Basic HTML Version
16 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 23 March 2009
Voices for choices |
Service user conference 2009
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
Throughout the day the
DDN
film crew was on hand to hear
people’s experience of treatment, their views on choice and
whatever else was on their mind. Here is a selection of highlights.
You can view them in full at
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
Rachel Clements,
service user involvement co-ordinator
‘Paperwork is actually an impediment to creating a
rapport with someone. If somebody comes in in distress,
they’ve got loads of stuff going on, they might be feeling
paranoid about having contact with the system in the
first place. The last thing they want to do is complete a
massive mountain of paperwork. It’s not helpful – who’s
it for? The clients don’t want it, they’d prefer to just be
able to chat to you. As a worker it’s just a nightmare and
a source of stress that stops you from being able to
think properly about your client. So who wants it? It’s the
NTA that wants it so they can audit what’s going on and
it’s all to do with performance management and ticks in
boxes and it’s nothing really to do with people’s welfare
– the welfare of the people it’s supposed to be about.’
Kevin Knott,
Bradford service users representatives forum
‘I’d like to say how glad I am to be here this year after
being here last year, seeing improvements that have
been made. And I’d like to say “big up to the Bradford
SURF” and I’m happy to be involved. I’ve come a long
way since coming out of prison in August 2007 after a
long time in for drug addiction. I’m clean at the
moment, touch wood – hope it stays that way – and I’m
just happy to be here.’
Toni Meshko and Sammy Manzarolli,
Artheads, West Suffolk
TM
: ‘Artheads is a brilliant project that has been running
for a few years, involving music, dance, drama, art
exhibitions, and it’s basically been to raise awareness of
addictions to the general public.’
SM
: ‘No one said to me it was possible to stop using
drugs and I worry that that still hangs around – that that
doesn’t get tabled as an option quite as often as it might.’
Sean Murphy, Nottingham
‘It’s not so much the services, but the structure the
services fit in. They’re the ones that ask for the targets
to be met. The services try and meet the targets, and
somewhere along the way the people get left and kind
of forgotten.’
Phil Craig, Addaction
‘They say they can’t have needles in prisons because it’s
a political thing and they’re afraid of what the media
might put out to the public about it – the fact is, needles
in prisons are already there and I think the authorities
should begin to get more real.’
Paul Simmons, Suffolk DAAT
‘The people that do go for abstinence services and
remain free from drugs and alcohol do seem to lead
more productive lives… when I was using, I just
wanted to be normal. To me, what normal meant was
going out, getting a job, having a family, children, all
that kind of stuff. And what abstinence-based
treatment has led to eventually for me, with a lot of
hard work, is exactly that.
‘It’s about time the NTA went Alan Sugar on the rogue
commissioners who are not interested. At the end of the
day it is proven that involving people in their experiences
of treatment does contribute to more effective
treatment. We need to listen to what people want and we
need to give them that.’
Christopher Campbell,
substance misuse users group, South Wales
‘We’re pushing a social enterprise. Groups in South
Wales are looking to amalgamate. England, we can’t
deny you’re doing a good job and you would be sorely
missed if you weren’t there. But come on, there’s more
than just England in the nation.’
VIDEO VIEWS