TWO-WAY STREET
Working with Stuart showed me there can be invaluable benefits – for both employer and employee , says Andrew Preston
I was both proud of my job and my employment status . It added a semblance of structure and order to my life – no mean feat .’
societal worth . Did this help me ? Yes , no and maybe – it depends what you mean by help and how it ’ s measured .
Working for Exchange Supplies coincided with the worst period of my using career , although the next decade was also pretty bad . I ’ ve always categorically stated that this job kept me out of gaol and free from blood-borne viruses . Obviously , I can ’ t know this for sure . What I do know is the income kept me from making more desperate decisions , and having my time filled countered the lack of purpose that only ever exacerbated my addiction . Having a constant supply of injecting paraphernalia without the ball-ache of visiting my local drug agency was also a bonus .
A NEW NORMAL While I ’ d injected a handful of times before working at Exchange Supplies , regular injecting became the norm soon after joining the team . Was it the normalisation and desensitisation of injecting practices and paraphernalia ? This was definitely a factor , but
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Working for ten years in West Dorset as a community drug worker during the ‘ 90s as heroin arrived in our community , and setting up needle exchange and methadone prescribing with local GPs , was a fascinating place to be .
Building long-term relationships with people , and helping them with their struggles with drugs , employment , and employers deepened my conviction that there ’ s a huge amount of wasted talent amongst the community of people who use drugs , and that the feudal levels of power given to companies and managers under capitalism are wrong and widely abused .
It was so clear to me that the simple facets of employment – such as conduct and time-keeping – could be herculean struggles for people who use drugs , and which could be made so much easier with a bit of compassion , understanding and flexibility .
At the time , I never thought I would ever be able to do anything about it or prove that these beliefs were right , but in the early 2000s , as a harm reduction activist , I had taken on the task of sourcing citric acid sachets for people who inject and soon found myself needing help with the warehousing , packing , and distribution . I had no hesitation in knocking on the doors of former clients to ask if they wanted to come and work with me , and so began a 20 years of developing a practice of employment policies that enable us to benefit from the experience , skills , knowledge and networks of people who use drugs , and retain them in our workforce .
I hadn ’ t been Stuart ’ s caseworker , so I didn ’ t know him when he replied to the ad we ’ d put on the notice board at the drug service – but it soon became clear he had in spades all of the issues that I ’ d seen make it so hard for other people who were opiate dependent to stay in employment .
I totally respected his determination not to be exploited by capitalist bosses , although we all sometimes wished he ’ d pull his finger out and do a bit more actual work as , over time , we began to learn to balance the need for support with the ability to provide support . We also learned how to be well enough staffed for the work to be meaningful , but not so ‘ efficient ’ that people being off heaped guilt on them
for letting people down , and built stress and resentment amongst their colleagues .
Stuart ’ s degree was in linguistics , and if there was a PhD in pedantry , he ’ d have one . This was ( kind of ) great for me – if I set a boundary , he ’ d test it . If I was inconsistent , he ’ d point it out . If something wasn ’ t fair , he ’ d make sure everyone knew .
I didn ’ t always appreciate it at the time , but it ’ s no bad thing for everything to be tested to the limit . It accelerated the learning , and the after-the-fact analysis of successes and failures helped us form our compassionate collective responses to all the tricky issues that can arise – lateness , leave , absence , intoxication , and drug use on the premises – into a coherent , personalised , but consistent harm-reduction informed framework that really works .
We may not have always got it exactly right – there ’ s always what if ’ s – but we are clear that without the structure , meaning , support and something / someone to fight against over those ten years the path for Stu would likely have been much darker with , as he says , hepatitis C , overdose and prison all likely outcomes .
The value of having people who are part of the community we serve as part of the workforce can ’ t be overstated . The access , knowledge , commitment and connections they bring are invaluable , and the lessons we learnt with Stuart have made things a lot smoother in the years since for us . And , I ’ m sure , for him too .
Andrew Preston is the founder / managing director of Exchange Supplies
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