More partnership working at
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having locally, the company expressed
an interest in taking on some Recovery
Recruitment participants as volunteers,
and then took even greater strides in
their support by naming Double Impact
their charity of the year.
‘With the volume of collaboration we
do with Café Sobar it seemed only
natural to pick Double Impact as our
chosen charity,’ says The Treat Kitchen’s
owner Jess Barnett. ‘We admire what
they do and would like to support it and
the service users as much as we can.
Offering placements within different
parts of our business is a great way to
do this.’
The relationship is now thriving with
several volunteers having successfully
gained work experience in various parts
of their business. The employers also
generously ran an open competition to
design a Double Impact sweet, and the
winning flavour (chilli and chocolate) is
soon to hit the shelves, with all profits
going back to the charity. Four of their
staff are also raising money by running
in the Robin Hood half marathon.
Similarly, a local business club that
held an event in the café then invited
our CEO to speak at its Christmas lunch
– as well as the cash donations
generated as a result, the real
opportunity was in being able to reach
out to so many business people at once,
and so far it has resulted in several people committing to run in the Robin Hood
marathon for us and sponsor our Spirit of Recovery Awards.
Our current 20th anniversary fundraising appeal has also provided a focal point
for businesses to do something for the charity. Over the course of the anniversary
year, CEO Graham Miller has been raising funds and awareness through undertaking
to run 20 half-marathons in one year.
Combining a popular fundraising activity like running wi th a story that has
caught the imagination of the local media has enabled us to attract support from
many people in the private sector, who may have come into contact through the café
or heard Graham speaking at a business lunch event. The appeal has also meant
we’ve needed to brush up our social media skills, and having a longer-term appeal
‘The primary
vehicle [for us]
is free drug
and alcohol
awareness
training for
local employers
angled towards
meeting their
needs...’
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that generates regular news and updates has enabled us to connect into businesses’
social media networks in a meaningful way.
‘All this is common sense stuff really, but it still feels quite new for us, as it’s easy
to shy away from this sort of fundraising due to the sense that it’s an “unsexy”’
cause – perhaps being guilty ourselves of succumbing to a kind of stigma,’ says
Graham. ‘In fact, what this year has shown us is that there are many supporters out
there, including forward thinking individuals within the business sector, who aren’t
afraid to do something different and show their support. Often you find out that
there is a personal connection to the cause – as we know, conservative estimates
say that one in ten people experience addiction and that this in turn directly affects
another seven – so there are plenty of people out there who are affected by this.’
H
ow does all this reduce stigma? The increased willingness of
employers to give people in recovery a chance has a huge
impact on the individual, and can help to restore confidence
and self-belief. Among those employers, HMRC has played a big
part in helping service users to take that big leap into the job
market by holding mock interview sessions.
‘My colleagues and I were impressed not only by the
fortitude and resilience shown by the interviewees, in the face of what have clearly
been very difficult circumstances for them, but also particularly by the enthusiasm
and positive attitudes which they all demonstrated during the interviews,’ says
Julian Bentley, who was involved in the process. ‘We hope that HMRC have been
able to contribute, if only in a small way, to helping the interviewees obtain
employment.’
‘I was fearful about interviews because the atmosphere is uncomfortable and
the spotlight is on me,’ says Tom, one of the interviewees, who is now working full
time as an administrator. ‘The mock interviews held at Double Impact with staff
from HMRC were a great opportunity to practise being in that atmosphere, have a
go at answering questions that I don’t usually get asked, and most importantly get
feedback on how well I performed.
‘Interviews have been few and far between for me so I gained a lot from the
mock interviews, and I felt more confident going into a real interview a few months
later. The experience and tools helped me to secure employment earlier this year.’
‘It’s hard to measure something as intangible as a reduction in stigma, but we
believe we’re contributing to a larger movement and the response we’re having
locally is very encouraging,’ says Graham. ‘It’s great to have support from businesses
that aren’t afraid to lead the way, do something different and make a statement
about it – like most things in life, where one goes, another will follow. The
willingness of the private sector to demonstrate support for recovery from addiction
is worth so much more that any actual financial contribution.
‘It might not be normal yet for a big corporate to choose an addition charity as
their charity of the year, but the response I’ve had from the general public and from
the private sector to my running tells me that the tide is beginning to turn.’
Eleanor Youdell is business development manager at Double Impact
July/August 2018 | drinkanddrugsnews | 7