July 2012 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 17
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
Treatment|
Enterprise corner
think, feel and behave towards that drug.
In order to explore this, the worker will take the person on a journey through
the key aspects of their substance use – the pleasure derived from drug use and
the perception that ‘it’s all about the high’. The five key areas addressed are:
cravings; drug DNA; lapse, lapse management and relapse; the grief process;
justifications and reasons.
Throughout the process the worker will be committed to authenticity in
their relationship with the service user, allowing them to become honest with
themselves about their situation. The worker will introduce the concept of
cognitive dissonance and ask ‘how does a person separate themselves from
what they know about what they do, in order to still do it?’ Our response is that
a ‘justification’ is required. The magnitude of the justification generally mirrors
the magnitude of the potential damage of the action. Take for example the
warning on a pack of cigarettes, ‘smoking kills’. The information is clear and
evidence-based, so the justification has to undermine the very clear message –
‘we all have to die sometime’, for example.
We help the service user to identify the discrepancy between their beliefs
about their drug use and the evidence relating to their personal life situation. In
acknowledging this, the service user will gradually increase their awareness,
creating a platform from which to make informed choices. As workers we do not
prevent or stop someone from using but we have a responsibility to ‘get in the
way’ and to encourage the service user to explore their current view or
perspective of their substance use.
The resonance factor is designed to place a metaphorical mirror in front of the
client, allowing them to see themselves and their relationship to drug or alcohol
use more clearly. The process is designed to encourage the service user – and
indeed the professional – to take full ownership for their actions and behaviour,
leading to personal responsibility and the development of independent decision
making skills. This position does not necessarily bring a sense of liberty to the
service user, as self-realisation may often feel like a difficult set of choices. But we
are here to support the service user to make those choices and consider what
actions are necessary for a better quality of life.
Chris Robin is joint director of Janus Solutions,
www.janusdayprogramme.co.uk, www.janussolutions.co.uk
ENTERPRISE CORNER
MISTIMED MEASURE
Austerity doesn’t excuse atrocity,
says Amar Lodhia
AUSTERE TIMES CALL FOR AUSTERE MEASURES
,
but David Cameron’s intention to cut housing
benefits for under-25s is misguided, mistimed
and misses the point of benefits for the young.
Cameron has been blinded by the prospect of
making savings of around £2bn, which is set to
create 2m more social problems for the
youngest, most deprived members of our
society, like the service users we support by
empowering them through enterprise.
Whilst Cameron is spinning this latest set
of cuts as a means of making the young more independent by forcing
them into work – and at the same time playing to many of the old
Conservative stereotypes of the ‘welfare scrounger’ – the move is
evidently mistimed. When the priority should be to provide the safety
nets to ensure that young people can enter into sustainable employment
or ‘make a job’ through self-employment, this latest announcement will
do precisely the opposite.
Fortunately, the government has conceded in that this measure will
not be extended to those in care or who have left a violent household.
However, from our experience of working with young people from
disenfranchised backgrounds, or with substance misuse problems
(including from families with history substance misuse), there is a
plethora of ways to fall through the system and find yourself living in
poverty. For these people, no exceptions have been made. Having been
homeless for nearly a year whilst I battled my own drug addiction at the
age of 19, I have experienced this first hand.
Stability is key to sustainable recovery from our experience –
reiterated by Maslow’s ‘hierarchy of needs’, which shows that
physiological factors, such as having a roof over your head, need to be
met before self-esteem can be achieved. This is heightened in the case
some of our service users, who have battled with drug or alcohol
problems or have come from troubled families with a history of
substance dependency and worklessness. They have an even greater
need for literal foundations upon which to build their recovery. The
complexity of their psychological requirements means that our service
users couldn't recover from their addictions, gain self-esteem to set up
their own businesses and become independent of the state if they
weren’t supported in building a stable environment.
How many young entrepreneurs have you come across that have set
up a business simultaneously whilst being homeless? The government
may claim to champion the principles of entrepreneurship by backing
the new loan fund aimed at helping unemployed disadvantaged young
entrepreneurs realise their business dreams, yet in the same stroke they
are taking away from this very group by slashing at their safety net.
Email your views to me at ceo@tsbccic.org.uk and follow us on Twitter
@TSBCLondon using #DDNews
Amar Lodhia is chief executive of The Small Business Consultancy (TSBC)
ESSAGE