due to not being able to work early mornings, which made me very unpopular to say the least. The floods last year were terrible – my area flooded and all the trains stopped moving, leaving me in a state of withdrawal for eight days with no help. I rang the non-emergency line and the drug support lines but with no one able to fix my script I dramatically increased my levels of medical tablets, opioid substances and drink, putting all my good achievements at risk.
In all my times of distress I’ ve never been offered the chance to go onto buprenorphine – the longlasting injection. My drug worker, who knew my medical history and all I was going through, never considered this and when I was informed of it by an ex-user, I was shocked to have never heard of, or been made aware of, it being an option. So when I enquired of my drug worker, the reaction wasn’ t what I expected – without thinking for a minute he said‘ not possible’. I enquired as to why and he ran through the procedures – he was trying his best to put me off transitioning to buprenorphine. He even tried to stop me reducing down my methadone, stating it would not be good for my mental state. I couldn’ t believe the effort he was going to.
I have now informed my worker in custody and he is very supportive and has placed me on the list for tests. But I’ m now wondering how it all works. Is there a capsule like the implant? Surely if this was simply an injection then why do users not just substitute using a single jab just once a month? I’ m worrying about what percentage will hold a methadone habit – it’ s really strong stuff. I worry about the dose not being correct and being left withdrawing.
Thank you for your time and great work. Jonathan, full name and prison supplied
THROWAWAY TERMS
April Wareham’ s new paper asks us to consider how the language we use can entrench unfair perceptions of the people we live and work with
What do we really mean by‘ community’ and‘ peer’? The terms might sound simple, but they can just as easily exclude as include. That’ s the central message of a new paper by April Wareham, which explores how these labels shape people’ s sense of identity – and the role services play in that process.
Wareham begins with the dictionary: community, she notes, can mean a group viewed collectively, or people who share something in common. But definitions like that don’ t always hold up in real life – belonging is rarely that neat. People know instinctively who feels like‘ one of us’ – and who doesn’ t. When services try to group people by a single characteristic, they often miss the complexity of individual lives and relationships.
She demonstrates the point with the example of Bangladeshi women experiencing domestic abuse in east London: they may be hidden not just from services, but from the wider Bangladeshi community itself. These are the kinds of distinctions that get lost when identity is applied from the outside.
‘ Peer’ is no easier to pin down, she explains. The term is contextual – someone might be your peer in a hospital waiting room but not in the school playground. It’ s another way of sorting people, and while it can be useful, it often oversimplifies.
Services frequently try to encourage involvement by booking a room, laying on some sandwiches, and hoping a user group will form, says Wareham. But as the late Australian advocate Jude Byrne put it, this can feel like‘ contrived spontaneity’. Sometimes no one turns up; sometimes people leave disappointed – or angry – when there aren’ t enough vouchers to go around.
That’ s not to say peer groups can’ t work, she says. The ones that do work tend to have a clear focus from the start – a defined purpose and a clear idea of who the group is for. Southall Black Sisters is one example: a support service rooted in the experiences of Black and minoritised women affected by domestic abuse. The Hepatitis C Trust began with just four people seeking support and information. It’ s now a national charity working to eliminate the virus by 2030 – but its work remains grounded in lived experience and clearly defined goals.
Wareham’ s message is clear: lasting involvement isn’ t about building one big
People know instinctively who feels like‘ one of us’ – and who doesn’ t. When services try to group people by a single characteristic, they often miss the complexity of individual lives and relationships.
structure that suits everyone. It’ s about supporting smaller, purposeful projects that speak directly to the people they’ re for – and giving them the space to grow.
Read the full paper and join the conversation at workingwitheveryone. org. uk
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