Overcoming the harms caused by
alcohol, drugs and gambling
Responding to addiction
in the Family
Helen Garratt
Overcoming the harms caused by
alcohol, drugs and gambling
Why so little action?
Know about the effects of drinking on
families and children – good solid research
base yet slow to develop practice in
mainstream services
Overcoming the harms caused by
alcohol, drugs and gambling
AQUARIUS
• Open to seeing family members but
historically only in response to contact
made by people to us
• Lacked model/intervention base
• Led to staff concern/reluctance
Overcoming the harms caused by
alcohol, drugs and gambling
AQUARIUS
• Roots in research
• UKATT - SBNT
• Specialist posts and Family Alcohol Team
– complex high need/Child protection
_ home visits, good rapport with difficult to
engage families
Overcoming the harms caused by
alcohol, drugs and gambling
• Trainers on the national Alcohol Concern
Parenting training
• Research project with Orford, Velleman
and Copello to develop family work
interventions in a mainstream service 5
Step and SBNT
(2006/07)
Overcoming the harms caused by
alcohol, drugs and gambling
• Involving Family Members Across the
Organisation (IFMO)
Overcoming the harms caused by
alcohol, drugs and gambling
Making It Happen
• Important People – CEO & Trustees
• Investment – money, time, resources,
interest with reports, support
• Key powerful players – managers and
senior practitioners (ah!)
• Sell the project to the workforce (ah!)
Overcoming the harms caused by
alcohol, drugs and gambling
Difficulties
• Tension between wanting to improve
practice provide guidance/support and the
constraints of research
• Recording – paper vs electronic
• Supporting documentation – Family
assessment forms and DV
Overcoming the harms caused by
alcohol, drugs and gambling
Difficulties
• Huge organisational/service changes
• External forces/shifts in focus
• Differences in commissioning
Overcoming the harms caused by
alcohol, drugs and gambling
Successes
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Family work in our business plan
Family work champions
Family work now included on ILLY
Case management reports
New work streams – Derby, Choices,
Wolverhampton, Kinship carers
Overcoming the harms caused by
alcohol, drugs and gambling
Successes
• Strengthening existing contracts –
Sandwell carers, Family drug service,
Family alcohol service, Tier 3, Solihull and
Dudley
• Having a voice – recent consultation in
Birmingham strong family members
presence
Overcoming the harms caused by
alcohol, drugs and gambling
Successes
• Impacting on commissioning – eg
Recovery & Living Well in Birmingham the
number of family members seen
• 2010/2011 = 42
• 2012/2013 = 362
• Target = 330 30% of engaged clients
Overcoming the harms caused by
alcohol, drugs and gambling
Next steps
• Internal – review our written documents
listen to our champions/staff
disseminate the research
communicate the good news
Overcoming the harms caused by
alcohol, drugs and gambling
Next steps
• External – keep on spreading the word