quality with reduced early dropout, increasing successful completions and a dramatic reduction in drug related crime. Ready access to treatment is responsible for a third of the overall reduction in crime this century according to Home Office research.
Substance misuse services delivered by the third sector are clinically robust and, importantly, are judged on the very same quality standards as NHS services with regulation from the Care Quality Commission (CQC). At Turning Point, 93% of our services are rated Good or Outstanding by the CQC.
More than this though, third sector providers are strongly rooted in their local communities. They see the person not just the problem and work collaboratively with partner agencies – including NHS Trusts – to help people access support on a range of issues, whether that be education, employment or training, benefits, housing or mental health, all crucial ingredients in a person’s recovery from addiction.
The HSJ and Guardian articles argued that the unit cost of inpatient detox and residential rehab services has increased. This may be the case, although there is no nationally published information on the costs of residential treatment and the authors acknowledge the data they have gathered is potentially unreliable. We currently have a mixed market with a range of different providers providing different types of treatment.
It is certainly the case that the NHS is best placed to provide hospital based detox for patients with complex needs. However, the third sector provide high-quality, medically-managed detoxes at a lower cost for lower risk patients with lots of options to choose from. We need to ensure we deliver the right intervention for each individual while balancing cost and service user choice.
Both pieces correctly highlight the fact that there is a public health crisis at play here. The number of drug related deaths increased by 52% over the past 10 years. The Institute for Government concluded that “a decade of budget pressures meant that public services entered the [COVID] crisis with ailing performance levels, severe staffing pressures and having underinvested in buildings and equipment.”
This is certainly the case for the substance misuse sector, which has been underfunded for many years. Nationally, funding reduced by 24% between 2014 and 2019. Inflation over this period was 13%, which means that the effective real term cut to drug and alcohol service budgets over this time period has actually been 37%. This public health crisis is the making of a decade of cuts, not the shift to local authority commissioning.
Read the full blog 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
Army veteran Michael discusses his journey into addiction, and how Change Grow Live’s veterans service offered him support when he needed it most.
My story starts with a patrol in Afghanistan and an explosion. the roadside bomb exploded under my vehicle which killed my friend who was driving and caused me to be medically evacuated to my barracks in Germany.
The next few months meant numerous operations and rehabilitation whilst also struggling to make sense of what had happened. Each month I was given more pain relief, which helped not only with the pain but how I felt. I began to drink more and more alcohol to increase the feelings of being able to switch off and not think or care about anything.
Unfortunately, this meant I ended up having a few problems on barracks and this led to my administrative discharged from the British Army. To become a fully qualified senior non-commissioned officer within the British Army required years of training and numerous tours on operational duty. The transition to becoming a civilian took me the one drive from my barrack in Germany to my mum’s house in the UK; roughly 11 hours.
Within the first month of being a civilian, my drinking increased, and the amount of prescription pain relief medications began to reduce. Registration with a civilian GP failed to get me a new prescription for the codeine, apomorph, pregabalin, and gabapentin I had become used to it. This started to unravel.
Following an argument, I had to leave my mum’s house and I ended up sleeping in my car. I started buying the medications off the street. For 17 years the Army had clothed, fed, and watered me, now at 34 years old I was sleeping in my car in an abandoned mill and popping prescription medications like they were Smarties. I was socially isolated and could not see how to help myself.
Over time I struck up a relationship with my dealers; eventually, they offered me a chance to stay in a bedsit. In less than three months I had been introduced to heroin and crack and I ended up selling my car to continue to pay for my new habit. My money ran out and once again I was homeless, this time without a car to sleep in and with an appetite for heroin.
I remember sleeping in one of the back rooms of that mill during winter. Freezing cold nights followed by my new daily routine, stealing from local shops on a morning to score and use in the afternoon before waking up and doing it again. I lost my self-respect, pride, and hope for the future, and the endless grind made the thought of suicide an easier option than continuing to live. I began planning how to end it all.
Luckily, my stealing had not gone unnoticed in the village and the village rumours got back to my family. one day my mum turned up at the mill and took me to my local service and booked me in with the local housing authority. This is when things began to change for the better. Being a veteran, I was provided emergency hostel accommodation and provided a methadone prescription which provided much-needed stability and a break away from the madness.
