Paul Hayes said, ‘’The last thing we need to do is follow the same path as the Greeks and the Romanians where disinvestment in drug treatment sent their HIV rate rocketing.’’

I visited Greece in May of last year and saw the impact massive cuts in public spending can have on a society. I blogged about my experience.  I have huge admiration for my colleagues in Greece who despite their anger and frustration at what was happening in their country continued to deliver valuable services at times without being paid.

This weekend we have seen the implementation of many of the changes to the welfare state we have been discussing for over 2 years;

•             The shift in commissioning responsibility to Public Health England and a localised framework

•             The end of the National Treatment agency as the champion of treatment

•             Changes to the benefit system with more to follow in October 13

•             Changes to the legal aid framework

All of these changes are likely to impact our service users and their families.  Whilst most would agree that in times of economic difficulty we all need to make sacrifices, many of us would still want to ensure we do all we can to protect the vulnerable and ensure our local communities are safe and healthy places to live.

We aren’t alone in believing that our role is to provide the opportunity and support for people, whatever their circumstance, to improve their lives. The more desperate and deprived people become the more important our function is.

That makes it incumbent on providers like us who hold those values so close to our heart, to work harder to become more efficient and more innovative than we already are. To make sure through the hardest times to come our service users, their families and our communities continue to receive the help they need to be the best they can be.

14^th March  Blog – National Apprenticeship week

At Phoenix we believe in giving people a voice.  To mark National Apprenticeship week I have asked our youngest apprentice Jahmane Daniels to take over my blog.

When my Director of Resources came to the Executive Team with a plan to set up a number of apprenticeships across different departments we saw it as an excellent opportunity to deliver our mission through our workforce. We loved the idea of providing support to people through the workplace, not just providing someone with a job and work experience but supporting them in their first experience of working life.

We now have 6 apprentices across the organisation in a variety of functions.

We have learnt that our most important role is to support someone to learn how to be part of a workplace. Its sometimes easy to forget that learning how to work is one of the most important life lessons.

And whilst apprentices may need more support in some areas it has been an absolute joy to have them as part of our organisation and very rewarding to watch them grow and develop.

Over to Jahmane……..

It is nearly a year since I joined Phoenix Futures, and in that time I have had the pleasure of being a part of a family, and a part of company which is constantly changing lives and that for me was what enticed me to join and become a part of Phoenix Futures.

There are different views about apprenticeships. Some think it as a way for companies to get employees ‘on the cheap’. My view is that it is a chance to get on the working ladder and build your own personal and working skills in order to make positive and progressive improvements not just in the work place but also in life.

To be honest I came into Phoenix with no idea of what to expect, but I have come to see that regardless of whether you are an Apprentice or permanent staff you are treated the same. I can’t lie and say it has been easy, there have been challenges and testing times. Working under pressure has been a real learning curve. For many of us who have taken on an Apprenticeship course we are either fresh out of College or University and have no idea of how to operate in a demanding office environment. I have been lucky in regards to knowing the help and support was always there and that for me gave me encouragement and helped me preserver and for me I feel this was essential.

I feel I have learnt so much whilst being here; I have liked the general feel of Phoenix in regards to the general decorum which comes with working within Phoenix. Also the workload, although sometimes it felt like you were up to your eyeballs, it gives you a sense of achievement once you have completed what you had to do, and it really makes  you feel part  of a team.

Working at Phoenix has given me confidence. With there ever helpful staff there is never a feeling of being an outsider. I hope once my apprenticeship is  complete to continue working with Phoenix whether that is in the Finance department or hopefully in the New Business & Development department, where I hope to take the skills I have learnt whilst here but also my own personal attributes and contribute them to Phoenix over a long term period.

So in regards to being an Apprentice, if there ever was a company which is a shining light then Phoenix is the one. They embrace your skills and enhance them, and the support and encouragement you receive whether that be from a colleague or from the C.E.O it is never far away, and for that I would like to say thank you, because without the support from Phoenix I really don’t think I would be where I am today.

So thank you for all of your support.

J.Daniels

A few months ago I was listening to a woman talk about her experience of treatment.

Sadly her story was fairly typical, years of trying to tackle her addiction with various different treatments, years of methadone and using on top. She was reflecting on what made the difference this time. At the end of the discussion she said.

“You know my mum said, she knew the last time I was in treatment would be different because it was the first time anyone took the trouble to ask how she was.”

