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DDNoct11
[…] Drug and Alcohol Treatment System for adults in Norfolk, which will increase the number of people able to achieve sustained recovery from dependence by providing individual support and treatment packages of care. The system will be an open access, county-wide system with a single assessment and co-ordination system. Core delivery components will include: low intensity intervention and outreach services; structured treatment services including psychosocial interventions in Norfolk Prisons; volunteering and peer mentoring systems; harm reduction interventions and primary and secondary health care liaison services. Applicants should view the contract notice published in the Official Journal, reference (290b01-2011), athttpb//ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TEDbNOTICEb290801- 2011bTEXTbENbHTML www.drinkanddrugsnews.com www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
Prison perspectives
[…] decade at the frontline of prison substance misuse services. ‘I feel compelled to share what I feel is a poor level of care offered to clients in prisons.’ Last year I resigned from my position as a service manager due to burnout, having spent the last two years fighting to offer the best level […]
Local news from the substance misuse field
[…] It is a global qualification which is undertaken in a range of settings, including schools, housing associations, youth justice centres, and most recently premier football clubs and prisons. EDP is now looking to deliver the SEQ in other prisons in Dorset and Devon, and staff are also being trained to deliver the qualification to […]
Safe Ground joins Social Interest Group
[…] said Gill Arukpe, CEO, Social Interest Group. ‘Safe Ground brings a long history of pioneering design and delivery of effective group work programmes, which they deliver in prisons across the UK. These programmes benefit and impact by reducing re-offending. They make a difference to those who attend the programmes from within the criminal justice […]
Phoenix Futures takes a closer look at interventions for women
[…] at an early age and has matured with me. The majority of my career has been working and managing our Phoenix Futures Substance Misuse Service provisions in prisons, specialising in the treatment model ‘Therapeutic Community’. My experience of prisons is that they have the potential to be great places for reform, rehabilitation, and ideal […]
Tracey McMahon is a Delphi nurse
Tracey McMahon is a Delphi nurse who has developed her interest in mental health by working in a prison environment. Read Tracey’s story in DDN Magazine As a child travelling on the train with my mum, we would go past a large mental health hospital. In the ’80s this was referred to as an asylum […]
Lockdown Lifeline
Kerrie Clifford and Alyssa Hornbuckle describe how letters from members of AA got prisoners at HMP The Verne through lockdown.
DDN April 2013
Toxic trap Giving women support over punishment. ‘A vicious cycle of victimisation and criminal activity develops, creating a toxic lifestyle that is extremely difficult to escape.’ This comment from the 2007 Corston review of vulnerable women in the criminal justice system demonstrates why prison is not always the answer and can often compound problems to […]
Local authorities failing to provide sufficient naloxone
The amounts of naloxone being provided by local councils and prisons are ‘extremely limited’, warns a new report from Release. While all but three of the 152 local authorities who responded to Freedom of Information requests now supply the overdose-reversing medication – up from 90 per cent a year ago (DDN, February 2018, page […]
Becoming visible: homelessness
Homelessness may be a complex issue but we know how to make a difference, heard delegates at a conference that brought together academics and experts by experience. DDN reports. Read the full article in DDN Magazine ‘Outreach workers would try and contact me, but I couldn’t hear, they couldn’t get through. I was fretful and […]
DDN May 2018
‘It’s a mismatch between prison and complex needs’ We need a new dialogue and thinking, says police and crime commissioner David Jamieson, talking about his recommendations to divert people away from the courts and into treatment (page 8). ‘Criminalisation of drugs will be looked back on with as much disgust as criminalisation of homosexuality,’ adds […]
January issue 2012
Treatment first – why prison should always be the last resort The difficulties of accessing appropriate treatment are acknowledged in NOMS’ recent review of Drug Rehabilitation Requirements (DRRs), as Ros Weetman discusses on page 12. Over the page, Kelly Overton and Frankie Owens illustrate the need for the right treatment at the right time – Kelly […]
Band 6 Substance Misuse Nurse
Are you looking for a challenging, creative, rewarding and fast paced work environment? Do you want the opportunity to be part of a nurse-led service utilising all of your clinical and interpersonal skills? If yes then Prison Nursing is for you. The team You would be working as part of a wellbeing & recovery team […]
