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more established services. The willingness and ability to expand into cross-sector networks will add further dimensions and opportunities for LEROs to establish themselves and help more people. We work with the University of Leicester for example, sourcing apprenticeship funding for staff development and accessing other benefits for development, such as participating in their insightful growth accelerator for social entrepreneurs programme.
PARTNER ACCESS LEROs are clearly in strong positions to advance social care within the community. During our‘ Dridays’ – beside the graduations, music, written word and shares – we offer eye tests, fibro scanning, smoking cessation, BBV tests and more, provided by our partners. Working in partnerships provides access to people, places and things you’ d be hard pushed to reach on your own.
The forging of productive working relationships within our shared arena – the pooling of thinking, perspectives and other resources – is not only sensible, pragmatic and often cost effective, it can establish the transformative change that users of statutory services so deserve.
Coming from the lived experienced perspective, this means building on the cooperation process and tapping into useful networks so many of us found helpful when addressing the crushing consequences of our own addictions. The same assets applied to build our personal recovery capital are scaled up in the professional capacity to build the improved infrastructure across service delivery that’ s so sorely needed. Embedding within successful partnerships is a key tactic for allowing LEROs to survive, prosper and grow.
Of course, espousing the benefits of effective partnership work is nothing new. But where the recovery city landscape is ever more mapped with different contributors and locations, what’ s become essential now is how these organisational
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relationships come together to present a cohesive whole. Limiting harm happens when working alliances orientate towards supportively navigating recipients’ pathways through an often-bumpy terrain. This navigation is achieved through increased liaison and understanding of the different roles, including who is where and who does what, creating a streamlined momentum towards improved outcomes.
Maturing LEROs can play an active role in this work, advocating, as always, from the service user’ s perspective. This model might still be a way off from effective personalised treatment plans, but does create a joined-up infrastructure which supports a more tailored approach. Attaining capacity for the LERO to be a leading contributor in this role is vital if we’ re serious about progressing lived experience and improving outcomes.
SMALLER PARTNERS Participating in partnerships where members are eager to learn from each other has allowed us – as the relatively new kids on the block – to become better understood and influential. We can now learn from the master’ s table, or at least the status of being invited to properly sit down has been attained.
It’ s empowering for us to know we’ re getting somewhere, albeit for now as a smaller partner. It’ s a huge responsibility. However, establishing such working partnerships can form a vital part of the LERO journey towards what is slowly becoming parity of esteem with the bigger, more established players.
Partnerships have certainly been a cornerstone of our community build. The partnership between Turning Point and Dear Albert has evolved to become multifaceted and well-integrated, providing good examples of how LEROs can work alongside the main provider and how established providers can support the LERO.
Turning Point and Dear Albert work together in Leicester on a daily basis, sharing data, venues and expertise. Turning
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Point holds overall control of the Leicester substance use contract, enabling Dear Albert to perform targeted lived experience roles and lead on certain initiatives. Locally, Turning Point provides regular training to Dear Albert members including naloxone distribution and needle exchange, so there’ s increased opportunity to spread support across a larger area.
SHARING WORKSPACE Dear Albert manages Turning Point’ s aftercare caseload and leads on service user involvement, as well driving significant initiatives, such as establishment of Leicester’ s community rehab. The partnership includes the sharing of workspace, co-facilitation of groups and attending each other’ s meetings. This might be Turning Point accompanying our morning‘ huddles’ or popping into the senior lead meeting, or giving us access to training portals and conducting extensive audits – I’ m now aware of expiry dates of bandages in the first aid boxes! More seriously, our Turning Point partnership has created buy-in and an urgency that we must get up to speed.
Whether appointing a designated safeguarding lead, or rewriting our standard operating procedures, the partnership has allowed us to become more professional. They want us to do well, and we want to show we can.
Close collaboration on event planning, such as Alcohol Awareness Week and September’ s recovery festival, creates convergence on messaging and tangible unity across the contract. We contribute to Turning Point’ s ARC( alcohol resolution clinic) and MAP( managing alcohol programme) based at our Community Rehab Stairway Project.
Dear Albert’ s lived experience practitioners contribute to needle exchange at a local Turning Point hub, with Turning Point workers conducting 1-2-1s at one of our consultation rooms. We work together with ongoing feedback and alongside commissioners on such things as future city-wide strategies to combat harms.
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We also deliver the recovery and community session as part of Turning Point’ s peer mentor training, and we employ Turning Point peer mentors – playing our part in providing real paid employment to those with lived experience of addiction. This commitment to working together towards common objectives and leveraging the strengths of each other while mitigating weaknesses and blind spots creates effective teamwork – a synergy to enhance opportunities for those we serve.
Having a partnership that works well in Leicester and Leicestershire has provided a secure base on which to understand what works well and then share with other areas – we’ re thrilled and grateful to be sharing what works well with a wider audience.
CAN-DO ATTITUDE Partnerships incorporating independent LEROs – who can often bring a fresh can-do, solution-focused attitude to the table, with genuine lived experience and community credentials – working alongside those with robust clinical excellence, the required safeguarding standards and the lived experience of actually running services, will bring about the transformative change we all know needs to come.
Whether the independent LEROs will remain forever the smaller partner and lived experience becomes better represented by being absorbed into the main providers’ personas, or LEROs thrive to become serious, rounded competitors on their own merit, time will tell.
In the meantime, if LEROs are truly going to reach secondgeneration status, pull away from the founder’ s image, learn from mistakes and help more people, then remaining true to our core values and strengths, while integrating our skillsets into wider partnerships, is a strategy that might just work. I truly hope so. We’ ve got scaffolding going up for a new roof, and I’ ve just signed a five-year lease.
Jon Roberts is director at Dear Albert
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