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put it in the oven, then the other staff came in saying how nice it smelled, and they ate the pizza. And the two punters didn’ t get a slice. And I thought,“ are these the aspirations we have for our people – that they’ re just worth a £ 2 fucking pizza?”’
He was tired of being in rooms with people saying‘ this is terrible, that’ s terrible, when is somebody going to do something about this?’ he said.‘ Why don’ t you do something about it? I’ m not waiting around anymore. And we don’ t need permission.’ It was vital that people with lived and living experience were involved in projects, because‘ the people we care about are dying’, he stressed.‘ So what we’ re doing isn’ t good enough.’
Peers were the solution, he told the conference.‘ The strength of peer naloxone projects is that people with lived and living experience have privileged access to drugusing venues and drug supply systems and markets. They’ ll go to the places and spaces that the workers don’ t want to go to. We’ ve been developing models based around community mobilisation and technical support, going into organisations
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to make sure that the services are ready to receive the project – without the conscious or unconscious bias that stops our people getting involved.’
PEERS AT THE HEART The aim was to remove all barriers for participation and involvement, he said.‘” You’ ve got to be six months clean and sober to volunteer in our organisation” – well that’ s fucking interesting because the staff are getting pissed on the weekend and they’ re on the payroll.“ We’ re going to pay their expenses, but we’ ll give them vouchers.” Are you getting paid in fucking vouchers? It’ s discrimination.’
What had started from him being told he couldn’ t have a naloxone kit had led him to mobilising and co-producing naloxone peer projects across the country.‘ What we started to realise was that if we can do peer-to-peer naloxone programmes with providers realising that the sky isn’ t going to fall in, then what else can peers do? Peer-led needle and syringe programmes, peerled sexual health and condom projects, peer-led drug litter projects, peers going out into the
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community doing assessments.’
Key guiding principles were clearly important, he said.‘ But OHID says that involving people with lived and living experience isn’ t just a nice thing to have – it’ s fundamental in ensuring local systems meet the needs of people they’ re designed to support. So organisations need to examine if you’ re consulting with 10 per cent of your treatment population. Because if you’ re not, who the fuck’ s making the decisions about what’ s best for them?’
‘ We’ re going to build a better mousetrap, we’ re going to catch a bigger mouse,’ said his colleague, harm reduction leader Mark Tudor.‘ We take what we know, and what we don’ t know, and we make it better.’ The blueprint was already there, he told the conference.‘ We coproduce, we co-create and we bring people on board.’ People were much more than their name badge, he added, and everyone brought something.‘ We’ re using the power of communities here.’
Stakeholder engagement and workforce development were vital, he stressed.‘ We build the pathways, and we deliver per-led holistic activity. We evidence the system, we work with academia, provide the evidence, and then build the infrastructure around it. It’ s just like building a house.’
The first key fix was community mobilisation and technical support, he
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‘ What we need more than anything else is right on our doorstep... that’ s about people with lived and living experience of drug use, it’ s about family members.’
GEORGE CHARLTON
said.‘ We embed the ethos, we create the core, we set the ground. We develop harm reduction steering groups with peers, and then we build the projects around them. We build the peer academies and liberate user voices through peer research – the more evidence we can capture the better.’ Then came laying the local foundations, based on local need.‘ We build living rooms – people come to these rooms to live, not to die. And finally, and this is the biggest aspiration of all – we build the place to call home in every community.’
This would become the place to go, he said.‘ It’ s not a drug service, it’ s not a drop-in. It’ s a collective environment where everybody grows. Some people might say that happens in their service, and yes – we’ re not reinventing the wheel. We’ re creating a peer-led and, importantly, peer-owned model. We will build a community, and that community will be normalised.’ DDN
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