and wellbeing are critical in strengthening and supporting recovery pathways.
Thus, recovery contagion can be spread and can be role-modelled through
workers and teams in exactly the same way that it can with peers, and it seems
clear that the worker who believes that their clients can and will recover will do
more and will engage better than workers who are jaded, burnt out and sceptical
about recovery and its prospects. But while this seems obvious, it is not well
understood or well measured in identifying recovery-ready teams and services.
And this brings me to my last point. Recovery-oriented systems of care are
a fundamental paradigm shift in what treatment looks like, who delivers it and
when. It means a transition in working relationships from expert-patient to
partnership; a shift in location of recovery from the specialist clinic to the
community; it means a growing role for peers and families and a more
circumscribed role for professionals; and it means a system where the assets
should reside in the community.
What makes a recovery system includes how good treatment services are,
but relies much more heavily on the resources that exist in the local community
at three levels – individuals who inspire; groups that support and sustain; and
organisations and institutions that adapt to provide the foundations for recovery
and to allow the key things – training, housing, health and wellbeing – that enable
quality of life to grow in communities that recover and change.
Addiction Recovery is published by Pavilion
David Best is associate professor of addiction studies at Turning Point
Alcohol and Drug Centre/Monash University, Australia
‘While the 1,000 stories suggest
that everyone recovers in
incredibly diverse and personal
ways, the one “rule” would appear
to be that nobody does it alone.’
Recovery |
Enterprise corner
February 2012 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 21
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
scape
ENTERPRISE CORNER
THE ESSENTIAL HAND UP
How can we give job opportunities to those furthest
removed from the labour market, asks Amar Lodhia
We all know the barriers that problematic drug
and alcohol users face gaining employment –
lack of education and skills, poor health,
stigma and lack of support – and hear the
staggering statistics and the costs attached to
them every day.
Our united mission is to get service users to
successfully complete treatment and transition
into employment or self-employment. This is
accompanied by increased government pressure to do the same. Add into
the mix economic downturn and throw in an increasingly competitive job
market, and what do we get? A complete mismatch between policy, labour
and the market. It is essential that we not only continue to generate
conversation and engage with all stakeholders involved, but that we
develop and implement effective solutions together to align policy, labour
and the market.
Recently TSBC attended two events where we began taking steps in
doing just that. TSBC is part of the London Drug and Alcohol Network's
Routes to Employment Advisory Group, whose main focus is to effectively
break down the barriers for drug and alcohol agencies and third sector
organisations. They aim to ensure they are provided with more guidance
and are able to develop or source effective employment training education
programmes which can provide consistent and effective advice and access
routes into employment for service users.
I attended the Royal Society of Arts (RSA)’s jobs summit last week where
panellists including former CBI (Confederation of Business Industry) head
Sir Richard Lambert and David Miliband MP discussed how to mobilise the
labour market. I asked the following question: ‘Where is the incentive for
labour market gatekeepers like prime providers and employment agencies
to support those furthest removed from the labour market? Should these
populations just create their own jobs?’
This is TSBC’s Year of Innovation and we have developed a new adult
‘Progress to Success’ programme. This uses unique tools to support service
users to break down barriers and stigma, and gain self-realisation through
an employability skills programme that inspires them to apply their skills
and career ambitions to the labour market. The aim is to give service users
practical skills to actively look for and secure employment.
The LDAN project will be running employer forums as well as workshops
in current business forums to develop awareness, training and support
resources for employers. Over 99 per cent of the private sector in the UK are
small businesses. They account for 50 per cent of our jobs and 60 per cent
of our country's GDP. Surely, whether service users set up their own
business or are looking for work, small and medium-sized businesses
should be a key focus.
Our ‘Breaking the Cycle’ initiative involves matching the capacity needs
of small businesses to those on our programmes, and we help them identify
gaps within their organisation – for example if their business is expanding
an operation, launching a new product and they need sales and business
development support. This initiative is perfectly suited to support their
business and help those who are furthest removed from the labour market.
Amar Lodhia is chief executive of The Small Business Consultancy (TSBC),
tsbccic.org.uk