the amount of drug and alcohol use in
the town has escalated, which also
means more begging and crime. Police
are caught up in almost petty stuff, then
the courts and prisons are full with
people for short sentences – no time to
be rehabilitated and no staff even if they
were there longer. Bournemouth cut the
day centre to save money. The actual
cost was about £25,000 a year. (There
was only one paid member of staff. All
the outings were paid for by car boot
sales from donations and the service
users helped out, meaning they were
trusted and felt valued.)
The service users were involved in
things – their opinions counted. We even
had litter collecting mornings with local
police community support officers which
built up relationships – both ways. Now
the same people sit in shop doorways
and parks, heavily under the influence,
which affects the town. They are so bored
and need something to numb their
reality – drugs and alcohol do that.
The supported housing providers want
them to address their using, drinking and
begging, so some would rather sleep out
than live there. I’m not saying the day
centre was perfect. It wasn’t.
More staff would have helped. But it
helped make street homeless feel part
of society for a short while. When a
young, homeless female sitting in an
Orange Wednesday cinema seat, eating
Asda’s own popcorn, drinking Asda Cola,
looks up and says ‘I feel so spoilt’, then
you know something good is
happening. If she hadn't been there she
would’ve been selling her body to raise
money for drugs.
Keeping active surely must be a
massive contributor to staying away
from mood-altering substances. Minds
need to be occupied. Bournemouth
council took that away.
Sally Howells,
via DDN magazine Facebook
help us help
The long-awaited DDN Help resource is
now ready to go live, but we need your
help before the official public launch.
This new free online treatment finder
will allow people looking for help with
drugs and alcohol to locate the best
service for them. This might be anything
from the nearest needle exchange, a
local support service, or a five-star
residential rehab based overseas.
Set up to work quickly and easily on
mobile, desktop PCs and laptops, the
new resource offers a location-based
search, as well as the ability to filter the
response. This is just the start – the new
site will be a free source of information
for anyone looking for help for
themselves or a loved one.
DDN Help is free to both the end user
and to services wanting to add themselves
– if you run a rehab, day programme,
recovery group, or community pharmacy
or offer therapy or counselling, you need
to make sure you are on our listings. This
resource will only be as good as the
information it holds, so please join us and
make sure you’re part of it.
Visit
today for
details on how to add your listing.
DDN magazine and DDN Help are
keen to partner with all organisations in
the field offering information and
support. If you would like to discuss any
opportunities or ways in which
DDN
and
your service might work together, please
contact me –
Ian Ralph, DDN
sign on the line!
A war on drugs has been declared in
Staffordshire as the county council
propose to slash funding for drug and
alcohol services by 59 per cent. Alcohol
and drug treatment and rehabilitation
services in the county have come
together with services users, family
members, politicians, celebrity
supporters such as Russell Brand and
Mitch Winehouse and members from
across communities in Staffordshire, to
fight these proposals.
They hope that once the serious
consequences and the devastation this
will have on communities across
Staffordshire is understood, the council
will reconsider and work with the
agencies to ensure the needs of local
individuals, families and communities
are met.
Addiction to drug and alcohol takes
a heavy toll on society. I have seen the
impact over 22 years from crime,
worklessness, the strains on the NHS
and the price paid by individuals and
their families, but I have also witnessed
hundreds of people overcome their
addiction and transform their lives to
become productive members of society.
A number of services have contacted
us, expressing not only their concern for
Staffordshire but also about other local
authorities expressing their intentions
to make huge cuts to budgets. We were
always concerned about funding for
drug and alcohol treatment and
rehabilitation when the ring fence came
off the budget, but I never imagined
that councillors would cut budgets to
these vital services by more than half.
The consequences will be far
reaching for individuals, families and
communities. The work undertaken by
drug and alcohol agencies reduces
crime, pressure on our already stretched
A&E and hospitals, reduces the number
of children on the at-risk register, to
name a few, but most importantly it
saves lives and re-builds families.
As a result we have started a
petition in Staffordshire and want
enough signatures to get the issue
debated in Parliament as to why the
ring-fence came off drug and alcohol
treatment and rehabilitation budgets.
These services are as vital as many
other NHS services that have been
protected. Therefore it is essential that
everybody signs this petition and
encourages staff, clients and family
members to do the same.
The petition can be found at
.
wordpress.com/
Noreen Oliver, founder and CEO of
The Burton Addiction Centre and founder
and chair of RGUK
CounterproduCtive
Cuts
In Bournemouth we had a day centre
that was open all day for the homeless.
We did activities such as cooking, art,
group chats (usually serious), coffee and
chats (usually lighthearted), strawberry
picking, photography competitions,
quizzes, cinema outings, service user
involvement, an extensive diversity
calender full of famous people's
birthdays or important dates (some fun,
some serious) as well as assessing
people for housing.
We had a daily doctor, weekly
mental health nurse (who would also
come out other times if needed), weekly
podiatrist, weekly blood-borne virus
nurse, and a dentist. We would also
refer to the drug and alcohol teams. We
tried to fill each day with something.
Since the council decided to close it,
July/August 2016 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 15
Letters and Comment
DDN welcomes your letters
Please email the editor,
or post them
to DDN, cJ wellings ltd, 57 High street, Ashford, Kent tN24 8sG. letters may be edited for space or clarity.
DDN needs your
help to launch our
new free service at
‘Addiction to drug and alcohol takes
a heavy toll on society. I have seen
the impact over 22 years from
crime, worklessness, the strains on
the NHS and the price paid by
individuals and families, but I have
also witnessed hundreds of people
transform their lives.’
Find anything
...
anywhere
ddnhelp.com