Media savvy
[…] not meant to be somewhere anyone would ever want to go back to. But the language being used by some pressure groups and commentators to talk about prisons bears little relation to reality. Chris Grayling, Guardian, 18 September It is too easy for GPs to write a script for a benzodiazepine when confronted by […]
Project Worker
[…] on services. This is an opportunity to get involved with a new and exciting lived experience initiative. The role will involve delivering group and supporting men leaving prisons to improve their recovery within the community. The ideal candidate will be able to draw upon their own personal experience of the criminal justice system and […]
From small acorns
Acorn Recovery Projects has been helping people break free from drug, alcohol, and other addictions since 1997. Over the last three decades, it has utilised the power of lived experience to help people across Greater Manchester and Lancashire work towards lifelong recovery. As a pioneering LERO, Acorn has a variety of housing options available to […]
On track
[…] impact. The drug and alcohol recovery service (DARS) team at HMP Manchester in collaboration with the safer custody department and Jennifer Clark, who specialises in neurodiversity within prisons, created two self-tracking tools for residents. The first of the trackers considers a weekly cycle of reflection. It has three scaled questions, scored from 0 to […]
Simple Solutions
Naloxone is safe and easy to use. So let’s get lots more people trained up and carrying it, says Deb Hussey. Part of my role as Turning Point’s safer lives lead is expanding naloxone provision, and as an organisation we’re committed to ensuring that naloxone is available to anyone who may need to use it. […]
The Key to Success
People find work in the drugs sector through a variety of routes and for a range of different reasons. DDN is partnering with Addiction Professionals to explore the pathways into the field, and how to progress once you’re there. As everyone knows, working in the sector has its challenges – as has especially been the […]
Forward’s Employment Services Directorate celebrates another successful year
[…] Directorate had a successful year in 2021/22, supporting even more people in prison and in the community. In 2021-22 we’re proud to have helped: 4,290 learners in prisons with information, advice and guidance support 885 learners and unemployed participants in the community 338 individuals in the community to progress into jobs, apprenticeships, and self-employment. […]
DDN1806
[…] present ban, which restricts smokers from adopting children under two. Daily Telegraph, 14 June New powers given to police will see mandatory drug testing carried out in prisons across Edinburgh. Introduced by the Scottish Executive, the powers will enable police to carry out saliva tests on prisoners for heroin and cocaine. The results will […]
DDN19oct09
[…] response, and the ver y fact that it was from people from all over the country was self- explanator y – we had the NHS, detox units, prisons, all sor ts,’ he says. It goes without saying that disclosure is difficult. According to the NSPCC, 16 per cent of children aged under 16 experience […]
Scots widen availability of naloxone
[…] alternative to methadone or buprenorphine tablets which is administered by a seven or 28-day injectable dose, rather than daily administration. By making this available to people in prisons, we will support continuity of care, while reducing the need for daily contact and reducing pressure on our frontline prison officers and NHS staff. ‘I welcome […]
The Heart of the Matter
Can we meet six basic challenges to repair a fragmented treatment system, asks Paul Hayes. Brexit continues to dominate mainstream debate. But far more important to most people, particularly the poor, the marginalised, and the ‘left behind’ is the cumulative impact of years of austerity and the continuing failure of the economy to grow. The […]
Responses to the new drug strategy
A new drug strategy was released by the Home Office on 14 July – here are some responses and we will add more as they come in. To add yours, please email the editor. Concerned at lack of focus on harm reduction The English Harm Reduction Group are a coalition of organisations including the National […]
On borrowed time
The delayed drug strategy – and lack of plan for an alcohol strategy – is pulling the lifeline from a sector in crisis, hears DDN The new drug strategy is in limbo. Delayed for months without explanation, the questions are mounting against a backdrop of the highest number of drug-related deaths ever recorded. In the […]
Remembering Darren Walters
[…] a new life. Through his work with the charity, Darren came into contact with the NHS where he was able to advise on the way healthcare in prisons should be delivered. NHS England’s health justice commissioning manager for the North (North West), Simon Smith, said: ‘Darren has first-hand experience of the delivery of prison […]
