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SUPPORTING BAME COMMUNITIES
FACING MULTIPLE DISADVANTAGE
By Sohan Sahota
BAC-IN hosted Project Ahryzen - Supporting BAME communities facing
multiple disadvantage learning event in Nottingham in December 2018. The
event activities consisted of recovery rap, drama, spoken word, cultural dance
and inspirational testimonies highlighting issues affecting BAME communities
and success of BAC-IN recovery model. BAC-IN, a Nottingham based, peer-
led drug & alcohol support service provides culturally responsive recovery
solutions for Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic communities. BAC-IN was created
in 2003, in response to mainstream services not adequately meeting the needs
of BAME service users.
Supporting multiple disadvantage
Key learning highlighted cultural explanations for
addiction, such as shame; stigma, racism and lack of
The organisation helps individuals who experience trust and a lack of diversity and cultural knowledge in
substance misuse and related multiple disadvantage mainstream services.
including mental health, homelessness, offending,
discrimination and unemployment. A range of activities
are on offer, including counselling, mentoring, recovery
coaching & training to enable individuals to achieve a
lasting recovery, families to become strengthened and
communities to be more empowered.
Amplifying voices of BAME people
Partnership collaboration
In 2017 BAC-IN was awarded a two year grant by
Lankelly Chase to deliver ground-breaking Project
Ahryzen in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University.
Project Ahryzen action research explored through the
authentic voice of lived experience the lives of BAC-
IN peers, hidden experiences of disadvantage and the
development of a successful model for supporting
BAME communities facing multiple disadvantage.
BAC-IN peers were trained to conduct repeat in-depth
interviews with service users/peers every six weeks to
track their personal journeys over a 6 month period
using principles of co-production.
Shame, Stigma & lack of trust
The aim was to test how well BAC-IN’s peer led recovery
model works in meeting service user needs and to
amplify the voices of BAME people with addiction.
Service user experiences of accessing support with
BAC-IN and mainstream services: Coming to BAC-IN
has helped my family understand what addiction is...
‘Opened their eyes a lot more to what I’m going through’.
‘I know that the best help you can get is from another
addict, someone who’s been there ...’ ‘The people who I
was speaking to through the NHS, they’re just people who
have studied it, they haven’t really gone through it, and I
think that slight disconnect between the two has made
this place [BAC-IN] more appealing…’BAC-IN offers more...
it’s done in a sincere way ’