also covered, to help with detecting
symptoms of physical conditions earlier.
‘It has been my mission over the last eight
years to tackle the premature mortality of
people with psychosis,’ said Dr David Shiers,
honorary research consultant for the Psychosis
Research Unit at GMW. ‘There needs to be a
more holistic awareness of the condition and
its potential impact on physical health and
quality of life.’
MUSICAL CHALLENGE
A SERIES OF MUSIC WORKSHOPS
have been
supporting women to make changes to help
them out of drug addiction, prostitution,
physical abuse and homelessness.
Award-winning charity Create teamed up
with the U-Turn Women’s Project and
international law firm Reed Smith LLP to
deliver the
creative: u-turn
programme, led by
Create’s professional musician, John Webb.
Women from East London’s U-Turn Project
were involved in experimenting with
instrumentation to create films that echoed
their personal experiences.
‘It offers a chance to explore creativity, an
effective and cathartic way to channel
emotions and feelings that can be difficult to
verbalise,’ said Create’s chief executive, Nicky
Goulder. ‘The project also endeavours to
nurture new relationships, creating support
networks for those who have shared similar
challenges in life.’
News
AMELIA RUNS
MARATHON FOR HER
RAPT JOURNEY
AMELIA BARBER
will be among the runners in
the London marathon this year, fundraising
for the Rehabilitation of Addicted Prisoners
Trust (RAPt). Now working as a nurse on an
oncology ward at Guy’s Hospital, she is
running to ‘give back’ to the charity that
helped her to change her life.
‘I struggled with drug and alcohol addiction
for several years and it caused me to lose my
home, my family, my job, my values, my health
and my self-respect,’ she said. ‘At my worst I
was homeless, drinking and using drugs every
day to block out the pain of living.’
Joining RAPt’s Island Day Programme in
Tower Hamlets brought her in contact with
counselling, structure and support. ‘I will
always be grateful to RAPt for helping me
when I couldn’t help myself,’ she said. ‘I
wouldn’t have wanted to do the marathon for
anyone else – I know that money will make a
real difference to RAPt, and most importantly
to the people whose lives it helps to change.’
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
SERVICE USERS SHOW
THEIR SPIRIT
LIFE-CHANGING CONTRIBUTIONS TO
RECOVERY
across Nottingham and
Nottinghamshire were recognised at Double
Impact’s Spirit of Recovery Awards.
Celebrations were held at the charity’s
flagship social enterprise Café Sobar, with an
opening address from Professor David Best,
professor of criminology, development and
society at Sheffield HallamUniversity. Service
users from the Recovery in Nottingham’s creative
writing group then gave readings of their own
poetry, introduced by Miggy James, winner of
the Exceptional RecoveryWorker award.
Sixteen award categories attracted entries
from individuals and organisations across the
county, with votes made by service users, staff,
peer mentors and volunteers.
‘I can’t believe that within a year of
finishing the mentoring diploma I am now in
fulltime employment with New Directions
Nottinghamshire,’ said winner of the
Extraordinary Achievement Award, Sandra
Platten. ‘I am so grateful to everyone at
Double Impact Academy.’
The award ceremony was followed by
music from Rob Green and Gallery 47 – part of
Café Sobar’s monthly music event to showcase
talent from Nottingham’s live music scene.
NEW BOOKLET HELPS
YOUNG PEOPLE WITH
PSYCHOSIS
A BOOKLET
has been produced by Greater
Manchester West Mental Health NHS
Foundation Trust to help young people who
are experiencing psychosis for the first time,
helping them look after their physical health
and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Right from the start: keeping your body in
mind
includes useful questions for young
people to ask their healthcare professional so
they can get help with stopping smoking,
reducing their alcohol consumption and
making positive adjustments to diet and
lifestyle. The need for routine checks such as
blood pressure, weight and cholesterol are
Read the full stories, and more, online
YES YOU CAN!
BUILD ON BELIEF
(BoB) recently held their eighth annual
award ceremony and celebrated their ten-year anniversary
through an evening of entertainment and celebration at
Kensington and Chelsea Town Hall.
One of BoB’s volunteers, Kelly, explained how helping
other service users got her back on track: ‘I had a rocky few
years. Volunteering really helped and supported me – being
able to be myself and share my experience.’
Among the award winners, collecting the Kevin
Plunkett-Gibney Memorial Award, Linda Chan said: ‘I had
32 years of drug use. Getting off themwasn’t a problem –
staying off themwas. Tim [Sampey] explained how I could
use my skills in that world and put them to good use.
Coming off drugs is one thing – building a life is another.
BoB gave me that.’
‘Coming off drugs is one thing –
building a life is another. BoB
gave me that.’
LINDA CHAN
6 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| April 2016
BEAU TAKES THE
LEAD AT KENWARD
BEAU THE LABRADOODLE
has joined the
team at Kenward Trust. Since arriving at
13 weeks old, he has shown himself to
be a calming influence, building trust,
while being walked, groomed, taught
and spoiled by residents.
‘We hope that he will encourage
exercise and responsibility but we really
feel he will come into his own when a
resident is struggling and can’t open up
to staff or even peers,’ said project manager Nicola Boniface. ‘He will
be the third medium and through stroking him and trusting him,
staff and residents may be able to make psychological contact
during those really vulnerable times and work on the issues the
individuals are struggling with.’
Life-changing
contributions
to recovery...
recognised at
Double
Impact’s Spirit
of Recovery
Awards.
