l News Open day showcases work of Newcastle DIP

TalkingPoint

AUTUMN 2013

l Meet the teamWakefield Substance Misuse Services’ team

l Learn fromSouth Westminster Drug and Alcohol Service

A look at the changes that have taken place at Turning Point in the past year and what the future holds

Building Turning Point together

Useful numbers(Free confidential support and counselling for Turning Point employees)

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Welcome

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Welcome pointContents

2. Welcome point

3. UpdateOpen day at Newcastle DIP.

4-5. Feature Victor Adebowale looks back at the changes that have taken place at Turning Point in the past year and what the future holds.

6. Meet...Wakefield Substance Misuse Services’ team.

6. Day in the lifeHelen Wells, a volunteer at our Birmingham Community Navigation Team tells us about a recent day in her life.

7. Your points of view

Learn from...South Westminster Drug and Alcohol Service.

8. Your Turning PointIan puts on great show.

Plus ’How Turning Point helped me’.

Have your say

£15

Talking Point is your magazine and we are keen to hear any stories you want to share. Email us at:talkingpoint@turning-point.co.uk

The Exchange (Manchester)

0161 238 5100

people are estimated to be living with dementia worldwide. September was World Alzheimer’s

Month. 1 million

Sources: 1. World Alzheimer’s Month website2. World Health Organization.3. Mental Health Foundation

Standon House (London)

020 7481 7600

Worried about somethingat Turning Point?

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1 in 4British adults experience at least one diagnosable mental health problem

in any one year. 10 October is World Mental

Health Day.

Capita (Previously known as First Assist)

General Turning Point enquiries

people die from suicide worldwide each

year. 10 September was World Suicide

Prevention Day.

63 million

To the point

Welcome to this autumn 2013 edition of Talking Point which as you see is packed with interesting articles about some of the great work you’ve been involved in. I know there has been a big gap since the last edition so in future we are aiming to ensure we have four regular editions, one for each season: winter, summer, spring and autumn.

Secondly, a big thank you to Kristel Tracey, the previous editor of Talking Point, for all her valuable work through the years and, as she moves on to pastures new, I wanted to say a big “hello” to you

all. I have recently started as the Employee Engagement Manager: this is a newly created role which reflects Turning Point’s desire to become more of a listening organising which is shaped by the views and ideas of its people. There will be more on this in future editions.

As part of this process, many of you will have already seen a video on IRIS from our Chief Executive, Victor Adebowale, in which he talks about some of the improvements we are making at Turning Point and asks for your ideas in relation to these by contacting him directly via his email. For those who haven’t had a chance to see this video, the main themes are in the article on page 4.

Your views have certainly been important in shaping some important developments in health and social care. As you may know, Turning Point is on the secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Complex Needs and Dual Diagnosis. The APPG launched an inquiry to gather evidence on complex needs and current provision and to consider the best way of defining the number of people with these needs accessing services. Turning Point colleagues took part in a survey aimed at helping identifying areas of good practice and highlighting any barriers and areas where there is a lack of provision. You can read more about this on page 7 in the Your Points of View section.

Finally, as many of you will know, in order to save costs, we are no longer distributing Talking Point in a printed format. It will however continue to be available on our intranet, IRIS. I really hope you are all able to access the magazine just as easily, but would be interested in getting your feedback on the decision, because this is your magazine and we need to get it out in a format that works for you.

Also, if you have any questions about the content of this issue, would like to contribute to the letters section or appear in any other feature for the next issue, please drop us a line at talkingpoint@turning-point.co.uk. Winnie Coutinho, Editor.

0800 716 017

Open day showcases work of Newcastle DIP

Colleagues at our HMP Thameside service have seen fantastic success with a ‘Through the Gate’ pilot set up in partnership with London Borough of Newham, which aims to lower reoffending by ensuring continuity of support for those with substance misuse issues, beyond their time in the prison.