Mum had been going to appointments for 10 years with her daughter. Making sure she attended. Re engaging her when she lapsed. No one, she said, throughout those 10 years had once asked her how SHE was? And when someone did say, quietly in the waiting room whilst her daughter was being seen, “How are you doing” she felt like finally someone recognised that she needed looking after too.

It’s easy for us as a society to rely on families to support each other in difficult times, and because they do that so well it should be incumbent on us to support families when they need help.

66% of our service users said their mum was the family member they had most contact with, 43% said that their mum was their main support in their recovery.

I fear that most of the carers of people with addictions are women, in some cases wives and daughters but mostly Mums. And the reality of the world is that Mums for various reasons often don’t say “What about me”?

We have worked hard in Phoenix over the last few years to engage families in what we do.  To ensure Mums don’t have to say “what about me” to get support. I wouldn’t want to say we have cracked it yet but we have learnt much in the work we have done.

This Mother’s Day we have asked our service users across all our services to tell us why they want to say thank you to their mums. Their stories are very personal to them but reflect the challenges that all those that care for someone with an addiction face. Take a look at their messages at http://www.phoenix-futures.org.uk/megaslide-test-two/.

After hearing the stories of too many women who have sacrificed so much to help their children we want to say thank you to them. ‘Thank you’ for doing what the mums would say is their job and what we say is love beyond what any of us could expect.

The natural rhythm of life forces us at this time of the year to review what we have done with the last 12 months before we set to work on making those New Year resolutions.

I am sure this time last year I wrote of a difficult year full of change and challenge, if I thought then that 2012 would be calmer, I was wrong.

I am very proud that we have managed to keep our focus on our mission and our values in the midst of the maelstrom of changes in commissioning, retendering and cuts to budgets.

Some highlights for me have been:

Our Voyage of Recovery – a madly ambitious project that was born from our aspiration and ambition for our service users. We gave 87 service users and 14 graduates from across England and Scotland an experience of a lifetime. What’s more for 12 weeks we took visible recovery literally around the country.

This was only possible because of our committed staff who demonstrate their passion for recovery by going the extra mile at any given opportunity. That is what made getting the Third Sector Best Employer award so significant.

Through the course of the year we have established a number of new services. Some as a result of the retendering process and adding new services in Trafford, Barnsley, Derby and Islington has given us the opportunity to put our new ideas on how to deliver recovery orientated services into practice.

The flip-slide of that process is we have also said good bye to services and we have tried to do that with sensitivity and respect for our staff and our service users. At Phoenix we believe how we say goodbye is as important as how we say hello.

Most recently we have welcomed the staff of NORCAS to Phoenix. As the impact of the external environment hits providers we believe it is our role to do what we can to ensure good quality local services survive.

As we get ready for the Christmas period we are all too aware of the risks that brings to many. Our new B-Chilled project in Birmingham is an exciting initiative that shows how drug and alcohol services can be delivered within a public health framework.  We look forward to developing similar services next year.

I’m not going to promise 2013 will be calmer, or less challenging, but I am going to promise that we at Phoenix will tackle it head on keeping the needs of our service users at the front of our decision making. I can also promise that we will continue to do the nice stuff starting in January with New Years Honours and the 3^rd year of planting in the Phoenix Forest and a few more surprises through the rest of the year too.

Thank you to all at Phoenix staff, service users, graduates, volunteers and loved ones who have helped us make a good year out of a difficult environment

To all our stakeholders, supporters, donors and partners – thank you for your support of Phoenix over the last year and we look forward to achieving more together in 2013

Happy Christmas, Karen

“We have now made it back from our trip, it was an interesting experience and was a real eye-opener of the provision or lack of in Poland, how different the treatment journey can be and how they make do with such a small amount of money.  We saw some really amazing services and the week in the TC gave us a great opportunity to really engage and get to know some of the service users. The food was at times questionable and I’m not sure that any of us had tasted sausage soup before or may want it again!  Overall it was a tiring but highly enjoyable experience that I’m sure none of us will forget.” Helen Cleugh from the Trafford Structured Day Service.

Blog 9 20/9/12 Cordoba prison TC Alcolea & Minors treatment programme Chari boss of minors.

