LETTERS AND COMMENT
We decided to make a TikTok video and it was one of the videos that helped us go viral and reach over 1m views .
PACKS – you did a mighty fine job on these !
I see these pouches as part of a shift towards ensuring that harm reduction is right at the forefront within Cranstoun services . We ’ re not only reducing harm by providing the ability to prevent overdoses , we ’ re also reducing the harm that our workers or other professionals could face when administering the naloxone . It was also the first project at Cranstoun Worcester where we worked with people who have lived experience and had them on complete equal footing as staff members , paid above the real Living Wage .
As always , we made sure we had some fun while we were packing the naloxone pouches – we ’ d get some pizzas in , get some music on and have a big factory line to get them packed . We also decided to make a TikTok video about them , and it was one of the videos that helped us go viral and reach over 1m views on our work . Such a high social media view count shows that harm reduction messages are very much here to stay – check out harmreduction _ al on TikTok .
It ' s been incredibly refreshing to talk about keeping people who use drugs safe , and not having to focus solely on encouragement into abstinence or pushing them into recovery .
One thing we did notice when we were doing the naloxone training in public with the peer team was that sometimes people were interested in naloxone but didn ' t have time to do the full training . So Deb from our Sutton service , the PACKS peer team and myself designed a Z-CARD which would contain all the key naloxone training information that could be given to someone with a kit . We know that if they read it they ’ ll have all the information needed to use the kit successfully .
Steve from the PACKS team came up with the quote we used – ‘ I can ' t save my friends , they ' re gone . But you can save yours ’. That always sticks with me and reminds me daily why we need to keep bringing harm reduction practice back . We need to bring care and compassion to the people who need it the most , wherever they are and whatever their need is .
Alistair Bryant is media and harm reduction content creator at Cranstoun
VITAL TRAINING
I read the article by Kevin Flemen ( DDN , March , p16 ) with great interest and in total agreement about the need to refocus and maintain investment in high quality and relevant training for the workforce , especially in subject areas that have been neglected over recent years . As we know , policy informs practice and there are some areas of current practice that demand good quality training in order for it to improve .
I also linked it to another great article from the team at REACH , ‘ Doing the right thing ’ ( p20 ). Along with loving the set of guiding principles on how to better engage and work with people who are most likely to fall through the gaps and often face most harms , it brought to mind that very focus on training Kevin calls for to ensure we are training , educating and ensuring newer people to the sector understand that the core skills required to be effective are often value based .
The last decade has shown us that while high ambition for recovery is without a doubt needed , it can often be the few not the many who will want to engage in such services framed or named as recovery services – so it ’ s the principles of how to engage people most at risk of harm with high ambivalence and low motivation for change that we need to be including in our revised training priorities .
The REACH team describe the principles that are helpful in working with people with many complex needs and disadvantages , and I would encourage us all to focus on including training and guiding principles on how we improve engagement with people who inject drugs ( PWID ) as a high priority group needing better and wider scale interventions . These principles are very transferable to
PWID and as the need to recruit , train and support a stronger workforce across the sector remains a priority , it ’ s important we use the opportunity to revisit and reinstall the guiding principles that once had the UK as the global leader in harm reduction practice .
Let ’ s use our future practice opportunities as a real attempt to inform future policy by ‘ doing the right ’ thing by people in most need . Peter Furlong , national harm reduction lead , Change Grow Live
POPPING THEIR BALLOON
I was saddened but not surprised to read recent news of the government ’ s decision to ban nitrous oxide . While people wrestle with the cost of living crisis , NHS waiting lists , and a crumbling social care system and the media runs a constant drip feed of Tory sleaze stories it appears that they have dusted down their usual last ditch election strategy – culture war !
According to the home secretary ‘ The British public are fed up with crime and nuisance behaviour in their neighbourhoods inflicting misery on people ,’ and she wants to ‘ give police the powers they need to deliver a common-sense approach to cutting crime .’
Believe it or not , some young people have been hanging around long before the advent of the so-called ‘ hippy crack ’ and will continue to do so . There are already adequate powers available to the police to tackle anti-social behaviour , it is just after 13 years of cuts there are no longer the personnel or resources to do so . Passing yet more legislation is not going to change anything and is purely designed to generate positive headlines in the Tory-supporting press . Helen Carlton , by email
DDN welcomes all your comments . Please email the editor , claire @ cjwellings . com , join any of the conversations on our Facebook page , 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 .
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