“Public Health England
funds exciting new
Peer Hub”
New home for Bristol Peer
Supporters, page 6
“Dr Pedlar and Doris
spread the word on
legal highs”
The Natural Theatre
Company, page 4
DHI Friends
DHI Friends newsletter #9 Autumn 2015
www.dhi-online.org.uk
Of f The Wall
Turns Ten!
Off The Wall, our client-led magazine, is
celebrating its 10th year! We find out more.
The appropriately named Off The Wall (OTW) started
life on the wall - as a noticeboard for clients to share
news, information and advice to help in their recoveries.
As a group of people going through similar life
experiences, clients felt they had a lot to offer one
another, and they were right! So much was being shared
on the board that clients suggested transforming it into
a magazine, to make it accessible to more people. And
the fact that it is still going strong 10 years later is a
testament to the power of peer-led support, and the
commitment of our clients to helping one another in
their recoveries.
Our graphic designers, the Group of Seven, soon
began to offer their expertise on a voluntary basis,
bringing the magazine’s production to a professional
level and making it a project that clients would really
be proud to contribute to.
Continued on page 2 …
Inside this issue: A word from our CEO 2 / Annual Event 3 / Spreading
the word on legal highs 4 / News in brief 7 / Positive about disability 8
DHI Friends
Issue 9
Off The Wall Turns
Ten! Continued…
We spoke to Ella Opher, a
member of staff who supports the
organisation of OTW. She explains
a bit about how the magazine is
run: “OTW is led by clients who
hold group editorial meetings
with Group of Seven to decide
the content of each issue, and
any DHI client can attend and
contribute to the magazine. The
OTW team have become experts
in covering important issues in an
entertaining way.”
The man behind the jokes
Andrew Campbell is OTW’s
resident joke writer; he has been
involved in its production since
2011. Andrew was seeking help to
overcome long-term unemployment
and assist his recovery, and OTW
provided an opportunity to develop
The OTW team meet John Taylor from Duran Duran
his professional writing skills.
For many contributors, OTW is
an impressive addition to their
CV, teaching them valuable skills.
Feedback from readers is that
OTW is a great source of support,
knowledge and inspiration. As
Andrew explains, the fact that OTW
is written by and for DHI clients
means that writers can talk openly
about difficult subjects: “Others can
read articles about problems like
addiction and know that they are not
going through it alone.”
A word from our CEO…
There are many reasons why peer
involvement is vital to our services,
and therefore many reasons
to celebrate Off the Wall’s 10th
anniversary.
As our feature demonstrates, peer
led initiatives such as OTW can
provide a sense of purpose and
direction, an outlet for creativity,
a way to educate and inform
our staff, services and others in
recovery, and a way for peers to
relate through shared experience.
Perhaps most importantly, peer
involvement can empower
2
individuals and help address
stigma and discrimination; as
our Bristol Peer Support Service
demonstrates (see page 6).
Off the Wall (OTW) is not only an
interesting read, it provides people
with the opportunity to learn new
skills and get involved in lots of
stimulating ways. Long may it
continue!
Meanwhile young
peers from
Motiv8, our
Wiltshire
young
person’s
“[Off the Wall exists]
solely due to the
passion, commitment
and talents of the
many people who pass
through DHI on their
road to recovery.”
Rosie Phillips
treatment service, were involved
in another successful DHI
collaboration with The Natural
Theatre Company.
Peer involvement is not a complete
solution to major health and social
issues, but it is a significant and
valuable component in a range
of interventions at DHI that seek
to ensure positive change is
sustained by empowering
our clients. We are very
proud of it.
Rosie Phillips, our CEO,
congratulates Andrew
on his work for OTW
Issue 9
DHI Friends
We would like to invite you to …
Our 2015
Annual Event
Rising to the
Challenge
Wednesday 11th November, 6:00-8:00pm
The Guildhall, High Street, Bath BA1 5AW
This will be an opportunity
to celebrate another year
with us and to get a better
understanding of what
we do and the challenges
facing our clients in the
current climate. Speaking
of our 2014 Annual Event,
Councillor Vic Pritchard said:
“I met people who had
previously plunged into
seemingly hopeless
addictions from which there
appeared no return until,
with the help of DHI, they
were able to return to normal
productive lives.”