“Well today is our second to last day and we start with a return visit to Cordoba prison TC.  We took part in a morning meeting complete with entertainment (although it was difficult to translate the Spanish sense of humour).  Again there is a big emphasis on the community being one big family and a staff member gave a talk on being motivated to change or what was the point of being here, tough love they call it. We were invited to join an encounter group and it was very interesting to see how they operated these.  Everyone is expected to take issues to the group and if you haven’t had any, your in denial.  The community will confront those who hide away and don’t deal with their issues.  Our interpreter and TC resident Patrick explained what happened in the group to us afterwards. The residents have their own magazine which tells stories, news and goings on in the TC for people outside.  We had the honour of being interviewed and have been promised a copy.  We will of course have to translate it with Google!  When we asked what Proyecto Hombre gives to them the editor said ‘Proyecto Hombre wakes up the conscience of people and shows them that there really exists a true place of happiness within each of them that is real and achievable for everyone’. On our leaving the residents called a special full house meeting, all 66 of them, and they made some speeches and wished us well in taking back what we have learnt and hoped we would use this experience/knowledge to help others.  We got a chance to thank them and it was quite an emotional experience. Later on this afternoon we also got a chance to visit a juvenile open house detention programme for kids who have issues with anger and violence.  There are 8 residents aged 16-21 and 4 therapists and 3 night staff monitors.  The work is very difficult and intense, we were told, as they are confronted all the time on their behaviour.  The difference here is they are sent here by the courts and so don’t have the same motivation to change.  Proyecto Hombre applies the same TC principals with many different kinds of client groups because the methodology is one of simple and effective in adapting human behaviours. It’s been a long two weeks and tomorrow is our last day, we have had an amazing time and part of us doesn’t want to leave although we’re all looking forward to coming home.   Our Spanish hosts have been amazing and have really made our experience wonderful.” Lucy, Paul and Victoria.

Blog 8 19/9/12 Cordoba prison TC, Cordoba community TC ‘El Tilo’ & community day/evening Programmes service.

“Started today by meeting up with lovely Mariana Guerra from Proyecto Hombre Cordoba who was to be our guide for the day.  For the full day she was extremely patient and helpful in making sure we got a good understanding of what they are doing here  in Cordoba.  We had a tour of the day service and met some of the friendly staff who work there.  We then set off for Cordoba prison TC where we will be today and tomorrow.  We were met by Raffa who works in the TC.  This is a big prison holding 1000 prisoners in 15 wings (Modelo’s). Again like the Madrid prison Soto de Real the TC has the run of a full Modulo.  Mariana was very excited on arriving at the prison as there was a surprise for us.  We were lucky again to have Patrick, an English speaking (or should I say Irish) resident who gave us a full run down on the programme in depth.  Mariana also spoke good English but I think was glad to have the burden of translating shared!  He explained the programme starting with the four essential elements in the first phase which is called initiation 1. Personal hygiene 2. Involve family in your treatment 3. Start to use the tools of the house 4. Start sharing about yourself.  What struck us again was how clean and tidy the community and residents were.  There is a big focus on respecting yourself, others and your environment as a base of starting the recovery process.  At the start the residents are never allowed to be alone so that you don’t isolate and get support.  They don’t have items of value or wear jewellery etc in order start to learn to accept themselves as they are. We then had a tour of the TC.  At about 1:30pm we had to leave but just before this the residents sat down for lunch.  In the Proyecto Hombre TC’s all residents wait while everyone is siting down and quiet.  The community leader makes announcements and residents who have struggled that morning can share at let others know where they’re at.  They also took this opportunity to welcome us and we made short speeches telling them who we were and what we were doing and answered some questions.  After saying Adios and see you Manyana we left for the TC in the community. This TC was up on the hills in Cordoba and had a swimming pool and huge gardens with olive and orange trees (no time for a dip worse luck, it was 35 degrees today..phew!).  Here we we’re again met with a surprise, another resident Antonio who had spent time in Glasgow as a support worker for Spanish people learning English in Glesga!  He said we were looking Broon…lol.  Again we had a tour of the TC and asked lots of questions and observed them on structure and how they dealt with their behaviours and feelings. At about 4pm it was off to the day service again to meet a service user who attended their evening programme. Pedro gave us an insight into the programme he did, the groups, structure and challenges.  The impression we are starting to get is that the Therapeutic model, tools and structure have much in common in all the different programmes and are adapted to suit the needs of each service user group.  Again today we were struck by the family involvement in recovery and the respect for self and others that comes across.  Only 2 days left, it’s been an amazing trip. Hasta luego from Lucy, Victoria and Paul.”

