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focused approaches to projects that complement the
strategy’, which means the organisation is now on the
lookout for funders with similar values. ‘It’s the whole
gamut – people can support us by working in
partnership, there’s different grants and trusts, there’s
business and private sector organisations looking to
deliver their social purpose. There are people out there
who are looking for good, credible charities who they
can see operate with integrity, and they want to
support them. It becomes a virtuous circle because it
gives you much more confidence in yourself as a
charity. Charities don’t necessarily have the greatest
PR, but that’s what we are, and what motivates us to
get out of bed in the morning is doing our very best
for the people who need our services.’
There will also be an emphasis on making the
whole idea of treatment less intimidating – being
more open and helping to reduce the fear of the
unknown. Does the field do enough to demystify
treatment, or is this another area where it may have
fallen down in the past? ‘I think it’s difficult with the
level of stigma and this increasing sense of deserving
and undeserving in our local communities,’ she says.
‘But different organisations and groups have come
together over the last few years to see what we can
do about stigma, and maybe now’s the time when
there’s a sense of need and coming together. I do
sense a real increase in goodwill in the sector
amongst providers, and maybe that c omes from
difficult times.’
The strategy also addresses the thorny issue of
well-meaning policies that can have unintended
negative consequences, whether that’s benefit or
commissioning decisions, or even treatment criteria.
She cites the example of Grace House, the London-
based service for women with complex needs opened
by Phoenix in 2015. ‘Lots of people might have
thought that was quite a strange thing to do – in the
midst of so many residential services
closing why would you open a new one,
especially when it’s for some of the most
marginalised and excluded women in our
community? It was because there was a
need – we were delivering lots of different
services that sometimes just didn’t meet
the needs of women with the most
complex needs.’ This applies across the
sector, she states. ‘Sometimes exclusions
or criteria or the hoops that people are
asked to jump through to demonstrate
their motivation are absolute brick walls
for the women we’re trying to help at
Grace House.
‘What we’ve demonstrated is that if
you open it up and you set out that you’re
there to support the women everybody
else thinks are too risky or tricky, or
whatever they think – if you make sure
you deliver services to meet their needs
rather than what you might deliver
elsewhere, you can get really good
outcomes,’ she continues.
‘When you look at the
devastation that has
impacted those women’s
lives – offending, domestic
violence, sexual abuse,
involvement in prostitution
– those are the kinds of
needs we’re there to
support, and we have a 67
per cent completion rate.
For any residential service –
or any service – that’s
really, really
good.’
The ‘real heart of it’, she says, is
that even though the commitment to
support people with substance
problems has been central to the
sector for a long time ‘we’re still
making it really difficult for some
people to get the help that they want,
when they need it’.
While the strategy’s focus is
inevitably on Phoenix as an
organisation, she hopes it might
eventually help to increase confidence
in the rest of the field. ‘But if everyone
involved in Phoenix can feel
empowered to be able to speak with
confidence about the importance of
treatment, and the potential of
recovery, then it will have done
its job.’
www.phoenix-
futures.org.uk
STIGMA
RECOVERY
‘While we’re seeing a reduction
in stigma in mental health,
what we’re seeing in addiction
is almost a re-stigmatisation of
our client group.’
Karen Biggs
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
May 2017 | drinkanddrugsnews | 13