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drinkanddrugsnews
| September 2012
Cover story |
Partnerships
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
By using partnerships to create an imaginative
week of activities, Glasgow is successfully
involving the community in drug and alcohol
awareness, as
Stephen Birrell
explains
G
T
he second week in September has come to hold a very special
interest for alcohol and drug forums, community groups, voluntary
organisations and statutory services across Glasgow. Since 2007 it
has been highlighted as GRANDweek – Getting Real About Alcohol
‘N’ Drugs – a citywide initiative that enables communities to
develop local responses to alcohol and drug issues.
GRANDweek brings together a broad range of partners to raise awareness of
alcohol and drugs issues and services. It builds partnerships and networks
between communities, services and organisations and gets communities
involved in tackling alcohol and drug issues.
This year’s event takes place from 8-15 September and includes an extensive
programme of almost 80 locally led activities across Glasgow, with a major
event taking place in each community health partnership (CHP) sector. Events
are funded through a local grant scheme of up to £1,000 for community groups
and projects as well as allocations of £6,000 to each of Glasgow’s three CHP
sectors to plan and deliver large-scale area events. Around 50 funding
applications were received this year and more than £65,000 has been awarded
to support GRANDweek events and activities across Glasgow’s communities.
Plans for the week come from the communities sub-group of the Glasgow City
Alcohol and Drugs Partnership (ADP), established in 2003 to strengthen links
between drug and alcohol forums, local communities and services, agencies and
organisations. Its members include representatives of all of Glasgow’s alcohol and
drug forums, service user involvement groups and recovery groups, police and fire
and rescue services, plus the broad range of local voluntary organisations and
statutory agencies, and it has the remit of agreeing an action plan to protect
communities from alcohol and drug-related crime and antisocial behaviour. With
significant support and investment from Glasgow ADP and an equal investment by
volunteers and in-kind support from services, it has made significant progress in
fostering community engagement and involvement.
*****
Now in its sixth year, the GRANDweek initiative has grown in scope and ambition
thanks to the positive contributions from partners across the community, voluntary
and statutory sectors. The first one in 2007 had less that ten events taking place
the city. Since then it has grown in size and ambition and last year more than 80
events were funded via the GRAND local grant scheme, including arts and drama,
information events and project open days. Activities have been varied enough to
reach out to all parts of the community, from workshops and training sessions, to
treasure hunts, music events and quiz nights, to writing newspaper articles and
running competitions. Many ideas are considered, the common theme being that
initiatives help to build partnerships and networks that get communities involved
in addressing drug and alcohol issues.
One of last year’s highlights was the
See You, See Me, Hep C
drama devised and
performed by the NorthWest Community Drama Group, supported by Irene Hunter,
senior addiction nurse (HCV) and an enthusiastic supporter of the initiative.
‘Funding from GRAND last year allowed the Hep C Community Drama Group
to become established and make a real difference in the way we reach “at risk”
groups about HCV and BBVs,’ she said. ‘Since GRANDweek 2011 the drama