Blog 7 18/9/12

“Malaga prison drug programme and community day programme.  In Malaga they started 25 yrs ago with 4 staff and treated 90 people. Now they have 28 staff and last year treated 700! Wow.  They have community, residential and prison services here. Today we visited the community day programme first and met some of the staff and the Vice President of the Service, Juan Serrano Silva.  He is retired and does this job on a voluntary basis, this is very common within the organisation.  There are many types of programmes within the one service.  They support minors with addiction and violence problems from the community and referrals from juvenile court. Programmes last from 6 months upwards but not usually more than a year. Up to 200 kids 13-18 yrs old attend after school each week.The daily adult programme is just like a community TC. They stay with their families but attend the programme from 8:30am to 2pm.  They do department work like cleaning, maintenance and attend groups/seminars. Clients who complete this programme can go on to residential TC, re-entry or shorter evening programme dependent on their need.Working with families is an integral and vital part of the work of the organisation, involving them deeply in the service users recovery.  They will attend 10 seminars/Groups on subjects like the aspirations of the programme, communication and self help. All the family are encouraged to attend. We then moved on to Malaga prison with our guide Miriam (therapeutic coordinator) and our volunteer translator German.  We were met by Salvator who also works for Proyecto Hombre at the prison.  Here they have therapy groups with inmates in a wing of the jail that is for people who are clean and make a commitment to change their lives. It’s not a TC but they also work with prison therapists, social workers and educators.  These groups are topic groups guided by PH staff but go with the flow of the service users.  Some people from this group choose to move onto a TC either in another prison or community if their sentence allows.  The service users  challenge and support each other by sharing personal experience but don’t advise each other what to do.  The emphasis is on taking personal responsibility for your own life and decisions.  This is a common theme throughout all Proyecto Hombre programmes. Tomorrow we move on to Cordoba, busy, busy it’s a hard job but someone’s gotta do it. Hasta Luego  ” Lucy Morris from HMP North Sea Camp, Victoria Machin from HMP Channings Wood and Paul McKellar from the Scottish Residential.

“I am delighted to be able to say that tomorrow we launch the Voyage of Recovery! Four staff members, five graduates and three supporters will sail from Plymouth to Portsmouth where the Tectona will pick up our first service user crew. When Stuart Plant and Darren Long first proposed the voyage, we knew then it was a great idea that demonstrates who we are as an organisation. What I didn’t realise at the time was that the voyage would also bring us closer together as an organisation and help connect us to our local communities. I’d like to personally thank everyone who has climbed mountains, cycled and swam, baked cakes, dressed as pirates, packed bags in supermarkets and created all the other fun, creative and challenging fundraising activities. It’s great to see so many people get involved, even our prison service residents are rowing the length of a voyage leg and climbing the height of Kilimanjaro on the step machines in the gym. In addition I hope you will also pass on my thanks to the many organisations and individuals who have supported us to get here.”

Karen Biggs

Chief Executive

“Managing the voyage project has been a major undertaking, I’d like to thank our partners the Island Trust and the Tectona Trust and especially thank our voyage champions who made it possible to get where we are today. The benefit of the voyage to our service users is our focus and I believe that benefit will be profound, but the voyage is also something for all of us to enjoy. So please follow the Tectona’s progress around the country on our website where you’ll find updates from life on board the boat and feedback from our voyagers. We will be fundraising  throughout the voyage so keep up all the good work! Tomorrow we launch what I know will be a very exciting adventure.”

Adele Duncan

Director of Operations – England

Steve from Phoenix Futures Central Office recently met the Dalai Lama

“On 17 June, I had great honour and joy of meeting His Holiness face-to-face. I have had great fortune to attend His profound teachings on Buddha Dharma several times in various countries since first being ‘zapped’ by His amazing energy in 1995.

The Dalai Lama was also in Manchester to host a youth event which was surprisingly co-hosted by Russell Brand. The choice was quite controversial but they seemed to get on well together and it provided extra publicity for His Holiness’ other goals to promote religious harmony; and to seek autonomy for Tibet to protect human rights and preserve their unique cultural heritage, which is of great benefit to all.

Click here http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2158156/The-Dalai-Lamas-recent-trip-Britain-reminded-Tibet-matters.html for a very good article about why Western leaders should examine their relationships with China.

