SUPPORT
REACHING OUT
Staying connected has never been
more important, says Jason Moore
The COVID-19 pandemic
has changed every
aspect of how we
live and interact with
people, and left many
feeling anxious and isolated.
As an organisation that prides
itself on our hands-on, face-toface
approaches, one of the key
challenges for Forward has been
finding creative ways to engage
our service user community. We’ve
also wanted to make sure we can
do everything we can to help them
feel connected – not just to us,
but to their loved ones and wider
recovery community.
Right from day one, our
staff and volunteers rose to the
challenge admirably, finding all
sorts of inventive and novel ways
to keep in touch. Our family work
coordinator Rebecca Mistry (along
with a little help from her children
Aaria and Ethan!) created packs
for prisoners with children, to help
them continue to connect with
their families when family visits
stopped. The packs contained
items such as stationery, crayons
and jokes to tell little ones to keep
them smiling and advice on how
to talk to children about COVID
– something difficult for every
parent, let alone one who isn’t able
to physically see their child.
We also piloted a live chat
service on our website, called Reach
Out. Open every weekday from
9am to 3pm, Reach Out provides a
friendly voice and a sympathetic ear
to anybody struggling or seeking
advice, particularly on matters
such as drug or alcohol issues,
mental health challenges, housing
problems or benefit concerns.
In our community projects,
we’ve been exploring the use
of video conferencing software
to continue the delivery of
practitioner-led, structured group
programmes in Hull and East
Kent, as well as our Recovering
Families groups. Our East Kent
team now also sends out weekly
text messages to clients with
updates and advice on how to
stay safe. We’ve identified all OST
clients without a contact number
and supplied them with their
own mobile phone so that they
can stay in touch with their key
workers. Meanwhile, our dedicated
prescription delivery team has
been travelling all over East
Kent, delivering prescriptions to
pharmacies to ensure clients have
their medication on time.
‘Forward Connect’ is our friendly
community of current and former
clients, graduates and volunteers.
They – along with some of our
alcohol pathway clients in East
Kent – have been using Kaizala, a
secure multimedia messaging app
to keep in touch with each other as
a source of social support.
And last but not least, our
recovery support service has been
working with prison teams to
identify clients who are due to be
released from prison and equip
them with mobile phones when
they get out, to ensure they are still
able to access remote assessments
and treatment services. We
are truly appreciative of some
additional funding that has been
received from supportive partners
to help fund this additional work.
We’re incredibly lucky to
have such a dedicated and
responsive team, as well as access
to technology that has made
it possible to stay connected
with our clients and graduates.
Living through a pandemic has
brought us all challenges, but
it has been amazing to see the
creative and positive way our staff
and volunteers have risen to the
challenge, bringing a much-needed
Living through
a pandemic has
brought us all
challenges, but it
has been amazing
to see the creative
and positive
way our staff
and volunteers
have risen to
the challenge,
bringing a muchneeded
human
connection to
those we support.
human connection to those we
support.
‘Never underestimate the power
of a letter or card, particularly at a
difficult time like this,’ says Rebecca
Mistry. ‘It’s the small things that
are really making a difference, and
a handwritten letter from someone
you love can really put a smile on
their face. Aaria wanted to be able
to help mummies and daddies who
weren’t able to see their children to
keep in touch with their little ones,
and also to give prisoners some
good drawing opportunities –
because who doesn’t love drawing!’
Jason Moore is divisional
director of substance misuse at
The Forward Trust
Karen & Summer Kala / Alamy
10 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • JULY/AUGUST 2020
WWW.DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS.COM