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accredited courses, such as health inequalities and access to health, and right now I’ m training for my driving theory exam. Every Friday we cook in the kitchen, so I also did my food hygiene awareness certificate.
For most people being a peer mentor is about giving back. But for me it’ s more about being the person that service users will talk to, and showing them there’ s light at the end of the tunnel – that there’ s life after addiction.
Some service users are very young and feel they’ ve wasted their lives. I feel excited showing them that they haven’ t and they’ ve got so much left. I want people to know what they can achieve. It can feel like being on a hamster wheel – being stuck on it, getting your script and
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leaving. I was like that, but now I help engage others and show them an alternative.
I would like to be a volunteer recovery practitioner in the future, and one day work in the drug and alcohol field.
FEY:‘ It feels good to do good’
I’ ve been a peer mentor for five months now. I was using the service myself, and then moved on to attend groups at the recovery hub. One of the Via staff at a group session mentioned to me that I would be a good peer mentor, so I did the course.
Peer mentors do lots of different things to represent
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the service. As a former service user and currently abstaining, I feel able to support others. I’ m relatable and people open up to me. Service users talk to me about their journey and we discuss any problems that Via can help with. I want to help them get the best out of the service, knowing what support there is.
I feel I can give back to the service that supported me when I was in treatment. This place kept me from using, and now I can do the same for others. I help in the women’ s group, and love being able to chat in a safe place. It’ s really fulfilling when you meet someone at the beginning of their journey then help keep them engaged as they go from treatment into the recovery hub – it feels good to do good.
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‘ I was using the service myself... One of the Via staff at a group session mentioned to me that I would be a good peer mentor.’
I love peer mentoring and do it three days a week. I would like to carry on volunteering and move into other areas to experience different things such as outreach and criminal justice. My main goal is to get a job at Via.
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LETTERS AND COMMENT
PUB CULTURE
Hear hear, Jason Rothwell! Your article made so much sense to me( DDN, May, p24). Why do we always focus on restrictive policies and price hikes on alcohol, without considering the wider picture? The community of the pub represents life, love and laughter for so many and is the place where friends old and young check in on each other. You focus on northern men – I would add that for women too, it’ s the place where we bond, support and check our life balance.
So how do we continue having a mature conversation about this, when the common narrative encourages rejection of the pub and its community? The scene is not synonymous with uncontrolled boozing till chuck-out time and I believe, as you suggest, that it can be a‘ partner in health’. Lisa Logan, by email
LESS SMOKE
Many people who access drug services smoke. Both nationally and internationally, the data tells us it’ s often at rates between two and four times the average. And this matters. Recent analysis of mortality data for 100,000 people who used heroin in England showed that 63 per cent died before the age of 70, compared to just 16 per cent of the general population. Illicit drugs caused 28 per cent of these early deaths, but tobacco almost equalled that toll at 24 per cent. Reducing combustible tobacco use can pay huge dividends in terms of health outcomes. It also increases money in people’ s pockets.
Overburdened and underfunded drug services have struggled to push the issue forward, but research consistently shows that many people accessing services want to quit or reduce smoking.
The health impacts of combustible tobacco come from the smoke; nicotine itself is a relatively low-risk substance. Non-combustible products( vapes, pouches, heated tobacco products) aren’ t risk-free, but allow people to use nicotine in a much safer way than cigarettes. That’ s harm reduction in a nutshell. Strong evidence, not least from the Cochrane systematic reviews, shows nicotine vapes are more effective than nicotine replacement therapy( gum, patches) in helping people quit. With valuable input from service providers and users, the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction, a Knowledge Action Change project, has produced a short guide that gives modest steps that can be integrated into a service’ s day-to-day work.
The guide, and an accompanying paper on smoking among people who use drugs, can be downloaded at https:// gsthr. org. KAC also offers a free online course, Understanding Tobacco Harm Reduction, open to all. David MacKintosh, Knowledge Action Change( KAC)
SHARE THE LOVE
I read the article on clearer conversations( DDN, May, p12) and would like to share my experience, having been in recovery and also working in the field.
I think it’ s important to affirm anyone who seeks help, especially at the start of their journey. Perhaps‘ Well done for getting here’ is a useful introduction, followed by‘ What would you hope to achieve from our service’ and‘ How can we help you to achieve this?’
I recall working as a therapist in a residential treatment facility and my colleague said, as she left our office to meet her client,‘ I ' m off to meet my client where they’ re at’. Her words really struck me about how important it is to be aware of the client’ s needs rather than my urge to impress with my theoretical interpretations.
Love, kindness and respect, with appropriate boundaries, may go a long way in replacing the‘ hole in the soul’ which is felt when alcohol and drugs are removed. Ronald Bell, by email
DDN welcomes all your comments. Please email the editor, claire @ cjwellings. com, join conversations on our Facebook page and LinkedIn, or send letters to DDN, CJ Wellings Ltd, Romney House, School Road, Ashford, Kent TN27 0LT. Longer comments and letters may be edited for space or clarity.
/ ddnmagazine @ ddnmagazine www. drinkanddrugsnews. com
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