With a number of people from the borough coming in and out of the prison’s gates, Séamus Tobin (above right), Operations Manager at HMP Thameside, approached the commissioner of the London Borough of Newham and suggested that Turning Point could provide a dedicated ‘Through the Gate’ worker to take those people right the way through the criminal justice journey – from coming into the prison, to engaging them, encouraging

Update

£15Our latest update on just some of the activities our Chief Executive, Victor Adebowale, has been carrying out on behalf of our services and clients:

l Before Parliament went into recess, Victor joined the debate on the Care Bill in the House of Lords. The Bill to reform the social care system was examined by peers who

suggested amendments to improve it. Victor said that all young people should have the offer of a needs assessment

in good time to stop them slipping through the net during the transition from child to adult services.

l Over the summer, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Complex Needs and Dual Diagnosis, which Victor co-chairs, launched an inquiry

aiming to better define complex needs, identify good practice and reduce barriers to support. The group plans to report its findings at a meeting with the Care Services

Minister in the autumn. You can read some of the thoughts shared by TP colleagues in ‘Your points of view’ on page 7.

and supporting them into substance misuse treatment on release. The overriding benefit to the borough is to break the cycle of perpetual offending and hopelessness.

The idea was to make links with the London Borough of Newham community services – the criminal justice intervention team, alcohol services, drugs services, day programmes, social enterprises and other charitable organisations – to help people continue their treatment once they have left prison.

‘Through the gate’ success at Thameside

Colleagues at our Newcastle DIP service held an open day recently to celebrate one year of helping clients and to share the great work they are doing with key stakeholders and members of the public.

The day was split into two parts – with the morning set aside for presentations to invited stakeholders, commissioners and strategic partners, while the afternoon

Update

saw the service open up to anyone who might be interested in the work the team are doing. These included members of the public, service users, carers, GPs and service users’ families.

Lindsay Diston, Operations Manager at the service, explains: ‘We themed each room at the service around a different aspect of the treatments we provide. We

had an intervention room, an assessment room and an offender’s programme room, which meant our visitors could move around in order and clearly understand each step of the process.

‘The day really showed the level of work we do and also helped demystify some of the stages of the Drug Intervention Programme, such as how drugs tests are carried out.’

Among key stakeholders attending the event was the district judge, the chair of the bench at the magistrate’s court, the head of public health for Newcastle and people managers across the drug and alcohol field in the region.

For more information, please contact Lindsay.diston@turning–point.co.uk

For more information visit the Wellbeing page on IRIS.

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The pilot has been really successful. Of those who have been using the service, only one has failed to remain engaged after release and subsequently returned to prison. What’s more, 87% have engaged with all treatments and interventions offered in the community.

As a result of the success, the London Borough of Newham commissioner has decided to commit full funding for a further two years.

‘We wanted to be a prison that looked outside of the wall and dragged community services inside the prison walls to engage and be part of the delivery,’ said Séamus. ‘Newham have embraced this and, as a result, are getting more people from prisons going into treatment than ever before.’

Turning Point has recently taken on a new Employee Assistance Provider, Capita (previously known as First Assist).

After comparing the quality of support offered by Employee Assistance Providers, we found that Capita is able to offer a more cost-effective service with additional services to those we had access to before. So, you’ll now be able to access an additional counselling session (six sessions in comparison to the five previously available) and utilise Capita’s online health risk assessment ‘Fitness2live’, a confidential tool which allows you to assess, monitor and track your health, create reports and tailor health programmes to meet your needs.

As previously, you will also be able to access legal information, face-to-face or telephone counselling, online advice and email support, critical incident support and health and wellbeing support.

The entire service is completely free and confidential and accessible 24 hours a day, 365 days per year – just give them a call on 0800 716 017.

Capita to help outemployees

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Feature

Our Chief Executive Victor Adebowale looks back at the changes that have taken place at Turning Point in the

past year and what the future holds.

