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‘ They’ re young, they’ re full of ego, it’ s not for them – why are they going to come to a service that’ s not built for them?’
CHAI BURRELL
room – we’ re going to go outside, explore new things, go to the gym – he slowly warmed up to it. To move from that point where he’ s adamant he’ s not going to work with me to the point where he’ s phoning me in a time of crisis and time of need, that shows what removing the barriers of being in a structured environment does. It opened him up, and it let him see me as a human as well.’
He’ d completed the intervention and was now thriving, and there were countless similar stories across the country, with a 40-session intervention covering issues like ego, trauma, drug use and much more.‘ Lived experience is at the forefront, and we’ re going to continue doing that. Let’ s open up, be collaborative, and make some great things happen.’
SPEAKING OUT‘ Young people are the key,’ Emma Haley, area manager at Aquarius, told the conference, and‘ consistently looking upstream’ could help to prevent a lot of harm in the longer term.‘ The way we develop services is in partnership with the people who use them, the people who’ ve had
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those experiences themselves. It’ s their voice that matters, and it’ s important that they tell us what works, what doesn’ t work, and what they need.’
Next her colleague, service manager Emma Murphy, asked Brad – who had lived experience and had been with Aquarius for more than three years – about the issues facing young people today. The first was mental health, he said.‘ When you wake up in the morning and look in the mirror and see the change in yourself. And you say,“ this isn’ t who I was last year”.’
The team had asked young people engaged with the service about their main challenges, which included anxiety, depression, trauma, self-harm, bereavement and ACEs.‘ It’ s no wonder that they look to other coping strategies, such as substances,’ said Haley.‘ What young people tell us is that there are challenges in terms of service access, or even knowing about services.’ Co-occurring conditions were also an ongoing issue, with people‘ batted around’ and not getting the support they need.‘ As a consequence, that becomes exacerbated as they go into adulthood,’ she said.
One positive piece of practice was an integrated counter-offer for young people in Aquarius’ Birmingham service, she said,
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with staff screening for mental health alongside substance misuse to help promote early access to treatment.‘ It isn’ t just about substance misuse, it’ s about everything else that sits around that. It’ s important that we offer holistic, age-appropriate interventions.’
The age of 18 had traditionally been a‘ cliff edge’, she said, after which people fell into adult treatment – and would not necessarily relate to it in the same way.‘ One of the things we’ ve been working on with commissioners is to look at a transitional process of young people remaining within YP services up to the age of 25, then having really clear transitional protocols around how we support somebody on that journey into adult treatment if they need it.’
Adult services could feel unfamiliar and intimidating, with the young people also having to tackle issues like leaving education, entering employment, and managing their housing and finances.‘ All of this shows we need to work better in partnership.’ After listening to young people, Aquarius went out of its way to provide safe spaces where they could be themselves, as well as pursue interests and training opportunities.‘ It’ s also about taking it back out into the
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community where people can get that mutual support’ – with activities such as boxing, music and art.
Brad had now been involved in two music showcases, as well as an Aquarius group called‘ know yourself,’ he said.‘ Being able to learn to be myself was the biggest step for me. Learning to become who I wanted to be.’ On the question of what worked best in the transition to other services it was vital to have‘ someone to fall back on, to be an advocate and speak up for you,’ he said –‘ having someone to build confidence for you.’ And when it came to adult life,‘ you shouldn’ t have to be chucked in at the deep end,’ he told the conference.‘ You should start by walking into the pool.’
PEER-LED HARM REDUCTION‘ I absolutely believe that what we need more than anything else is right on our doorstep,’ said naloxone campaigner and awardwinning trainer and consultant George Charlton.‘ And that’ s about people with lived and living experience of drug use, it’ s about family members. But typically these people are overlooked.’
One telling example was a recovery cookery club he’ d attended, where there’ d been two people and a staff member who’ d brought in a £ 2 pizza.‘ He
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