LETTERS AND COMMENT
This year we are
inviting anyone
who is directly or
indirectly affected
by addiction
(individuals, family
members, friends,
professionals) to
make a 60 second
film on the theme
of ‘Isolation’.
RECOVERY STREET
MOVES ONLINE
With COVID-19 making it unsafe
for the usual Recovery Street
Film Festival to go ahead this
year, we have found a way for it to
persevere within the digital space.
This year we are inviting
anyone who is directly or
indirectly affected by addiction
(individuals, family members,
friends, professionals) to make a
60 second film on the theme of
‘Isolation’.
Substance use and isolation
have long gone hand in hand,
and social isolation is a serious
epidemic that many people using
substances can understand.
We would like to hear what
isolations means for you and your
loved ones – how has COVID-19
changed your world? Are you
feeling isolated or have you
found new means of connection?
How are you managing to stay
connected to positive resources
WWW.DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS.COM
throughout this period of social
distancing?
We encourage low-cost film
making. We want entries to show
an honest account of isolation and
be as creative and as imaginative
as you wish. Films could be short
dramatic plays, drawn or stop-
frame animation, documentary-
style pieces, personal stories,
songs, poems etc.
The submission window is
now open, so it’s time to start
thinking about making your film.
Remember, you can get tips and
ideas from our ‘Enter the Festival’
page.
The judges will be looking for
the most original and imaginative
approaches to telling stories of
isolation, addiction and recovery.
The 60 second film should aim to
make an immediate impact on the
audience.
The closing date for
submissions is Monday 3 August
2020.
Please ensure you make your
films safely.
Lucie Mauger, Phoenix Futures
MAKE THE CASE
Following the 2008 banking crisis
the economic downturn resulted
in the long painful period of
austerity and cuts in services. As
we all know substance misuse
treatment services were some of
the hardest hit.
Making the case for funding
has always been difficult as
the sector competes with what
the public, and by extension
politicians, see as other more
deserving groups. With the
coming severe economic
downturn and likely global
recession how can we make the
HAVE YOUR SAY
Write to the editor and get it off your chest
[email protected]
case for continued funding for
our client group?
Previously increases in funding
were achieved by creating a
‘crime reduction narrative’ linking
money spent on treatment to
reductions in crime and the costs
of these crimes. While successful
in monetary terms, no one wants
to return to a strategy that
increases stigmatisation of some
of the more vulnerable members
of society.
We need to learn the lessons
of the last decade and come
together to make the case for
drug and alcohol treatment as
part of a larger public health
initiative, as well as being tied
into wider issues around poverty
and lack of opportunity.
There are some fantastic peer-
led initiatives across the country
that are huge assets to their local
communities, as well as truly
inspirational personal stories of
people turning their lives around.
We need to ensure that these
stories are heard and that we
communicate the positive impact
of drug treatment to individuals
and society as a whole.
There is a battle for funding
coming – shouting about our
success could be our best weapon.
Simon Powell, by email
of paying for all this. More cuts
would likely be fatal for a sector
that’s already put up with so much,
with the treatment field reduced
to a service in name only. We all
know that our service users are
not the public’s favourite choice
when it comes to spending money,
and we also know the devastation
that reduced budgets can lead to
among vulnerable populations.
The stakes will be higher than ever
before, and the sector may well
have to stand up and defend itself.
It’s our responsibility to make sure
we’re fully prepared and able to do
that if the time comes.
Michael Clarke, by email
‘HEARTACHE TO
HEARTBREAK’
Can you imagine the terror
As you race to hospital
following a call
Unconscious now,
Your son spared once
Returned to the hell of
addiction?
Pain etched into his face.
When will this ever end?
You half ask, half hope the
obvious answer is somehow
not obvious.
But how?
STAND YOUR GROUND
As COVID-19 continues to
disrupt every aspect of our lives
services are getting by as best
they can, and most seem to be
doing an incredible job under
the circumstances. But as the
politicians never tire of telling us,
this is going to be a ‘marathon
not a sprint’. Even if we see a
phased lifting of the lockdown
soon there’s every chance that a
second wave, either in summer or
– potentially far more damagingly
– later in the year, when it will
coincide with seasonal ’flu, will
mean restrictions will have to be
put back in place, perhaps tighter
than ever.
The economic consequences
of this are going to be immense,
and it’s essential that the field does
everything it can to resist bearing
the brunt of another round of
austerity, if that turns out to be the
government’s preferred method
I shall never forget the
sight of my son lying, eyes
closed, swollen, cut, bruised,
unconscious,
waiting for a sign of returning
to waking
Only for a gentle, kind, young
doctor to run his steth over his
skeletal frame.
How many times has this
happened and I haven’t
known?’
Jenepher Parry Davies
DDN welcomes your letters
Please email the editor,
[email protected], or post
them to DDN, CJ Wellings Ltd,
Romney House, School Road,
Ashford, Kent TN27 0LT. Letters
may be edited for space or clarity.
/ddnmagazine
@ddnmagazine
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
MAY 2019 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • 17