As Turning Point heads towards its 50th year, I felt it would be a

good opportunity to be in touch with you to share my thoughts but more importantly, to listen to your ideas for shaping our future.

Firstly, I want to acknowledge the valuable contribution that you are all making in turning the lives around of some of the country’s most vulnerable people with complex needs: whether you are working directly with people who seek our help, supporting information technology, managing one of our services, working on reception or are in an administrative or management role. Everyone has a vital part to play and I would like to thank you all for your continuing dedication.

I know that the last twelve months have been tough: decisions like changes to terms and conditions and on the future of some of our mental health services have not been easy to make, but unfortunately in the present tough economic climate, we had to make changes to survive. These decisions have not been taken lightly.

We have had some real successes too, for example in taking on new services and in making inroads into primary care.

I recognise that you will be feeling differently about Turning Point depending on how these changes may have impacted on you or on your colleagues and I want to acknowledge this. I also think we can use this as an opportunity to consider what’s important to us, what we want Turning Point to be

like in the future and what we want to get from being a part of an organisation that is doing such valuable work.

Our priority now is to build a stronger Turning Point where we all work together as one team to secure a better future for our clients and employees. This is something that we all passionately care about. We have already started to look at how we can do this. Some of you have been involved in discussions about how we use technology to help us do our work better, or how we describe and live up to our values so that they are evident in the way in which we work together, communicate with each other and in the way that we present ourselves externally.

We are also looking at new ways in which we can

Building Turning Point together

manage and recognise the work of our people, how we can develop better ways of listening to each other and how we use our 50th anniversary as an opportunity to promote the great work we are doing and celebrate our achievements – we will be having further discussions on these topics over the coming months.

As part of improving the way we listen to each other, I am very keen to hear your ideas directly myself. Tell me how your experience of working for Turning Point could be improved; how we can make the services we provide even better; how we can communicate better; what values are important to you. Your ideas can really make a difference to everything we do. I will listen, reflect on these ideas and then share them

Feature

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‘Our priority is to continue to build a stronger and better Turning Point that

will continue to turn people’s lives

around for the next 50 years and beyond.’

with the teams that are leading work in these areas. The improvements that we want to make won’t happen overnight if we want to make them last, but they will be a part of a process of significant changes we are determined to make. So do please drop me an email on Victor.Adebowale@turning-point.co.uk. I look forward to hearing from you.

In focus

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08.00 I’m up early and really excited about the day ahead, where I’ll be joining other volunteers from the team to learn more about the work we’ll be doing and getting some invaluable training.

09.00 The session begins with an introduction to the service. It sets out how we will be taking referrals from third-sector organisations relating to people that meet certain criteria: they must be over 50 and have either mental health support, physical disability or learning disability. Our role is to support them to help ensure they can stay in the community.

10.30 There will be eight of us working on the team and it’s great that we all started on the same day. It’s like starting school or a college course and it gives us the chance to chat to colleagues.

11.45 Our next session is all about how we can join the dots and get the help our clients need, whether through Turning Point or other services in the local community.

12.30 Lunch is another chance to meet colleagues and we chat about our challenges - working for a new organisation, working in a new and evolving role and getting to know our communities so that we could perform in our jobs effectively.

14.30 This afternoon we work through what it will be like carrying out assessments of potential clients referred to us. Assessments will begin with a phone call followed by a home visit - so we need to work through what that will be like.

16.00 The paperwork side of the assessment is pretty complex and it’s important we do it right so we can move on to mapping that client with the appropriate services to them.

17.00 There’s a real sense of bonding around the service. We never felt that E-learning would be so informative and practically helpful. At the start, most of us felt this would be a drudge but it was far from it, maybe because the whole team had to achieve the same courses it became a way of interacting with each other and a source of discussion.