Guest speaker:
Stephen Robertson,
CEO, Big Issue
Foundation
Rosie Phillips, Phil Hammond & previous
winner of a Client Achievement Award
RSVP to events@dhibath.org.uk
3
DHI Friends
Issue 9
Dr Pedlar and Doris spread
the word on legal highs
Our collaboration with the award-winning Natural Theatre Company
resulted in a high-impact production raising awareness of ‘legal highs’
or NPS in Wiltshire schools.
D
HI and Wiltshire
Council teamed up
with the Natural
Theatre Company to
create an interactive production
educating young people on Novel
Psychoactive Substances (NPS) or
legal highs.
As part of NPS Awareness Week
we worked together to design a
fun and accessible piece of theatre
that would get young people
thinking about the risks that legal
highs can carry. The production
toured schools in Wiltshire for a
week, culminating in three public
performances in Trowbridge
County Hall on 2nd October.
Statistics show that increasing
numbers of young people are
experimenting with legal highs, so
the key objective of this production
was to warn that the legality of a drug
doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s safe.
Legal highs can have serious health
implications and, because they
have not been tested for human
consumption, many of their effects
are still unknown. Moreover, as
their packaging rarely discloses
a full list of ingredients, it is
impossible to know exactly
what is being sold.
4
For more information about
Motiv8, or to access their
services, telephone
0800 1696136 or email
info@dhimotiv8.org.uk.
The award-winning Natural Theatre
Company worked closely with
our staff and young clients with
experience of NPS use to create a
piece that was both engaging for
young audiences and informative.
Feedback from the schools has
been hugely positive: students
described the
performance as
“fun but with a
serious message”
and “full of
information”.
For more information on NPS
and illegal drugs visit our
SPACED website:
spaced-sg.org.uk
Issue 9
DHI Friends
The production also encouraged
anyone who wants to know more
about NPS, or anyone who is
struggling with substance abuse
issues, to get in touch with our
Motiv8 service. Motiv8 is our free,
confidential young person’s service
in Wiltshire, which provides advice,
information and support to anyone
18 or under who is experiencing
problems with alcohol or drug use.
Holistic help for vulnerable clients
DHI and Solon lead
new service addressing
gap between alcohol
treatment and
housing services.
detox only to find they are faced
with homelessness or a stressful
housing situation, putting them at
high risk of suffering a relapse.
be able to oversee their transition
back into the community.
The PAD Project will offer clients
accommodation in DHI and Solon’s
Clearly such vulnerable people put
supported housing, prescriptions
a strain on local welfare, police and to assist with their medical detox,
probation services, yet fail to get the and a full package of emotional
The Post Alcohol Detox (PAD)
level or continuity of support needed and practical support. In keeping
project will work with clients who
to make a long-term recovery.
with our values here at DHI, PAD
are street homeless or precariously
will take a holistic view of client
In response to this issue, DHI
housed and have undergone an
needs and aim to work with each
and Solon are leading local
unplanned alcohol detox,
individual to provide the assistance
organisations in an innovative
something that usually
they need to make a full recovery.
pilot, which has been designed to
happens in hospital as
the result of an injury or coordinate services and ensure that There will be a wide range of
no client falls between the cracks.
urgent health issue.
support on offer, including housing
From November 2015 at the point
Until now these
and benefits advice, gym access
of detox these clients will be
clients have been
and even alternative therapies like
referred to the PAD Project, who will acupuncture.
discharged post-
5
DHI Friends
Issue 9
New home for Bristol Peers
“Peer supporter
training helped
me to gain
my own
independence
and to learn
to help.”
Aisha, Bristol Peer Supporter
6
A grant from Public Health
England means that we can
now provide our Bristol Peer
Supporters with a fantastic Peer
Hub, complete with a training suite,
an IT café, a one-to-one meeting
space and plenty of resources to
enable their work as supporters.
identified a need for Peers to have
their own IT facilities, resources
and rooms with which to run peer
led groups and activities.
