SERVICE USERS
HELP BUILD
EXHIBIT
SERVICE USERS FROM BRISTOL DRUGS PROJECT
’s
(BDP) training, education, volunteering and
employment service have helped create a new
Bristol art installation aimed at raising awareness of
energy issues.
The Energy Tree was designed and built by artist
John Packer, and workshops on building solar
panels for BDP volunteers were led by Demand
Energy Equality.
‘The opportunity for people in Bristol with a
history of problematic drug or alcohol use – one of
the city’s most marginalised and stigmatised
populations – to build the Energy Tree in the city’s
green capital year helps to support their recovery,’
said Maggie Telfer, CEO of BDP.
The installation is a renewable power source that
will offer a number of interactive functions to the
public, such as WiFi and phone charging.
May 2015 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 5
FILM RAISES
AWARENESS OF
PSYCHOSIS
A NEW FILM
that aims to raise awareness of
psychosis in young people has had its premier
at an educational event in Manchester.
Greater Manchester West Mental Health
NHS Foundation Trust collaborated with a
local filmmaker to create a film that gave
service users from their early intervention
service the opportunity to share their
experiences. It will be shown at local schools
and colleges to demonstrate the importance
of early intervention, and aims to reduce the
stigma surrounding psychosis.
The film will also be used as part of
psychological therapy sessions and family
interventions to help individuals and their
families understand psychosis.
Available on the GMW YouTube channel,
BIKE RIDE TO RAISE
FUNDS FOR RECOVERY
A FUND RAISING BIKE RIDE
, Le Tour De
Recovery, will be setting off from The Recovery
Partnership in Leamington Spa on 7
September, and aiming to arrive in Durham on
12 September, the day of the seventh annual
Recovery Walk.
The team from Coventry Recovery
Community also hope to stage
Dear Albert
screenings at every overnight stop.
They are currently seeking sponsors, and
are inviting riders from services and
communities along their route to join them.
PROJECT PROMOTES
‘NATURAL HIGHS’
YOUNG PEOPLE IN WESTON
have had the
opportunity to try power kiting as part of
Addaction’s 18225 project.
One of the project’s aims is to show young
people ways to engage in ‘natural highs’,
without the need to use drugs or alcohol.
Project leaders have been working with
Weston Foyer, which provides accommo-
dation and support for young homeless or
vulnerable young people, to engage with
individuals aged between 18 and 25 and
offer them more information about drugs
and alcohol, in particular legal highs.
PHOTOGRAPHER
DOCUMENTS
HOMELESS
A LOCAL PHOTOGRAPHER
has
published a book that documents
the lives of homeless individuals
in Cardiff.
Andrew McNeill spent a year
engaging with people on the
streets in his hometown, many of
whom struggled with mental
health and substance misuse
problems (
DDN
, May 2014, p8).
‘I think there are several messages in these
pictures. I think there’s a message of hope. I
think there are cries for help, and despair. And
there is a message that they don’t want to be
ignored – that they’re real people, they’re real
human beings,’ says McNeill.
Under The Bridge: Being Homeless in Cardiff
is McNeill’s second photography book, and is
published by Butetown History and Arts Centre.
The installation is a
renewable power source
that will offer a number
of interactive functions to
the public, such as WiFi
and phone charging.
LIVE LSD DRUG
TRIALS TAKE PLACE
RESEARCH
has taken place that saw the
world’s first live brain scans of individuals
taking LSD.
A group of scientists, including Dr Ben
Sessa, consultant psychiatrist at Addaction,
took LSD while their colleagues scanned
their brains in an effort to learn more about
how consciousness works on the brain.
Dr Sessa will be doing similar trials with
MDMA next year, to see how the drug
affects individuals with post-traumatic
stress disorder.
‘This work is not about encouraging the
recreational use of the drugs, but how they
can be developed as tools and treatments
for medicine. Every drug has side effects,
including painkillers, which is why they should only be taken with
guidance and support from a doctor,’ said Dr Sessa.
‘The results from the experiments are showing that if you carry
out psychotherapy under the influence of psychedelic drugs, it can
boost the power of the therapy. Abstinence rates for alcohol and
opiates are significantly higher from this kind of therapy, so I
believe it is vitally important to keep progressing this research.’
A video of the trial can be found at
/
‘This work is
not about
encouraging
the
recreational
use of the
drugs, but
how they can
be developed
as tools and
treatments
for medicine.’
DR BeN SeSSA
local News
Andrew
McNeill:
‘...there is a
message that
they don’t
want to be
ignored.’
