OBITUARY
FRIEND, MENTOR AND
VALUED COLLEAGUE
Nick Cole, East Sussex, 1954–2011
It was with great shock
that we learnt Nick Cole’s
life had ended so suddenly on 10 January. You
never realise how big a footprint someone has
made during their life until you dig a little into
their past.
Nick’s early professional substance misuse
career began in the late ’80s when he
volunteered for Libra, a self-help alcohol group in
East Sussex. In 1990 (before Brighton and Hove’s
unitary status) the East Sussex County Council
Members’ panel part-funded three drug liaison
workers, including Nick. His role evolved into
health promotion specialist (substance misuse),
which he held for more than 20 years.
During the 1990s, Nick worked on the ‘PACTE’ project, setting up an
information exchange across three European countries, with conferences in
Rouen, Seaford and Dublin. He was famous for saying ‘it took a trip to Rouen
for us to realise what we all did in East Sussex – we had never met together
and talked about our work before then’. The experience paid dividends.
Nick’s closest colleague Nick Casey says: ‘Nick and I worked together for 18
years in drug and alcohol services, both in the voluntary sector and the NHS.
He was a great friend and colleague and we used to bounce ideas of each
other. His zany humour and commitment were outstanding – it’s going to be
difficult without him.’
I first met Nick in 2003 when I started as workforce development manager
for the three Sussex DAATS. Together we produced training manuals, accredited
our basic drug awareness course, improved access to a range of qualifications and
courses, and set up the City and Guilds Certificate in Community Justice Award at
two local colleges. One of our biggest challenges each year was organising the
annual practitioner conference, in its 15th year this July.
Nick was a central figure in the development and delivery of specialist
substancemisuse intervention training. He was a tutor seconded to the University
of Brighton as part of an innovative partnership with local DAAT commissioners,
and then became a member of the development team for the foundation degree
in substance misuse intervention strategies, starting this September.
Daren Britt, course leader for the foundation degree, met Nick in 1995. ‘Nick’s
energy and unflagging optimism were infectious and he captured my
imagination as a trainee, and motivated me to work in this field as a practitioner
and later as an educator,’ he says. ‘He always maintained his energy and
optimism, and year on year he continued to capture the imagination of a wide
range of students, supporting their development into quality practitioners. For so
many of us Nick was a friend, a mentor, and a valued colleague.’
Nick has worked in partnership for many years in the Sussex area with a
wide variety of stakeholders and will be greatly missed. It is mind-blowing to
think of how many people he has influenced over the years.
We exchanged emails just before Christmas about my receipt of a ‘thank
you’ gift box of chocolates for us to share when we met up in January, and I
promised him I would resist opening them until we met. I haven’t quite had
the heart to eat them alone.
Elizabeth Flegg, workforce development manager (Brighton and Hove DAAT)
Nick’s funeral will be on 16 February, 10am, at Eastbourne Crematorium,
Hide Hollow, BN23 8AE (near Langley Shopping Centre). It will be followed by
a gathering at Friends Meeting House, 17 Wish Road, Eastbourne BN21 4NX
at 11:45 am.
taken back. But the consequences of
this confusion can be felt acutely by
people battling drug and alcohol
problems, who can struggle dealing
with bureaucracy.
While I hope that the proposed
reforms to the benefit system – one
universal credit – is an attempt to
counter this and help individuals, I’m
afraid I doubt it. Members of the
present government have no
understanding or empathy with the
poor and will not try and reform the
benefit system to give people a chance
of a better life. Instead they will use
the reforms as a big stick to beat poor
people, with those suffering from drug
and alcohol problems feeling the blows
the hardest.
I found Niamh Eastwood’s article
on this subject (DDN, 17 January,
page 9) very informative and the fact
that benefits claimants at least have
organisations like Release defending
their rights some small comfort. I
look forward to hearing her speak at
the ‘Seize the day!’ conference in
Birmingham, and I hope she can get
some straight answers from the
coalition politician on what the real
intentions behind these reforms are.
Tom Macey, by email
Note from DDN: In a change to the
Welfare reform session at ‘Seize the
day!’ on 10 February, David Burrowes
MP has cancelled and will not be
coming. He is replaced by Andrew
Selous MP, former shadow spokes
person for the Department of Work and
Pensions and PPS to Iain Duncan
Smith. For more details about the event
visit www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
DUAL APPRECIATION
I was pleased to see Brendan
Georgeson’s article on dual diagnosis
(
DDN, 17 January, page 13) and would
like to thank him for taking the plunge
and sharing his own experiences.
I too am an ex service user – or
rather, sometimes service user – and
have found my treatment hampered by
lack of knowledge from the specialists
I am relying on. Drug services try to
send me for psychiatric assessments
and the mental health services pass
me back to drug treatment.
The idea from the Bristol
conference that service users’ voices
should be given the same weight as
those of psychiatrists and social
workers is a rare chance for the
professionals to learn – not just from
the patients themselves, but from
everyone else that should be involved
in their care.
I hope the idea catches on, of
openly discussing dual diagnosis
behaviour and treatment, because it’s
a brave and much-needed step in the
right direction.
Toby C, Northants
7 February 2011 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 11
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
Letters |
Obituary
Questions
Answers
Q&A is back!
Making its return by popular demand, our regular agony
column will be back next issue. So send any questions you have about
any aspect of your working life or treatment experiences, and get ready
to become the expert yourself by answering other readers’ problems in
every issue.
For previous examples of this feature, please go to our website and
enter ‘Q&A’ in the search box. We look forward to hearing from you!
This month’s question is:
My colleague is professional in the workplace
but twice now when he’s been down the pub I’ve heard him boasting
about having affairs with clients. Should I report him or assume he’s
making it up?
Will, by email
Email your answers for Will to claire@cjwellings.com by Tuesday
1 March for publication in our next issue.