Since starting our peer service in
Bristol, a part of Bristol ROADS
(Recovery Orientated Alcohol and
Drugs Service), there has been a
great deal of interest from people
with their own experience of drug
and alcohol issues wishing to
become Peer Supporters.
The space has proved hugely
popular already, particularly the IT
facilities, lack of which can be a
real barrier to people facing social
exclusion. Peers can use these
computers to update their CVs and
search for work or volunteering
opportunities – simple things that
make a huge difference in the road
to recovery: 16 of our Bristol Peers
have been successfully supported
into paid employment so far!
We’ve been constantly impressed
by this enthusiasm to ‘give
something back’ and help others,
and by what a difference this
makes to the recoveries of those
they support. The service has
really grown fast, and as such we
As a charity we could not continue
to offer our services without the
support and donations from our
sponsors. You can use the below
link to raise funds for us through a
fun activity of your own choice:
www.justgiving.com/dhi/
Issue 9
DHI Friends
News in brief
Reach
celebrates
fourth
anniversary
Our Reach Floating Support
Service, which provides support
and advice to help homeless,
socially excluded or otherwise
vulnerable people to live
independently recently celebrated
its fourth birthday. In that time
the service has gone from strength
to strength. Reach now works
with approximately 200 clients
at any one time, and in 2014/15
71% of homeless clients were
successfully supported into secure
accommodation, and 90% of
those leaving the service had been
supported to live independently.
If you need support you can
contact Reach Floating
Support Services on:
T: 01225 422156
M: 07917 637846
info@dhireach.org.uk
www.dhireach.org.uk
Goodbye Ben!
We would like to wish farewell and
good luck to Ben McFarland, our
Bristol Services Manager, who is
moving to Germany with his family.
Thanks for all your hard work Ben,
we will miss you!
Police & Crime
Commissioner
meets service users
Avon & Wiltshire Police & Crime Commissioner Sue Mountstevens
visited our Bath treatment centre, The Beehive, in August to meet
with our staff and service users and find out about how our services
contribute to the local community. It was wonderful to have Sue really
listen to our clients and their stories, and she said she was “delighted
to have more knowledge of [our] work”.
Social prescribing success
DHI were asked to present at the National Association of Provider
(NAPO) on the back of its innovative and successful South
Gloucestershire Social Prescribing service. NAPO is a forum aimed
at helping GPs rethink the way care is provided, so this was a golden
opportunity to raise DHI’s profile, influence national decision making
and spread the word on the power of social prescribing.
7
DHI Friends
Issue 9
News in brief continued …
Join us!
We are always keen to
recruit more volunteers at
DHI. We have a number of
volunteering opportunities
available from work in the
open air on our allotment to
admin support in our head
office in Milsom Street.
Please contact
Volunteers
@dhi-online.org.uk
Project 28 visits the BBC
Children in Need generously invited three young people from our
Project 28 service to visit the BBC studios in London. They were
given the chance to take part in an interview on Springwatch, to help
film Flog It!, and to wander the studios asking questions. It was a
really exciting day out, and we learnt a lot about how the BBC and TV
production works. Thank you Pudsey!
Positive about disability
We are proud to have been awarded
the ‘Two Ticks’ positive about
disability symbol, as part of a
Jobcentre Plus scheme to recognise
organisations that are committed to
providing employment, support and
development opportunities to
staff with disabilities.
We aim
to reflect
our values
in every area
of our organisation, and this is
an important acknowledgement
that we are doing just that in our
employment practices.
or for more information visit
www.dhi-online.org.
uk/volunteering
Don’t be a
stranger
We have strengthened our
social media activity and
we’re now regularly
updating Facebook and
Twitter. Follow us for updates
on our work and Share or
Like our posts to help us
raise awareness of
important issues.
Developing Health & Independence
15/16 Milsom Street, Bath BA1 1DE tel: 01225 478730 web: www.dhi-online.org.uk
Company No. 3830311 Registered Charity No. 1078154
8
@DHI_Online
/ DevelopingHealth
Independence