Peer suPPort
A solid foundation
ESH Works was built from a dream of peer-based recovery. Paul Urmston shares their story
Iused drink to cope. I didn’ t really fit in the corporate world but I did it for fame, glory and money – all to make me look good in the eyes of other people. After coming out of detox and rehab for the second time I decided that enough was enough and that life was actually about being the person you really are and not what you thought everyone else wanted. So the acting stopped and I started a new life. That was more than 17 years ago. While I was volunteering in recovery a decade ago, I was involved in a project looking at the quality of service provision for addicts and alcoholics in Coventry and Warwickshire. The conclusion of my mini-report back to the drug and alcohol action teams was that there was a lot of support available for people in addiction – but if it’ d been a relay race, there were a lot of dropped batons( clients) when they were passed between organisations. There was also a major shortfall in the support for family members, with nowhere to turn to for help and advice.
This motivated three of us in recovery to form ESH Works – which stands for
‘ As part of the funding drive, we sent dozens of letters out to CEOs of major manufacturers and suppliers, with mixed responses – but if you don’ t ask you don’ t get.’
Experience, Strength and Hope – a peer-led mutual support and user involvement organisation to support family members and help guide people through the complexities of recovery and the different services provided. There was also a bit of a dream there that one day we could run a totally peer-led residential rehab facility – not for profit, but just because it was the right thing to do.
We started our not-for-profit social enterprise in the depression years and our mantra was‘ If we can make it work now then we’ re going to be ok’ – and we did make it work. We’ ve moved on to the point of opening Warwickshire’ s first residential rehab fully staffed by people in recovery.
Back in 2009 drug and alcohol commissioners in Warwickshire were ahead of their time when they funded a couple of thousand pounds to instigate a family support network. Things progressed from there and we delivered our family support all around Warwickshire, hiring local community centres and halls most nights of the week.
We started in a small office in a local council‘ start-up’ enterprise hub, where we co-ordinated everything. When we first advertised the groups in some locations there would be no one there for the first month or more, until people started noticing the posters and leaflets that we’ d dropped off at pharmacies and doctors surgeries.
I remember sitting in an empty room in at a community centre in Nuneaton one wet night, when two people came in. We’ d been going to this room on the same night each week for nearly two months without anyone attending. We gave the couple a cuppa, talked through our experiences and the problems they were having with their son, and they went away saying we’ d helped. As they continued to come back to our group we found out later that the husband was about to commit suicide the night they first came in, but had seen our leaflet that night in the doctor’ s surgery and diverted to our group. That changed his life and ours! They’ ve continued to attend and have volunteered with us for many years.
As this family support developed we had a moment of clarity and decided we should include a volunteer in long term recovery in each of our family groups. This was a revelation for our family members – they had a‘ tame addict’ to fire questions at, who didn’ t pull the steel shutters down when asked about addiction. This approach is now recognised around the country as good practice, providing the volunteer is supported well in their own recovery so they’ re not put at risk of discussions opening old wounds.
20 | drinkanddrugsnews | October 2017 www. drinkanddrugsnews. com