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September 2012 |
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Art therapy |
Enterprise corner
‘Nobody has to live in only
one role. We know recovery is
possible. Given the opportunity,
we’re all capable of expanding
our repertoire of roles and
adjusting the lens through
which we view the world.’
by many clients on either side of recovery. It’s perhaps best summed up by Yaz,
one of the performers, who wrote this letter after the project ended:
‘I believe that the theatre project has a future for being a tool to build
confidence, self-esteem, trust and relationships. My story is with a background
of domestic violence, single parenthood, addiction and homelessness, and
without the support and help of the theatre project I wouldn’t be where I am
today. I wouldn’t have gained confidence to re-connect with the outside world.
I came to the project whilst on my rehab programme with no intention or
focus at all initially – I just wanted something to do. My first day was feelings of
fear, dread and excitement but all I wanted to do was run, as this was totally
out of my comfort zone. Even though I recognised most people there, I didn’t
know them but I stuck with it and now here I am studying for a diploma and
also volunteering and hoping to continue with the theatre project.
My peers and I had produced initially, with difficulty, a number of sketches
related to “stigma” and we then performed in front of over 200 people during
the recovery event held on 30 March. We have laughed, cried, been frustrated
but all in all we have gained.
The project has definitely bought me out of my shell, where I was totally lost
and couldn’t find a way to come out.’
Katrina Lahmann is a dual diagnosis specialist
ENTERPRISE CORNER
MAKING CHANCES
Collaborate and innovate with the voluntary
sector, don’t condemn it says
Amar Lodhia
At the TSBC, we are celebrating our ‘year of
innovation’
. As part of this, I recently visited
those involved in commissioning drug and
alcohol treatment services in Edinburgh. I spoke
to them about how they can bring innovation
and ideas to their system to encourage more
joined-up working of voluntary and statutory
services that do fantastic work, to better
support people to recover from their addictions.
The systems and available resources we
have in the UK, compared with those in Karachi,
Pakistan for example, where opiates are
cheaper than food, are remarkable. A recent
BBC
Our World
documentary showed how 6,000 heroin addicts in Karachi
have to go ‘cold turkey’ at the Edhi centre, which survives only on donations.
Those who enter treatment there are only given vitamins, food, sedatives
and painkillers with no substitute drugs or further support available.
It really makes us realise how much statutory and voluntary sector
partnership working can achieve in the developed world. Talking to our own
service users who have been through our enterprise and entry to
employment programmes shows that recovery journeys are like embarking
on the tube across London – whichever route they take, as long as they don’t
loop round on the Circle Line for the rest of their lives, there are exit points
everywhere from which there is a chance to reintegrate back into society.
The point is that there is no one route to exiting treatment. Fortunately
for them the collaborative work done by the state and the voluntary sector
ensures that, unlike in Karachi, there are maximum exit opportunities and
support available at all points along the journey.
It came as a shock to hear Clare Gerada, head of the Royal College of
General Practitioners (RCGP), say that many charities are ‘not set up to offer
services to what is a particularly chaotic, transient group’. I couldn’t disagree
more. Just look at the examples of what charities like ourselves and CRI do
here in UK working extensively with this ‘chaotic and transient group’.
I would urge the ‘experts’ to rethink their criticism of charities who
provide drugs and alcohol treatment services and instead look at
collaborative working between state and third sector to bring innovation
and a focus on providing as many exit points as possible for those in
treatment, something the NHS evidently cannot do alone. While I will not
discount the role GPs play in supporting patients to recover from addictions,
I wouldn’t imagine them being able to deliver our reintegration services,
which are commissioned and designed to ensure sustainable recovery and
break the cycle of what some may argue is a ‘state sponsored addiction’.
I would argue strongly that the work the voluntary sector does is the
antithesis of ‘taking services backward’ as Gerada put it. I believe, like a lot
of you, that social enterprise and charities are at the forefront of public
service provision, especially at a time when resources are shrinking – albeit
not to the level of underfunding in Karachi, where it is only the voluntary
sector providing treatment services.
Can you help our research into the effect of troubled families on substance
misuse? I’d love to hear your views. Email me at ceo@tsbccic.org.uk, follow us
on Twitter @TSBCLondon and tweet your comments using the #tag DDNews.
Amar Lodhia is chief executive of The Small Business Consultancy (TSBC)