During an appointment, I was given a leaflet about Change Grow Live’s March veterans service. This service was the turning point in my life.
Read the full blog 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
Mental health and substance use treatments can complement each other in vital ways, says Peter Lindsayhall.
I am a dual-qualified mental health nurse and psychotherapist, and I’ve worked across NHS Scotland, NHS England and the private sector. My focus has been on primary care mental health providing broad access care for all, and my practice comes from a modern cognitive-behavioural approach recognising relational, attachment and systemic factors as well as intrapsychic processes.
In his 2004 article The origins of addiction, Vincent Felitti focused on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and the link with substance use. The results were as predictable as they are tragically painful – Felitti concluded that ‘…the basic cause of addiction is predominantly experience-dependent during childhood, and not substance-dependent’. In other words, what has happened to people in their life has a greater predictive power on the development of addiction than the psychoactive properties of the drugs themselves.
Further research highlights the links between addiction, mental health and ACEs. Traumatic effects disrupt our ability to regulate our emotions, feel safe, connect with others and understand ourselves. Whilst we are learning and developing through our lives, disruption has significant ripple effects. When all of this is coupled with Giano et al’s 2020 study showing that 57.8 per cent of people have at least one ACE, and 21.5 per cent have at least three, we can see that ACEs are not uncommon – but have powerful effects across social, emotional and physical health.
Interestingly, the research of neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp showed that infant bonding and intimacy triggered the opioid receptors in the brain – leading to further connections being identified between opiate addiction and deficits in experiencing close, nurturing and fulfilling relationships throughout our lives, particularly in early childhood. So, the need is clear – people who experience addictions are very likely to have experienced trauma, anxiety and depression, had difficulty with emotional regulation and struggled with interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships.
This means services that guide and support people in resolving their substance dependency are ideally suited to, and enhanced by, evidence-based mental health treatments and interventions to establish understanding, skills and alleviation of psychological and emotional suffering. The mental health strategy being implemented at Phoenix Futures is progressive, compassionate and exciting, and the organisation exudes a sense of care and responsibility to provide holistic support to everyone who is part of delivering or receiving help.
The work to further enhance the mental health support available begins by focussing on residentials, and the plan is to then roll out initiatives across all services provided by Phoenix. The Scottish Residential service provides treatment that is already adept at supporting the multifactorial nature of the people they work with, and the staff, peers, programme and environment combine to provide a safe space to understand the experiences of the residents and utilise their own sense of self-efficacy. The house has also been designed to be accessible for those with additional mobility support needs.
We plan to ensure that the core therapeutic community treatment processes remain strong, and are aided by the mental health treatments. Where additional support may be needed for a particular individual, we can respond proactively. For example, a resident may present with issues around emotion regulation – the ability to respond adaptively to our feelings, urges and beliefs about what is going on in a way that is productive. Difficulties in emotion regulation cut across trauma, mental health and substance use. People may feel powerless, overwhelmed or confused by the emotions they experience. Offering one-to-one interventions will help them to understand their emotions, develop the ability to be aware, curious and separate from their urges, choose their responses before, during and after powerful emotions, and cultivate acceptance and learning from each experience.
This should improve outcomes across all areas of the person’s life, and provide a feedback improvement loop within the therapeutic community. It’s an exciting time for mental health within Phoenix Futures, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to be a part of it.
My role as clinical mental health lead is a new and developing one.
Just as the physical environment is designed to ensure mobility is no barrier to treatment, my position seeks to ensure that psychological and emotional problems are also not a barrier to the curative effects of the therapeutic community.
The role has three main areas of focus:
The Forward Trust’s CEO Mike Trace comments on the charity’s new poll showing the rise in addictive behaviour during the pandemic, and the steps Forward is taking to address it.
In June 2020, Action on Addiction published its first poll results which explored the impact the pandemic was having on addictive behaviours. It was a first of many polls that exposed creeping consumption of alcohol during lockdowns.
Following the merger of Action on Addiction with The Forward Trust in May 2021, we want to understand whether the effects of the second and third lockdowns continued to have a worrying impact on rates of alcohol/drug use and related problems.