Meet...Wakefield Substance Misuse Services’ team

Dave Taylor, Team Leader, tells us about Wakefield Substance Misuse Services’ new Wreckreational team

Tell us about the Wreckreational team…We are a team of experienced Turning Point recovery workers dedicated to offering advice, support and treatment to users of ‘party drugs’. We visit local clubs and music venues across the region as well as attending community events to raise awareness of the dangers of so-called ‘legal highs’ and recreational drugs, and to offer support to individuals. In keeping people safe and supporting those who want to change, we are also available on the phone or from our three services across the district.

What are the dangers of these drugs?Use of party drugs can lead to problems with both physical and psychological health. It may result in financial difficulties, cause work and education problems or have an impact on relationships with loved ones. The physical effects of these drugs can vary greatly from person to person. Serious issues can and do occur. How do you help people affected by these drugs?Support to stop using party drugs is offered in the form of a detox programme, a programme of one-to-one support sessions, and a group work programme around the use and impact of other drugs. As well as the work we do in nightclubs and at music venues, we have also received referrals from the Leeds Legal High Clinic.

What else are you doing to tackle the problem?In addition to educating users of party

Helen Wells, a volunteer at our Birmingham Community Navigation Team, tells us about the work of the team and recent day in her life, when she attended a day of her two-week induction for the new service...

To the point

drugs about the dangers, we are working with strategic partners to ensure the issue is on their agendas. For example, we have spent time visiting local GPs to discuss some of the symptoms caused by certain drugs, so that if they are seeing a trend in those symptoms among patients they recognise it. We’re also talking to West Yorkshire Police about how we can work with them through their Safer Wakefield Partnership. A referral pathway has also been established with our DIP

service so assessment appointments can be offered to anyone coming through the Police cells on a weekend.

What are some of the ‘tools’ you use to raise awareness of the dangers of these drugs?We have lots of literature with messages around minimising the risks of drug use. We have created posters which have been put up at venues – many of which have codes on them that people looking for advice can scan with their mobile phones and access the website. We also have cards which we have in the back of taxis and on local buses in the area, posters in fast-food venues and, of course, lots of information on our website. What’s more, one of the clubs in the area has let us set up a ‘chill out’ area on their premises for people that are having a bad experience with drugs. How many of you are there in the team?We are now a full-time dedicated team. As well as myself we have project workers Gary Mills, Michael Lewis and Johanne Thompson, and support worker Ainsley McDonald.

To take part in ‘A day in the life’ contact talkingpoint@turning-point.co.uk

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Number of staff: 5Client group: Users of ‘party drugs’Manager: Dave Taylor

A DAY IN THE LIFE

To take part in ‘Meet the Team’ contact talkingpoint@turning-point.co.uk

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For more information please contact dave.taylor@turning-point.co.uk

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News extra

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Your points of view You may recall a recent IRIS News article asking colleagues to share their views as part of an inquiry looking at current service provision for people with complex needs and dual diagnosis. Turning Point is the secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Complex Needs and Dual Diagnosis.

The APPG launched the inquiry to gather evidence on complex needs and current service provision, with the aim of presenting the initial results of the inquiry at the next APPG meeting where we hope Norman Lamb MP, Minister of State for Care and Support, will be speaking. The inquiry also aims to identify the best way of defining complex needs and to move closer to identifying the number of people with complex needs accessing services.

TP colleagues and clients, as well as other health and social care professionals and individuals that have received support for complex needs and dual diagnosis, all took part in the survey, helping to identify areas of good practice and highlight any barriers and areas where provision is lacking. We’d like to say a massive thank you to all colleagues and clients that took part. Although the full results have not been released yet, here is a snippet

Henrietta Selman, a project worker at our South Westminster Drug and Alcohol Service tells us about the Professionals’ Breakfast Mornings they’ve recently launched.

We recently launched our new approach to open mornings by holding an early morning breakfast event aimed at professionals from a wide range of agencies and services, in an effort to develop new working relationships and referral pathways. Professionals were invited to

have breakfast at the service, which was followed by a series of short presentations by colleagues and peer mentors outlining key areas of service delivery.

