March 2016 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 13
read the reports, see the pictures:
add your
voice
Making sure the service user voice is
heard has never been more important.
GET INVOLVED
by emailing
and tweeting with
#GetTheVoice
Great interventions
Throughout the conference, Philippe Bonnet gave practical
training sessions on administering naloxone. Distributing kits
made an important difference, he told
DDN
A
nother year, another
DDN
SU conference in sunny Birmingham. This
year, however, I was allowed to not only train people but give them
take-home naloxone kits too!
The legislative changes made in October 2015 have made a real
difference in kit distribution – to some parts of the country at least.
Although I trained around 45 individuals last year, I could not provide them
with kits there and then. This year everyone left with a kit.
This year was also a reminder of how blessed we are in Birmingham. To
date, we have issued around 3,000 kits and we witness successful reversals
on a monthly basis. My organisation’s national naloxone strategy, launched
last year the day after the DDN conference, has had a tremendous impact.
Naloxone sure saves lives.
Phillippe Bonnet is an outreach worker and activist
‘
Thirty years ago I started going to a drug
service and my main feeling was fear. Now
those elements of fear are creeping in again,
and I never thought they would.’
Beryl Poole
‘
As the Archbishop of Canterbury said, the way
a society is measured is by how we care for our
most vulnerable.’
Dr ChrIs ForD
deaths were in the North East and
the North West. It’s poverty.’
While there was undoubtedly a
need for a social movement, it
shouldn’t be based around drugs,
argued Alistair Sinclair. ‘We need to
be talking to people in mental health,
in homelessness.’
‘When the service user voice has
really been heard, it works well,’
stated Ford. ‘It’s a win-win situation. I
think this the beginning of a rallying
call. We have to get together – united
we stand, divided we fall.’
