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April 2014 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 17
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Detox |
Enterprise corner
‘The aim is to ensure
that the service user
can access a holistic
treatment system that
is tailor-made to their
needs, expectations and
long-term health goals.’
positive progress. Substance misusers often live chaotic lifestyles, so it is not always
possible to see the patient on a weekly basis for a minimum of 12 weeks; however, so
far at SWDAS, the attendance rate has been high and surpassed expectations.
This programme also has a second system running parallel to the tautopathic
prescriptions. Since the addictions sector is now acknowledging that we must focus
on the client’s underlying reasons for becoming a substance misuser in the first place,
the project also prescribes dilution medications for any associated mental and
physical health symptoms, ensuring that the client receives holistic support in their
recovery. Mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, delusions and paranoia,
are prescribed for with relevant homeopathic medications. The same follows for any
physical health symptoms such as restless leg syndrome, chronic coughs, headaches
and constipation. This holistic approach allows the client to develop a sense of overall
wellness and attempts to pre-emptively address any reasons why the service user may
relapse in the future, such as past trauma and life changing events.
With the aim of rolling this out to other services in south east England and
eventually nationwide, I realised I needed help from someone else in the industry
and partnered with Mark Dempster, practising psychotherapist, drugs counsellor
and author of
Nothing to Declare
. He was very enthusiastic about an ‘innovative
detoxification system that has limitless potential in the future’ and said that ‘a
titration system fit for purpose which can accommodate the needs of developing
drug trends and markets has to be a good thing.’
As the system is not only a clinical treatment programme but also a study,
progressive services and boroughs throughout the country now have the
opportunity to benefit from our results, helping to obtain more positive outcomes
as well as being part of this exciting study. This service has worked well in an
integrated health care system and can be accessed at most levels of treatment.
The aim is to ensure that the service user can access a holistic treatment
system that is tailor-made to their needs, expectations and long-term health goals.
The substance misuse field is finally addressing the issue of long-term methadone
maintenance. However, there is still great scope for investigation into
complementary and unconventional therapies, their worth to the sector, and the
holistic side of treatment.
TracyWoodward Gagetta is CEO and founder of Restorative Recovery Prescribing Ltd.
For more information on the Tauto-Mod system, visit www.recoveryprescribing.com
AT BUDGET TIME LAST MONTH
TSBC, like many
others, had our heads down in spreadsheets,
setting our budgets and making plans for the
forthcoming year. As soon as the budget was
revealed, everyone began looking at how it would
affect them in 2014 and beyond – a favourite
topic for columnists. Others used the pre-budget
frenzy to talk about what they want to see from
George Osborne. Indeed there is one interesting
idea around the government’s Early Intervention
Foundation and whether it could be extended
from offering help to at-risk pre-schoolers to a
wider application – in public health, for example.
For the local authorities we work with, and would like to work with, the
budget was already in. The government announced its provisional local
government finance settlement back in December 2013 and council sessions
up and down the country will have agreed any changes to council tax rates in
the past few months. So no crystal balls were required – we already knew
that most local authorities were going to be facing tighter budgets and
another very difficult financial year in 2014-15. Speakers at the Annual Public
Health Conference in February confirmed what many of us already
suspected, that drugs spending is the second largest item in public health
budgets. And as we know, larger budgets often come under greater pressure
when belts are being tightened.
Our overriding concern is how, in such financially constrained times, work
will continue to be funded to help the participants we see on our
programmes. The answer’s not new, but we passionately believe that the
answer is to work in partnership – indeed we cheekily asked people what
would be the best partnership on Valentine’s Day.
For us, it’s all about bringing together and working with local public
health teams and police and crime commissioners – because the outcomes
we can achieve in our employment and self-employment programmes, such
as increased abstinence and a reduction in offending or reoffending, relate
directly to both the public health and criminal justice agendas. And of course
when the successful entrepreneurs from our programme get to the stage of
expanding and hiring more staff, we encourage them to give a helping hand
to the next generation of service users, creating a truly virtuous circle. With
both partners contributing to these programmes, budgets can go a lot
further and deliver so much more.
I’m extremely glad that we’ve just got agreement to go ahead with one
such project in Northamptonshire, funded by the county council and the PCC.
We’ll be delivering our Progress to Success programme helping participants
into education, training and, particularly, employment; as well as our
flagship E=MC2 course to inspire service users to turn their ideas into a real
business of their own. Our worker will be based at The Bridge, a fantastic
recovery centre in the heart of Northampton that’s doing amazing things
helping recovering substance misusers reintegrate back into society.
We’ll let you know how we get on.
To enquire more about our work please contact me at amar@tsbccic.org.uk
and follow me on Twitter @amarlodhia or @tsbclondon – don’t forget to use
#DDNews when tweeting!
Amar Lodhia is chief executive of The Small Business Consultancy CIC
(TSBC), thesmallbusinessconsultancy.co.uk
ENTERPRISE CORNER
BEATING BUDGETS
Forming partnerships helped TSBC stay a step ahead of
the inevitable financial constraints, says
Amar Lodhia