Session4
Connecting to the future
The day closed with an inspirational presentation by Sunny Dhadley of SUIT and the Recovery Foundation CIC , on harnessing your potential and following your dreams
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Ican remember coming to a DDN conference for the first time about a decade ago , not long out of detox ,’ Sunny Dhadley told delegates . ‘ I didn ’ t understand that this world existed .’
He ’ d been involved in problematic drug use for around 12 years , he said , which consisted of ‘ treatment journeys , getting fired from various jobs , and many things that perhaps I ’ m not proud of today ’. His first battle to become empowered was when he went to his local treatment service to ask for a detox . ‘ They said , “ who told you that you could detox ?”, as if I was asking for something that had never been heard of before . Without realising it , that was my first bit of activism because I told them “ actually , I really want this detox – I don ’ t want to keep going back to the pharmacy .”’
He carried out a community detox ‘ with drug dealers knocking on the door wanting their money back ’ a week before he got married , and when he was discharged from treatment he was effectively told , ‘ go and live the rest of your life now ’, he said . ‘ But what they didn ’ t understand was that I didn ’ t know what life was ’.
Looking around for things to connect to , he began attending NA groups and counselling and started to rebuild his fractured relationships . ‘ I didn ’ t really have any formal qualifications or a career to fall back on , so volunteering for me was a way of finding out who I was .’ He also re-engaged with education and found that , rather than qualifications , the key benefit was ‘ the confidence that came from starting something and finishing it – other than breaking the law .’
He had a desire to give something back but didn ’ t know how that could manifest itself , he told the conference . ‘ The next phase of my journey was around strategic exposure . The word strategy scared the shit out of me because I didn ’ t know what it meant .’ He was volunteering locally and started asking questions , ‘ the same way a child would – “ why , what does that mean , how does that fit into that ?” I ’ m sure it annoyed them , but it started to give me a picture of how commissioning worked , how targets were set , the effect of policy . It ’ s very easy to turn your back on something if
you don ’ t understand it , but I had an emotional connection – this was something I cared about .’
After a while it began to make sense to him within the context of his own journey and things started to fall into place . ‘ For me it was a massive process of empowerment ,’ he said . ‘ All of a sudden I had a budget and responsibilities for recruitment and volunteering , which made me laugh because not long before that I couldn ’ t manage a budget of £ 10 in my pocket . But I persevered .’
He started building a vision in terms of what he felt was needed locally and gaining credibility with
‘ There ’ s so much energy and potential in every one of us ...’
‘ people I ’ d never met ’. In 2016-17 , while his Wolverhampton-based peer-led organisation SUIT received just 2.4 per cent of the local drug and alcohol budget , it supported more than 1,000 people and delivered almost 5,500 interventions across more than 70 areas of need . ‘ We ’ d never push a direction on someone , we let them lead that .’ Each intervention cost just £ 24.74 , he stressed . ‘ That ’ s for supporting someone into housing from being homeless , for finding someone work , for keeping someone out of prison . It demonstrates that we don ’ t have to wait for someone else to do this stuff , we can do it ourselves .’
In terms of influencing change , it was vital to have a clear vision of what you wanted to achieve , he said . ‘ The people that are going to drive change are us – people in the community . Ask questions , be that annoying little kid .’ Patience and resilience were also essential , he said . ‘ We might see small pockets of change , and we have to celebrate that . It ’ s about not putting people on pedestals – it ’ s seeing everyone as equally important .’
In 2014 his volunteer programme received the Queen ’ s Award for Voluntary Service , and he went from local to regional to national meetings . He sat on the cross-party parliamentary group for alcohol , drugs and justice , while SUIT had been cited as an international model of best practice . He was also a fellow of the RSA , had been named CMI regional chartered manager of the year , and was taking part in a parliamentary initiative to encourage more people from the BME community to get involved in politics , among many other activities .
‘ I ’ m just standing up here to say this is my journey ,’ he told the conference . ‘ We all have our individual journeys , and the only person that ’ s going to stop you from achieving the things you want to is yourself . Don ’ t let anyone say you can ’ t achieve things . Be proactive , put yourself into situations where you feel uncomfortable , because you ’ ll learn from that .
‘ A few years ago even the thought of standing up here would have had me quaking in my boots , but if you ’ re championing something you believe in , you ’ ll do anything to make it happen . There ’ s so much energy and potential in every one of us , and there ’ s nothing to stop you from doing your own thing .’ DDN
14 | drinkanddrugsnews | March 2018 www . drinkanddrugsnews . com