A year on, we have repeated the survey of over 2,000 people with YouGov. Taken from a broad and representative sample of the adult population, the results have highlighted compelling and concerning patterns that require urgent investigation and response from across the sector, and wider healthcare professions, in policy and spending decisions.
The results are not a surprise to many working in the addiction field. We know addiction feeds off isolation, a sense of hopelessness and disconnection. The pandemic in many ways is a perfect breeding ground for it. What starts with increasing consumption – reaching out for something familiar – is, for an increasing number of people, moving into a habit that they cannot control. And for many people, this creeps into an addiction will take them by surprise.
This path to addiction doesn’t happen overnight. Dependency and its consequences emerge gradually, until the substance or behaviour become the most important part of someone’s life.
Before work, sleep, health, friendships, relationships and children. The perception of an addiction is in many minds of the park bench, the crack den, the needles in an alley – isolated and away from normal life. It’s true those lives do exist – however, the vast majority of people living with addictions are living their lives among us; some noticeably, others hidden and unnoticed.
Whatever a person’s reality, a slide into addiction can be gradual and unexpected rather than a deliberate choice. From the 20-something saying, ‘it won’t happen to me’, to the retired couple drinking heavily every night – or, as Bryony Gordon told us in the recent In Conversation with Clouds House: ‘I run marathons; I do Pilates; I can’t be an alcoholic’. What’s more, our survey highlights that this unexpected nature of addiction will be playing out now, at scale, in homes, families, workplaces, Zoom calls, school gates across all our lives at an increasing level.
Read the full blog 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
It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has presented challenges for patients living with addictive behaviours. There has been widespread coverage of escalating rates of alcohol and substance misuse alongside ‘behavioural addictions’ such as gambling and shopping, but the lesser-reported sex and love addiction, cybersex or problematic online pornography usage has also seen an explosion in numbers globally.
Recent media reports indicate that half of UK adults watch porn. According to Ofcom’s 2021 Online nation document, Pornhub was accessed by 15m people in September 2020 while OnlyFans saw a 75 per cent increase in new subscribers from May 2020. The pandemic has led to people becoming more introspective about their sexual behaviours, and for some this shift will develop into pathological addictive-type sexual behaviours. The problematic consumption model of online pornography benefits from the ‘triple A’ factor – anonymous, accessible and affordable.
Addiction/Compulsion?
Love and porn addiction isn’t recognised as a mental health condition by the recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Instead, sex addiction, masturbation addiction, and porn addiction are usually referred to as compulsive sexual behaviour, hyper sexuality disorder or out of control sexual behaviour. Sex addiction can also be characterised by multiple sexual partners or interaction with sex workers, while love addiction behaviours can include returning to damaging relationships or craving attention from new or multiple relationships.
Clouds House, our residential addictions rehab, has seen an increase in enquiries for sex, love and pornography treatment. A year of lockdowns has created conditions whereby people who are feeling isolated turn to sex and porn as a method of coping, just as it has for other addictions. In addition, the fact that sex, sex and love, and porn addiction are becoming more recognised within society as a set of behaviours which culminate in destructive consequences has meant that men – and, slowly, more women – are starting to reach out for help.
Increasing numbers
Over the past five years, Clouds House has experienced an increase in people accessing treatment for sex and love or porn addiction as their primary addiction. Historically it’s emerged within the context of other addictions. Access to porn anytime, anywhere is problematic and a significant challenge – those with an addiction to pornography will access porn content in a continued quest to alter moods by searching for newer, more stimulating and sometimes violent/coercive content, and with an escalating habit their tolerance and choice of more extreme pornography increases.
This a manifestation of someone’s journey to dependency, and measurement of the true scale of the problem is challenging given the associated stigma. The shame surrounding this addiction is considerable, with significant impact on family and relationships as this dominant relationship with the online pornography behaviour takes increased salience and control.
Recovery from addiction to sex, sex and love, and pornography is possible and the community aspect of therapy is a vital part of treatment, examining how emotional experiences of addiction can often be similar regardless of how the addiction manifests. Treatment for sex/love and porn addictions is as challenging for individuals as treatment for any other addiction, and our clinical team engage patients throughout the pre-admission process. Compulsive sexual behaviours can be comorbid with mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety and bipolar affective disorder, and a robust psychiatric assessment assesses for the presence of such comorbidities in this patient group.
