KEEP ON MOVING: ThE 12Th DDN cONfErENcE
Voices
A NEED TO BE HEARD
The voice of service users speaks
louder than ever, says Paul North
A
lot has changed in drug treatment in the
past 20 years. Countless contracts have
come and gone, entire providers have
gone out of business, several drug
strategies have significantly changed the
focus of treatment, and funding has plummeted.
Among this flux one thing has always remained of vital
importance; the voice of service users needs hearing.
The best way to connect with this voice is to attend
DDN’s annual conference, ‘Keep on Moving’ – this
year’s title correctly suggesting that a level of resilience is required for anyone
passionate about this space. In the morning Tim Sampey’s ‘Big Conversation’ talk
summed it up well when he said, ‘I am really tired of death. I know so many
people who have died, I can’t even remember all their names and faces’.
Yet, despite the tiredness and countless drug-related deaths, he continues to
Reflections on the DDN
Conference
There are a few themes that arise when we speak of
the DDN conference and our experience over the last
six years. Lancashire User Forum (LUF) organise for
around 30 delegates, who are at different stages of
their journey, to attend every year. It has become one
of our highlights and our guys begin to rally round for
places in early January. Attending the conference is
refreshing – it gives the people of Lancashire an
18 | drinkanddrugsnews | March 2019
run an inspiring weekend-based mutual aid service in London called Build On
Belief. And Tim is not alone in this resilience and commitment to advocating for
the rights of service users. Comments throughout the day highlighted the
passion that exists for service user involvement and the need for it to remain at
the forefront of delivery.
Despite the passion, attending the conference gave me the impression that
everyone in the sector is feeling frustrated. The cuts to treatment services have
been nothing short of brutal, with little investment from government, even in
the context of record levels of drug-related deaths. Mat Southwell from the
European Network of People who Use Drugs (EuroNPUD) gave a fantastic
presentation, which was full of difficult questions for those in government.
‘How on earth have we had an outbreak of HIV in 2018 in Glasgow, the home
of harm reduction?, he asked. A good question, the answer to which is likely to
lie in the lack of investment and funding in the sector. He also asked, why is the
UK seeing so many drug-related deaths compared to other parts of Europe? He
stated that it can’t just be due to an ageing population, highlighting that
changes to the way in which treatment services work could play a key role.
Despite the latest government drug strategy referencing the importance of
harm reduction it sounds as though treatment services are still heavily
monitored on drug-free outcomes. Several comments were made throughout the
day with members of the audience stating that if treatment services didn’t
appreciation of the bigger picture from a national
perspective and an opportunity to link in with peers
across the UK. Every year we bring down fresh faces
and each one has an amazing experience. One of the
main themes to emerge after a DDN conference is the
power of connection; people realising that resources
lie within relationships is powerful, and that’s what
the DDN conference is all about for us – a great big,
fat networking opportunity! A chance for our people
to get motivated and share best practice, bringing
new ideas back with us.
This year we brought down some family members
from our newly formed Families Matter support
network. They didn’t really know what to expect and
were a bit apprehensive about attending – however
after some persuasion from Emma and me they packed
an overnight bag and came along for the ride! The
feedback from the families was that they didn’t really
understand what we did here in Lancashire, but after
attending the conference they loved it and are fired up
to make a difference for family members, It’s not about
the numbers or how big the group is, but rather the
belief and passion of the people driving the change.
Peter Yarwood and Emma Daggers, Red Rose Recovery
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