Choose life – Recovery Month and Overdose Awareness
The stakes have never been higher. This year’s Recovery Month and Overdose Awareness Day activities brought service users and recovery communities together with one clear goal ‘Get political’: The Recovery Walk During the last 12 months we have seen unprecedented levels of disinvestment in treatment and recovery support services and the highest levels of drug-related […]
National news from the substance misuse field
[…] said CQC’s deputy chief inspector of hospitals Dr Paul Lelliott. Download the handbook at www.cqc.org.uk Prison problem New psychoactive substances are a source of ‘increasing concern’ in prisons, according to a report from the prisons and probation ombudsman, with links to suicide, self-harm, violence, intimidation and debt. The document looks at 19 deaths in […]
Drugs counselling in prisons
First person Rev Peter Lolley trained as a drugs counsellor with the prison service. As he nears his retirement he shares his experience as a works chaplain The steel industry is a very challenging place, and until my retirement on 31 March, I worked as works chaplain at the Tata Steel works in Port Talbot, […]
Opening doors
Drug treatment within custody needs an overhaul, says Alan Rushmore Drug treatment in prison lacks consistency and is over-burdened and over-complicated by assessment. It need not be so. Many clients will simply require an assessment of need and possibly a brief intervention. Others may benefit from coursework and/or individual support to confront their offending behaviour. […]
More work needed to increase availability of naloxone, says ACMD
More needs to be done to increase the availability and use of naloxone, according to a report from ACMD. Community pharmacies should be able to deliver take-home naloxone as well as interventions in managing opioid overdose, says the document, while data quality also needs to be improved to allow commissioners to properly monitor how the […]
DDN April 2022
Our challenge in turning experience into expertise Time and again we hear of people failing to cope with the transition from prison to the community and heading back through the revolving door. Why? Because they haven’t been equipped, physically or mentally, for their onward journey. The Departure Lounge (p6) is a coordinated approach in action, […]
WDP & Shannon Trust team up to help service users to read
WDP and literacy charity Shannon Trust have teamed up to help address low literacy rates in community substance misuse support services. Shannon Trust works in prisons across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland to enable prisoners to read using its Turning Pages programme, a unique phonics-led approach to learning. Through one-to-one mentoring, prisoners who can […]
30th November issue
Recovering hope How a caring regime can offer real freedom. The recent debates on recovery have subjected this simple word to a maelstrom of different organisations’ agendas. But if you’re in prison it means pretty much one thing – swapping a one-dimensional lifestyle focused on drugs for a chance to take part in ‘real’ life again. This […]
PHE launches online NPS monitoring tool
[…] Public Health England (PHE) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The pilot scheme will also share treatment best practice between drug services, A&E departments, prisons, sexual health clinics, GP surgeries and other settings. All front-line health staff will be able to access the Report Illicit Drug Reaction (RIDR) system to anonymously […]
Service Manager
[…] clinical services, and a wider range of group work and treatment programmes. We believe that everyone can live a fulfilling life, whatever their past. Our work in prisons aims to support those affected by drug or alcohol issues to create lasting change and reduce dependency, homelessness, unemployment and re-offending.” The Forward Trust Substance Misuse […]
Rachel Fantarrow – I am a…
[…] inside of a prison even looked like. I was successful in that role and joined as a senior pharmacy technician. I learned so much working across various prisons, and after I left I saw an advert for a medicine management technician in a drug and alcohol service. After speaking to the lead pharmacist, I […]
Staff awards light up Forward’s winter season
[…] of Leah Roberts, Daniel George, Daisy Halll, Charlote Bleackley, Anahita Razavi, and Sharon Hill have gone ‘above and beyond’ in their flexible working to support the Surrey prisons programmes and case management. In particular, the Bridge programme at Highdown where the team liaised with safer custody and violence reduction teams to implement a plan […]
DDN Conference 2023 session three: Voices of experience
[…] mutual aid available in the services, in GP surgeries; we do outreach on a daily basis, we work with the drug services, criminal justice, we go into prisons, work with the homeless services. If it wasn’t for people with lived experience I wouldn’t be here today.’ ‘It’s about trusting people who take drugs. In […]
