At the Service User Involvement Team (SUIT), we’re always looking to make an impact and raise awareness of our service and the people who engage with it. Many of our clients and volunteers are marginalised and stigmatised, and getting their voice involved is core to our values of lived experience.
Our team understands that people exposed to addiction come with an extra, often creative, sensitivity. Our exhibition stall at this year’s conference showcased powerful visual art, created by our clients and volunteers, and it was fantastic to witness so many of the delegates drawn in by the impressive work.
Included in SUIT’s wraparound support offer is a recognition that the creative arts can release emotions and frustrations, and at the same time create beauty, change perception, and resist stigma and judgement.
SUIT was founded in 2007 and has since become a platform service for some of the most vulnerable people in Wolverhampton. We deliver prevention, treatment and rehabilitation services, both through the criminal justice system and within the community, and we believe that vulnerable people with drug and alcohol problems should be treated fairly, have access to services that focus on recovery, and be able to engage with service providers that will support them individually.
In early 2024, we became recognised as a LERO, which means that SUIT can connect with similar organisations creating peer-led support. This has opened a variety of new pathways for lived experience co-creation and for our services to grow and develop. Our volunteers and staff all come with lived experience and work to reduce barriers between clients accessing healthcare, welfare, employment, in criminal justice settings, and also in areas considered inaccessible to people on the sharp end of society.
Right now is the most exciting time in SUIT’s 17-year history. Early this year, we received funding for core staff, including a creative arts and research lead and Punjabi-speaking and Polish-speaking project workers. Support and engagement need is increasing within South Asian and Eastern European communities in Wolverhampton, and we now have the resources to tackle this. Our increased outreach provision and exciting creative projects should also bring a unique focus and more referrals into the service.
We also have a new data illustrator role, which is allowing us to provide robust evidence
for peer-led support. For the first time since our service began, our lived experience is not just anecdotal but is being brought to factual real life. Our team is proving its value, passion, and dedication to a wider audience, and with deeper meaning, and we are now living and breathing our own air – giving clients a powerful voice and the opportunity to resurrect their lives with buddy support from a team who have lived that lifestyle and climbed over the other side.
At the DDN Conference our team were able to connect with a diverse group of experts, policymakers, and individuals directly affected by substance use, and it was great to meet so many of you in person. We took part in insightful workshops, including essential naloxone training from Cranstoun, panel discussions, and networking sessions, all aimed at enhancing the support and resources available to those battling addiction. Harm reduction, holistic therapies, and community-based support systems were all discussed and there was such a feeling of dedication and togetherness, especially surrounding policy changes, how we tackle drug deaths, and the nitazenes and fentanyl crisis.
Hearing success stories and challenges from other lived experience recovery organisations reinforced the importance of our mission at SUIT. The team feel renewed and ready to implement new strategies and continue advocating for an even more inclusive and effective approach to addiction. We extend our thanks to the organisers of the DDN Conference for hosting such a valuable and inspiring event.
Christiane Jenkins is creative arts and research lead and Marcus Johnson is project manager at SUIT