For 60 years , Turning Point has supported people in their journey to make changes in their drug and alcohol use and consider what treatment and recovery can look like for them . We ’ ve seen thousands of people come through our doors at our services across the country and continue to be inspired by them . In 2010 , we were awarded the Social Enterprise Mark in recognition of our work – Turning Point currently has 283 services supporting more than 171,000 people with substance use , mental health and learning disabilities .
|
With such a varied collection of moving stories , and with 2024 being Turning Point ’ s 60th year , we ’ ve decided to showcase some of these experiences through 60 significant objects that not only represent the journey of each individual associated with that object but also mark significant moments in the history of the health and care sector over the past six decades .
Turning Point is asking members of the public – including people we ’ ve supported and their loved ones , former and current employees , and organisations we ’ ve worked with – to nominate an object to potentially be included in a weeklong
|
exhibition at Kensington Palace in June , as well as being available to view online .
BEGINNINGS The organisation was established at a time of increasing international pressure to criminalise drug use – ultimately leading to the creation of the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs , which formally set out the principles of global prohibition . While still low , recreational drug use in the UK was on the rise and media concerns over drug consumption in the London jazz scene and the ascent of ‘ hippie ’ counterculture began to drive pressure for greater legal controls .
The first Turning Point service opened in 1964 , when London philanthropist Barry Richards founded the Helping Hand Organisation – which would go on to become Turning Point – and opened the doors to the Camberwell Alcohol Project . The project ’ s location was no accident . Camberwell is home to Maudsley Hospital , which had been a psychiatric hospital since 1923 . By the early 1960s , medical staff from Maudsley , such as Dr ( later Professor ) James Griffith Edwards , were carrying out pioneering work on dependency
|
as a disease with the local community and beyond .
In 1968 , the first inpatient NHS drug dependency unit was established at the Bethlem Royal & Maudsley Hospitals . The unit consisted of two wards – a closed ward for so-called ‘ hard drugs ’ and an open ward for ‘ soft drugs ’.
The Camberwell Alcohol Project ’ s aspirations set the tone for a way of thinking that continues to underpin what we value as an organisation to this day . The idea of a residential centre offering a place to live alongside people with shared experience , as well as support and expertise , has become commonplace and is testimony to Camberwell ’ s legacy .
FOCUS SHIFT In 1969 , with a shift in focus from individual treatment towards a more public health-oriented approach , we opened Suffolk House in Uxbridge – an early therapeutic community for people who used drugs . The first of our services outside of London , Richards House alcohol service in Manchester , opened in 1972 . By the end of the 1970s , it had become clear that the name Helping Hand Organisation no longer reflected how we were supporting the
|