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Recovery |
Military veterans
December 2014 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 7
been done, even making a visit to the first ever veteran addiction treatment
centre there, Ed Thompson House, which is part of the Samaritans Village
services in New York City.
The experience of observing for a day in this treatment centre really blew
me away. As I talked to all the guys in the centre and the staff who worked
there, I had not one single doubt that THH would be as much needed in the UK
as Ed Thompson House is in the USA. There was such inspiration there. I knew
we could replicate what they had created, in the cultural context of the UK.
THH has been commissioned to run a pilot project of six months’ treatment
space for the new programme I developed. The programme is evidence-based,
health and wellbeing-focused, with a clear and assertive linkage to mutual aid.
Because of the risk of triggering any symptoms of other co-occurring disorders,
the programme doesn’t have a huge focus on psychotherapy – instead it
promotes self-efficacy, physical and emotional health, discipline, structure, life
skills and community engagement. The culture of the programme is kindness,
co-operation, curiosity, generosity, honesty and acceptance. The team here
comprises professionals from a variety of relevant backgrounds and brings a
mixture of recovery, therapeutic and military experience.
Because military veterans are much less likely to seek out help for mental
health issues and addiction due to feeling that this is a sign of weakness, THH
sees people who are often very ill, have spent many years in active addiction, and
many have co-occurring disorders and have been homeless for lengthy periods.
With Merseyside having more than 30,000 ex-service personnel and an
increased cohort of reservists, plus at least an additional 4,000 returning service
leavers coming back to the area, there is no shortage of referrals for the project.
The team at THH are receiving referrals from other areas of the country too.
Given that participants in Combat Stress residential programmes have to be
clean and sober to attend and many other veteran-focused mental health care
requires sobriety to engage in appropriate post-traumatic stress disorder
treatment, THH will be the first point of call for those needing additional help
and support to take the first steps to recovery. Additionally, during the last few
weeks many other agencies have approached THH as they now want to
replicate this model in their geographical area.
Peter has just become the first ever graduate of a military-specific addiction
rehab in the UK and the first to wear a THH medal of accomplishment. We will
continue to fly the flag for him and other veterans who have found it hard to
cope and used substances to self soothe, leading to loss, shame and chaos. Our
aim is to walk with them on a road of honour, hope and healing.
Jacquie Johnston-Lynch is head of service at Tom Harrison House
ance
TRUST IN ME
Gaining trust is one vital component of
providing help to veterans, delegates at
DrugScope’s annual conference heard
‘ONE OF THE DIFFICULTIES OF WORKING WITH VETERANS
is being able to
find out who they are, where they are, and engaging with them,’ veterans’
substance misuse case manager at Combat Stress, Matt Flynn, told delegates
at DrugScope’s conference. ‘Trust is a substantial issue. You need to be able
to understand the shared lingo and the humour – that’s your way in.’
Combat Stress is piloting a network of substance misuse case
management services across the UK, financed by the Big Lottery and the
Armed Forces Covenant (Libor) Fund. As well as improving outcomes for
veterans, the aim is to provide training to mainstream treatment services and
become a specialist resource for any professionals working with veterans.
The organisation’s Wiltshire pilot is run in partnership with Turning Point
in ‘a significant military area’, said Flynn – himself a reservist – with veterans
estimated to make up at least 12 per cent of the local population.
Well-managed expectations are vital to a successful service, he stressed,
as ‘veterans tend to come into treatment believing they’re going to be fixed
at the end’, along with fluid care planning and regular reviews that allow
people to ‘remain engaged and understand what their care pathway will
look like’. Referral can come from veterans themselves or their families, the
voluntary sector, assertive outreach, veterans’ agencies or the armed forces,
and treatment ranges from guided self-help to residential and community
detox, prescribing and one-to-one or group work.
‘There’s also a big role for exit planning,’ he says. ‘That’s crucial in terms
of managing expectations. There are lots of different agencies across
Wiltshire, and the work now is about drawing them all together and creating
really good referral pathways.
‘Part of the challenge facing veterans is that they’re no longer the
squaddie or the airman they once were. In substance misuse services they
have to mix with “civvies” and, to be honest, they hate it. Part of the skill on
the part of the nurses is being able to manage that.’
www.combatstress.org.uk