Abstinence from sexual behaviours during treatment impacts positively on treatment outcomes. We ask all those joining the treatment community to abstain from all sexualised behaviour including masturbation. The withdrawal experience can be similar to those more commonly recognised with substances – it can be intense and visceral. People do not always anticipate going into withdrawal and therefore need emotional support to understand what they are experiencing. It’s common for patients to experience disorientation, headaches, low mood, anxiety, irritability or depression.
Long-Term Recovery
Long-term recovery from sex and love addiction or porn addiction is different from substances or gambling. Sex is a human need the same as eating or sleeping, so abstinence from sex is more complex. A person needs to identify a sense of positive sexuality and be able to move forward with positive relationships, and preparing patients for different types of relationships is key to successful outcomes. Therapists look to realign behavioural reinforcers with meaningful ‘reality-based’ relationships and not the ‘online’ cybersex virtual reality.
For instance, those addicted to pornography are engaging in ‘fantasy’ rather than the reality of physical and emotional intimacy and therefore it is vital to help patients understand how sex might feel different, perhaps even disappointing, within the context of their real-life relationships. Clients can find themselves trying to substitute care, support and nurture for emotional or sexual dependence with sometimes devastating consequences – these might include engaging in physically or emotionally abusive and harmful relationships devoid of emotional intimacy.
It’s also important to consider that there may be cultural and diversity issues revealed during the therapeutic assessment, for example the subculture of ‘chemsex’ in gay communities. A social norm gives the person a sense of belonging to such a community despite the potential risks, harms and consequences. If there are chemicals involved there can be additional important questions to ask, such as what is the client’s relationship with the substances and/or the sexual behaviours? Understanding from a wider perspective than that which fits with binaries of heteronormative culture is important, and what is normal for one person, might not be for another.
Barriers to Women
There is a tendency for more men to seek treatment than women, and more needs to be done to understand the barriers to seeking treatment by women and to find better ways to support women to open up more about sex, love and pornography addictions. As conversations emerge during treatment, therapists find more women open up to their peers about their experiences.
Asking for help with a sex, sex and love, or porn addiction requires a huge amount of courage, and those who make contact with services should be treated with care and respect. Families are often deeply traumatised by their loved ones’ behaviour and it’s important that family support is given throughout the treatment period and beyond where necessary. Mutual support is vital, sustaining recovery through fellowship meetings such as Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous and Sex Addicts Anonymous, in the same way as with attendance at AA or NA.
This type of behavioural addiction is largely unspoken and misunderstood across health and social care. It needs to be recognised and understood more broadly to improve treatment and enable people to reach out for support. Recognising it can go some way to validating the experiences of those engaging in these behaviours and instil some hope that change is possible.
The sector spent many years trying to get gambling addiction properly recognised in the DSMV to legitimise treatment and lower barriers to accessing support. It is now time for sex, love and porn addiction to also be categorised as a behavioural addiction.
Clouds House and Action on Addiction are part of The Forward Trust. Find out more at www.forwardtrust.org.uk or www.actiononaddiction.org.uk/addiction-treatment/clouds-house
Pamela Walters is clinical director at Clouds House
We need to be sensitive to factors for wellbeing
We’re living with uncertainty – will things return to some sort of normality? When will the long-awaited Dame Carol Black report be published (p4, p8, p10)? One thing we can rely on is that issues relating to addiction are complex. Furthermore, we know that a public health approach demands that we work with and try to understand the many influences on our behaviour.
Substances, gambling, sex – they’re all part of life, so if we’re to strive for holistic treatment we need to look at the whole picture.
As our cover story says (page 6), this type of behavioural addiction is largely unspoken and misunderstood across health and social care at a time when the pandemic has ‘added to escalation of introspective behaviours’. Dame Black is calling for wholesale system change right across the sector, which could affect all of us. To throw ourselves into grasping this opportunity for change with the energy that Collective Voice suggests (page 10) we need to be sensitive to all contributory factors to an imbalance in wellbeing, from early trauma to ways of coping with the pandemic. Acknowledging the blurred lines between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ behaviour is a vital component.
Read the July/August issue as an online magazine or download the PDF
Claire Brown, editor
Our next print issue is out on 6 September but we’re here all summer online for news and views, so stay in touch!
