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Addenda to report to Treatment Strategy Group

(Q3 2006).

It is worth noting the opportunities afforded service users who make up InnerAction, such as training for substance misuse work and including basic resuscitation training for overdose situations have been matched

Networking with other agencies –partnership working even has developed this year; as with the previous three years, Wirral Mind has accommodated InnerAction and C The Difference meetings. In the last three months a number of service users seeking to become drug-free have become involved with the “Choose Life” program.

This program is available for stable people looking to increase their work activity and at the same time contribute the lessons they have learned during their experience with drug use, by performing dramatic pieces to schoolchildren and local police forces and others. The use of drama is not a new idea to members of the group –as the case of the brothers MacEneany, Patrick and John, who were showcased by the Wirral Globe as success stories of the DIP program. It is gratifying to work with this relatively small group as we believe it fits well with the InnerAction ethos and appears to contribute great benefit in terms of self esteem and future employability. We look forward to develop further links with Choose Life, as we also do with Advocacy in Wirral. Mandy from Advocacy has become a member of the group and it is hoped that a dedicated advocacy session for the group may be established, probably once a month, with confidential sessions on a one-to-one basis being made available.

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Mersey Care Trust - Get Clean Campaign

DRINK & DRUGS NEWS :: DDN NEWS LISTING

Merseyside Trust under fire from service users over use of shock tactics Merseyside Care NHS Trust has provoked an angry reaction from online service user forums with a campaign that uses a 'Get Clean' slogan and imagery to get drug users into treatment. But addictions service manager Bob Dale has defended the Trust's use of controversial tactics as a way of getting noticed to save lives. The campaign uses pictures of a mocked up range of household cleaning products, including washing powder, shower gel and washing up liquid, with the words 'get clean', 'fast track drug detox and treatment', a freephone number and the address of a local drop-in centre. The large images have already been posted on local bus shelters, sides of buses and phone boxes. Members of the National User Network (NUN) say the campaign could not have had genuine input from service users and reported that groups in their areas were 'horrified' at the insulting and negative labelling of drug users. An ex-drug user, Kevin Manley, called for Mr Dale's resignation on his online blog. But Bob Dale told DDN that his research had been thorough; that a focus group from the Kevin White Unit, a local inpatient detox unit, had chosen the name and theme of the campaign and suggested the advertising sites. He had then previewed the campaign at an event with a lot of drug and alcohol treatment services in the area, and had made a point of gaining approval from the NTA's regional representative. According to Mr Dale, just one person at the open meeting suggested that the campaign might upset a few people, but in the main it had been 'positively received and highly praised'. 'We were in the dark about how best to reach people,' he said. 'We wanted to give them simple access into treatment. Before, we were getting a lot of anecdotal stuff about how long you had to wait to get into treatment. This campaign gives one message, one number. A lot of the time it's about windows of opportunity - you've got to grasp them'. Mr Dale added that he welcomed suggestions for future initiatives, but had no intention of withdrawing the 'Get Clean' campaign, as it was already attracting a 'steady response' from new treatment clients

Technorati Tags: Get Clean campaign, Mersey Care NHS Trust, Drug treatment, detox, rehab, stigma, mental health, patients, service users, carers, addiction, Drink & Drug News, National User Network, NUN, NTA, representation,

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Scrub your soul clean!

Seen around Merseyside, North West England, recently; this advert reminds me of my catholic upbringing. 'Still got that old "Original Sin?" well just buy **** and scrub it all away!'
The reason I wanted to post this is because Nobody gets "clean" in 6 weeks or 3 months or whatever they are suggesting in this ad: it takes dedication, will-power, good friends with clear heads and above all TIME to get rid of a drug or alcohol habit.
If this 'product' (the same product -or 'treatment' -as we in the health service prefer to call it) does what it says on the cover, then Praise The Lord, cos our problems are all magically and suddenly over (in the substance abuse field anyway). If not, on the other hand, then I thought there was this rule about adverts having to be "open, honest and truthful" about their product's claims.
Or did I dream that bit?
Anyone know the Advertising Standards Authority address?

InnerAction and the Cure

Hey, it's me. You are my audience and I am your writer. Good to meet at last, though I have had this feeling, all my life really, that you've been around - sniffing at the bins for my discarded second rate poetry, looking over my shoulder at my filofax entries. Maybe not?
To bed now. Carol calls