Over thirty people attended the event,

including representatives from prisons, day centres, mental health services, local outreach and homeless organisations, Drugscope and the Metropolitan Police. A number of existing partners attended and we also had a

good turnout from services and agencies who aren’t currently working with us. We have made some promising links with other services, which will enhance our referral pathways.

We had some really good feedback from attendees, one person commented: ‘I was really impressed with the services you provide and your professional commitment to your service users’ while another said ‘I look forward to developing a working partnership between

us in the future.’

South Westminster Drug and Alcohol ServiceLearn from…

of some of the thoughts shared by our colleagues:

What are the key barriers that people with complex needs face in accessing and using services?There is a lack of dual diagnosis work and service provision in our county. Clients have to access numerous services for different conditions, which is difficult for them. In some cases, one of their conditions can be a barrier for accessing support for another; for example, substance misuse clients are sometimes prevented from accessing mental health services due to their substance use. Substance misuse and mental health issues often go hand-in-hand, but it’s not always viewed by mental health services as that.Caroline Anderson,Roads to Recovery Cheltenham

How can services better meet the needs of people with complex needs?There needs to be a greater willingness for all partner agencies to acknowledge each other’s roles and responsibilities, and to work closely with one another. Rather than standing behind boundaries/protocols, there needs to be a more ‘joined-up’ approach to ensure that clients with complex needs

and dual diagnosis don’t slip through the gaps. Bev Firth, Operations Manager for Wakefield Substance Misuse Services

At the Hertfordshire Complex Needs Service we offer outreach and peer support, which is an invaluable source of support to the people we work with. However, outreach services need more funding to operate and successfully support more people with complex needs in our county. Rebecca Plater, Project Worker II at the Hertfordshire Complex Needs Service

Do you have any examples of good practice/success stories that show how barriers and challenges can be effectively overcome? Wakefield’s Grosvenor House ‘hub’, which includes a number of TP substance misuse services and an IAPT service (Rightsteps Wakefield), has greatly improved the service provision for service users with offending, substance misuse and mental health problems. The new Accord Recovery Centre (ARC) service has also greatly improved the work with clients in recovery around education, training and employment.Jason Carr, Project Worker II at Wakefield DIP

In Staffordshire, there has been a big improvement in GP’s understanding and involvement with service users. Our approach to supporting individuals with a learning disability by helping them to lead a positive, free and fulfilling life with active participation in the community has led to more community acceptance and awareness. Bernard Lycett, Team Leader, Staffordshire Learning Disability Services

We will share full results of the inquiry once they are presented at the next meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Complex Needs and Dual Diagnosis.

If you would like to find out more about the APPG, please get in touch with Matt Hopkins, External Affairs Advisor on 020 7481 7684 or matt.hopkins@turning-point.co.uk.

A big thank you again to everyone who took part in the survey. Your views will help us raise the profile of the issues faced by people with complex needs and dual diagnosis with members of parliament and other opinion leaders, and to lead the agenda on issues around complex needs and dual diagnosis.Sarah Kennedy, Director of External Affairs

For more information please contact andy.wooldridge@turning-point.co.uk

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Your Turning Point

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About Talking PointTurning Point is a registered charity, No. 234887

Address: Standon House, 21 Mansell St, London, E1 8AATel: 020 7481 7600www.turning-point.co.uk

Talking Point is published for Turning Point by Red & White Publishingwww.redandwhitepublishing.co.uk

A Peer Mentor at our service in HMP Thameside shares his experience of how the Turning Point team supported him.

