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‘ Initially we referred [ people ] to commissioned services . However , over a period of time , the feedback we were getting was that they didn ’ t feel like it was meeting their needs . They didn ’ t feel like the services understood them culturally .’
MUSHTAQ DAKRI
If you look at south Asian communities , one thing Muslims , Hindus and Sikhs all have in common is they meet in large gatherings – at the temples , gurdwaras or mosques .
We work with these organisations who are already established within the community . We work with community leaders , spiritual leaders , educational leaders and offer them support , training and education .
SPINNEY HILL RECOVERY Spinney Hill Recovery was created by two imams to help address the growing number of people from the Muslim community in Leicester that had developed an addiction to drugs and / or alcohol .
Mushtaq Dakri , one of the founders of Spinney Hill Recovery , said he created the group as Muslim clients felt mainstream services weren ’ t aware of the specific needs of different cultures .
‘ There ’ s always been drugs consumed in the area ,’ he says . ‘ But there was a change we noticed in the type of drugs that were being consumed .
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We went from cannabis and class B drugs to class A drugs , synthetic drugs and alcohol . People were becoming addicted and they were asking us for help . Initially we referred them to commissioned services . However , over a period of time , the feedback we were getting was that they didn ’ t feel like it was meeting their needs . They didn ’ t feel like the services understood them culturally . They didn ’ t like having to go to town and be seen by members of the community .’
They decided to establish something for themselves that would meet the needs of the community . ‘ When we first looked at this around 15 years ago , there was very little interest from the community because it was thought drug addiction was something that happened to other people ,’ he states . ‘ But as time went on , people have realised that this was now on our doorstep and we can ’ t ignore this anymore . There was a realisation that something had to be done .’
When Spinney Hill Recovery approached Turning Point six years ago , things were starting to get out of control in their community with substances like heroin , crack and alcohol . It now refers clients to Turning Point , which aims to get the client assessed and into treatment within 24 hours .
One thing they found was that people were relapsing because there wasn ’ t anything for them to do when they came back from rehab , so Spinney Hill put together a package of activities for every day to keep them engaged and to reduce the rates of relapse .
Spinney Hill and Turning Point have developed their working relationship further and Spinney Hill now receives funding from Turning Point and has its own facilities – a large area with a gym , pool table , kitchen , group room and room for one-to-one counselling .
The service is open to everyone , not just Muslims . But the goal is to use spirituality as a tool to recovery , and it has
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imams come to deliver spiritual classes and work with the clients .
Drinking is a major issue in the Sikh community , with a BBC investigation finding that although drinking alcohol is technically forbidden in Sikhism 27 per cent of British Sikhs report having someone in their family with an alcohol problem . A parliamentary early day motion in July 2022 called on government to acknowledge the prevalence of alcohol addiction within the South Asian community and to tailor appropriate outreach and services through overdue alcohol strategy ( bit . ly / 3SgVm2t ).
SIKH RECOVERY NETWORK The Sikh Recovery Network is a national organisation that helps support people with drug and alcohol recovery , running online and face-to-face groups around the country , including a Leicester-based group .
Jaz Rai is founder and chairperson of the Sikh Recovery Network , and regularly talks about his own addiction and recovery journey . I approached him and we started working together .
In Leicester , we have drop-in sessions for clients at the local gurdwara . If anyone Leicesterbased contacts Jaz he will refer them to us , and we get them into treatment and start supporting them straight away . We have a number of volunteers and peer mentors who have come through recovery via the Spinney Hill Recovery and the Sikh Recovery Network and are
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Jaz Rai is founder and chairperson of the Sikh Recovery Network , and regularly talks about his own addiction and recovery journey .
now working for Turning Point as peer mentors and volunteers .
Something we ’ re trying to do at Turning Point is ask if we ’ re culturally competent as a service . Do we have enough people of colour within our staff ? Do we have a variety of different languages spoken by support workers ? Do we provide information in different languages ? We celebrate Christmas , but do we celebrate Eid or Diwali or Vaisakhi ?
We ’ re sharing the work we ’ re doing with south Asian communities in Leicester with our services across the country to help them meet the needs of different communities . It ’ s all about spreading awareness to the people we support and our colleagues .
Dilesh Popat ( pictured on page 14 ) is diverse communities team leader at Turning Point
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