Forward awarded contract for new recovery service in three Welsh prisons
[…] their journey to recovery and offers tools to maintain long-term abstinence. The service, which went live on 12th June 2023, will provide additional support for people in these prisons who are struggling with substance misuse, building on the fantastic existing work being done by the Dyfodol and Betsi Cadwaladr teams. Y Bont is based on […]
Forward’s Employment Services retain the matrix standard accreditation
[…] 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 […]
A step ahead
Chief executive of the award-winning Broadway Lodge, Brian Dudley, talks to DDN about the importance of providing specialist care and dispelling preconceptions about the 12 steps. ‘For drug and alcohol services to actually get some recognition for the work we do was incredible, because we never get any praise,’ says Broadway Lodge chief executive Brian […]
A question of choice
[…] need to be weighed against the cost of this treatment, which is much higher than for the more ‘traditional’ MAT options. Treatment with buprenorphine in specific populations Prisons Historically, buprenorphine has not been routinely offered as an MAT option in prisons due to risk of diversion and misuse, and the length of time it […]
Government announces ‘largest ever’ increase in treatment funding
[…] treatment for people sleeping rough, along with more employment support, including a peer mentoring programme. The role of health and justice partnership coordinators – who liaise between prisons, probation and treatment providers – will also be expanded to cover every region in England and Wales, with the aim of boosting joined up working and […]
Filling the prescription
[…] can be the perception that you cannot ‘use on top’ and the fear of not being able to use. Additionally there has been diversion of buprenorphine in prisons because of the inability to supervise it and the difficulty in induction for many. This can reduce retention rates. The reality is that many people who […]
DDN2409
[…] possibility of custody. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the CPS remand rate increased. With a government wanting to appear ‘tough on crime’ while simultaneously having to deal with over- flowing prisons, this could only add yet more confusion to the mix. The most surprising thing about all of this was the almost blanket lack of coverage it […]
Joining the dots
This year’s GPs’ conference had the tricky task of linking primary care to each element of the new and uncertain public health agenda, while urging colleagues to keep calm and carry on. DDN reports ‘Joining the dots’ was the theme of the Royal College of General Practitioners’ annual primary care conference. As GPs and health […]
Swapping prison for pavement
A look at the challenges of supporting people coming out of prison with nowhere to live.
April issue
No patient game Tough talking on crime as the election draws near Election campaign sparring has brought tough talk on crime from the party leaders, ahead of concern for prisoner welfare. After all, safer communities are a hot election issue throughout the land; pleasing 85,000 incarcerated people who don’t have the vote is not. Our cover story this […]
More than my past
A new campaign is tackling stigma head on, says Asi Panditharatna. Read the full article in DDN Magazine ‘We believe everyone has the ability to turn their life around, if given the chance.’ More Than My Past is a national campaign, launched by The Forward Trust, to challenge the stigma that prevents people with difficult […]
15th March 2010
Let’s stand back and share the view President Obama’s drug strategy team has a monumental task on its hands if it is going to change the culture of addiction treatment in the United States. Visiting London this week his deputy drug czar, Thomas McLellan, explored some unpalatable truths. Incarceration has been shown to be as ineffective a […]
DDN2feb10
[…] spent on delivering specific projects for various government departments. This includes running system change pilots for the Home Office, rolling out the integrated drug treatment system in prisons for the Ministry of Justice, and overseeing the RIOTT injectable heroin trials for DH. About ten per cent of our income is spent on providing specialist […]
Fighting for a C change
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to finally eliminate hepatitis C is within our grasp, says Professor Ashley Brown. Read the full article in October DDN Magazine When I first graduated in medicine, hepatitis C didn’t even have a name, let alone a cure. The clinical condition characterised by low-level inflammation leading to liver fibrosis, and in some […]
There’s something in the heroin
[…] and this became the title of our harm reduction leaflet which was distributed widely (see left). We issued a warning to local treatment services, needle exchanges and prisons, and raised awareness through the local media. Humberside Police issued a separate additional warning. A meeting was held between the coroner, Hull and East Riding Public […]