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ContEnts
Editor’s lEttEr
‘Everyone
needs to find
what gives
their life a
direction’
ON THE COVER
Existentialism can give us a fresh angle on addiction, p6
4 NEWS
NHS strikes ‘world-leading’ hep C deal; new strategy to address gambling harms.
6 A QUESTION OF WHY
Can the tenets of existentialism give us new insights into helping people with
substance issues, asks Lana Durjava.
8 CZAR GAZING
We need to find the right balance between healthcare provision and recovery
pathways, says Mike Trace.
9 LESS PAIN, MORE GAIN
An innovative new approach to pain management is paying real dividends, says
Robert Ralph.
10 SYSTEM FAILURE
Why is the treatment sector so ill-equipped to offer appropriate support to
survivors of childhood sexual abuse?
12 COMMENT
Tragic loss of City Roads; poetry can inspire recovery, says Michelle Graham.
12 MEDIA SAVVY
The news and the skews in the national media.
14 FACTS OF LIFE
Laura Paton explains everything you need to know about CQC’s new factual
accuracy process.
16 DON’T SELL YOURSELF SHORT
Kay France offers some invaluable tips on getting back to work.
DDN is published by
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‘T
here is no one-size-fits all in addiction treatment… every person
needs to find what gives their life a direction, fulfilment and
purpose, and the practitioner’s role is to support this journey of
discovery, not endorse a particular model of living.’ Many of us would
agree with Lana Durjava’s words in this month’s cover story (page 6); yet
according to Mike Trace (page 8), ‘too many people in the sector still see
the abstinence/harm reduction issue in binary terms’. We have failed to
achieve a balance between healthcare provision and recovery pathways,
he argues. Is this your experience?
One certainty is the need to find effective ways to tackle chronic
pain without always resorting to opiate medications (page 9). For
many people these should not be the default option, yet so often they
are. Sharing experiences from a recent pilot scheme, Robert Ralph
suggests that with the right system in place and a fully engaged
partnership model, the results can be dramatic – not just in achieving
the vital pain reduction, but also in improving quality of life.
Recently we’ve been exploring the links between childhood trauma
and substance misuse and this month we take a look at the
distressingly common – yet poorly understood – exposure to
childhood sexual abuse among people in treatment services. One
thing we do know is that staff must be trained to respond to
disclosure and be able to support survivors in an appropriate way. We
hope you find the article helpful, and if you can add to our
understanding of this vital work, please get in touch.
Claire Brown, editor
Keep in touch at www.drinkanddrugsnews.com and @DDNmagazine
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May 2019 | drinkanddrugsnews | 3