Initially I heard about the support Turning Point provides at HMP Thameside during the prison induction. I had substance misuse issues that I wanted to address, so I asked to see a Turning Point member of staff. I met my keyworker and she suggested that I attend the SCAR (Supporting Change and Recovery) Programme. I didn’t know what to expect from the programme and was a bit reluctant. Although I knew I had a problem with alcohol and drugs, I didn’t feel fully ready to confront it. Once I started the programme however, it made me look at my problems and take ownership. The TP staff that supported me made me realise that I was missing out on my family, and how my drug use affects not only me but the people around me. Staff highlighted the available support networks and showed me strategies for dealing with my addiction and the programme has helped me to continue to abstain from drugs. After the course finished I decided to use my experience to help others, so I applied for the Turning Point Peer Mentor position and started the role in mid-July 2013.The job gives me a sense of fulfilment. I can understand and relate to others who are in a similar position to the one I was in and use my experiences to help others not to make the same mistakes and show them that they can turn their lives around.I have done other courses in the past that have covered the same topics and had the same aims, but I believe that the reason Turning Point was successful in helping me is down to the members of staff Turning Point employs. They show great enthusiasm and willingness to help the people they support. You can see how much they care in the group sessions and one-to- ones, and the team here at HMP Thameside work really well together. All of this gets the best results.

How Turning Point helped me

If one of your clients would like to share their experience of how Turning Point helped them, contact talkingpoint@turning-point.co.uk

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Ian Devine, one of the individuals supported at our Edward House mental health service in Manchester, recently treated staff at The Exchange, our Manchester central support office, to a music concert.

Ian regularly writes music and poetry and displays his poems at The Exchange’s service user art exhibition in the reception for visitors to enjoy. He had performed his music live for colleagues previously, and staff at The Exchange enjoyed it so much that they asked him to come back and perform again. Ian took to the stage to perform 11 tracks, including songs by The Beatles and Buddy Holly, and some tracks he’d written himself.

Reflecting on the gig, one colleague said: ‘Having chatted to Ian several times in the past about his music and gigs, it was lovely to be a part of it and to see how much he clearly enjoys playing. It was also a really welcome interlude to the day and to a busy week, not to mention a fantastic reminder of why we’re all here and the difference Turning Point makes to the lives of the people we support’. Read Ian’s poem, ‘The Flock’, below:

The FlockWe chitter chatter as we fly,We all flock together;Some may live and some may die,But the flock goes on forever.Ian Devine, 2009

Ian puts on great show

Members of a women’s group supported by our North Tyneside Drug Intervention Programme have been using art and film to tell their stories and help break down the stigma around offending and substance misuse.

The Wallsend Women’s Group is run by Northumbria Probation Trust. It provides an informal and safe environment where women can more effectively address their offending behaviour.

Recently, members of the group put on an exhibition called Life Stories, which focused on work undertaken through individual supervision and group

sessions to help them break the cycle of reoffending. The exhibition gave a unique insight into the issues that contribute to the downward cycle into offending, and the work each individual needs to do to turn their life around.

As part of the exhibition, a community artist and a specialist animator worked with the women’s group to produce eight canvasses and a series of short films.

Turning Point works with the group to provide brief interventions (short counselling sessions and advice), to encourage referral to specialist treatment services for those showing signs of

dependence and to provide ongoing support.

Paula Routledge, Operations Manager for our North Tyneside Drug Intervention Programme, said:

‘Art is an important way of telling your own story and helping to break down the stigma which exists around both offending and substance misuse. We were proud to work alongside our probation partners to support this project and I hope that this artwork helps people understand more about the women’s lives and the work that we do.’

Women’s group are in the picture

Earlier this summer colleagues and clients were all invited to the wedding of Rebecca Reynolds, a colleague at our Avondale learning disability service in Staffordshire. Cathie Birrell, Team Leader said: ‘We were all so pleased to be able to attend Rebecca’s wedding reception. It was a fabulous evening and we had a marvellous time; each client was supported to enjoy themselves to the fullest, and both colleagues and the people we support danced the night away.

Wedding bells at Avondale

For more information, please contact paula.routledge@turning-point.co.uk

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