I met His Holiness at His hotel amidst a throng of security personnel, officials and his monk-attendants. All were eager to usher Him on but His Holiness was relaxed and smiled warmly at me. I offered a Khatag (a traditional ceremonial scarf used in Tibet and Mongolia offered to Buddhist images, holy sites, lamas and in certain rituals) which represents the highest respect to the recipient, which He graciously returned with His blessing. He also took His time to sign a photo and to write a message in my text book for the teachings. Each of those was marvellous but when we held hands, the transmission of energy was fabulous! (He has an extraordinary vibration, which I am quite conscious of as a Reiki master. Clients since have also benefited).

FABULOUS! … to give you a flavour I will put that in context. From 1991 to 1997, I back-packed extensively – including East Africa, South and Central America, South East Asia, Australasia, India, Nepal, Tibet and China. I had so many very exciting experiences – a few examples: arriving solo at the Sun Gate of Machu Picchu and watching the sun rise over the city (awesome!); a jaw dropping, tear-jerking multi-sensory experience of the thundering Iguacu Falls (natural wonder at its best); seeing herds of big game from a hot-air balloon at dawn over the Maasai Mara; a bungee jump in New Zealand (good adrenalin rush but relatively mundane); being in just the right place at exactly the right time to see tiny turtles hatch out and emerge from the sand on an island in the Amazon rainforest (move over David Attenborough!); crawling through the undergrowth in the Ruwenzori mountains (Zaire) to face an adult male silver-back gorilla (gulp!); being held up at gun-point (Venezuela) and various other near-death experiences. Pause to imagine what a fantastic feeling it is to be alive after teetering on the edge of a ravine or looking down the barrel of a gun!

Being blessed by His Holiness is number one!

Its not easy following the path of Mahayana Buddhism so being blessed by The Dalai Lama was a great boost for me and many other practitioners who rejoiced at my great fortune and recognise its due to ‘merit’ – the result of a lot of dedicated practice.

Thanks for sharing my good fortune.”

Blog from Fabienne VANBERSY, Assistante de Direction from Trempoline, Belgium,  trip host for Tracey Ironside, Nadia Audhali and Nicola Owens.

“It is with a real sadness that I had to drive your trainees to their train and flight…..because the time spent with them was a real good experience, very rich in relationship and also very interesting in exchanges of knowledge… With regards visits and works, they have been appreciated everywhere they has been.  They put a lot of questions and the requests were very intelligent, pertinent, coherent and they took a lot of notes… They told us,  this morning,  that they have  received a lot from us….but, I think that we have received more …. They are very nice and good people, different in their personality but each of them gave us important things. All our resident were very happy to meet them also.”

3rd July 2012 blog from Nicola Owens, Wirral Residential Service, after arriving back from two weeks spent in Trempoline, Belgium as part of the Ecett Project.

“My Ecett Experience was magnifique

What an honour and experience my Belgium work placement was! I completely underestimated just what the ECETT network was prior to my journey but soon began to realise that I was part of an amazing, overwhelming and powerful learning adventure.

My first week took me (Wirral Residential) Tracey Ironside (HMP Channings Wood) and Nadia Audhali (Sheffield Family) to a multitude of different services that ranged from a harm reduction/drop in service in Andennes, “de Sleutels” (Gand) in the city of Ghent (an amazing residential Therapeutic Community for addicted individuals) a structured Tier 3 service which offered individuals the opportunity to harm minimise with a view of sustaining a drug and alcohol free lifestyle. Employment and partnership working was big on the agenda in Belgium, we were able to appreciate the importance of equiping service users with as many transferrable skills as possible. Jambres took us to a wonderful service actualy named ‘Phoenix’, a structured day service facilitating a TC methodology, principles and perspectives. This structured day service enabled us to realise that TC’s can actually operate to individuals who cannot or who are not wanting residential TC’s. This was a humbling day for us all and evoked a great amount of emotion mixed in with a few tears along the way. Friday took us trainees into Brussels, after initially getting lost and struggling to make my scouse accent sound even a little bit French when asking for directions we were greeted at a wonderful harm reduction service called ‘Transit’ which offered accommodation (as well as a needle exchange service) to those most vulnerable for 13 nights with a view of 3 month supported accommodation until people could ‘get back on their feet’…..incredible!

Graduation day at the Trempoline service in Chatalet (which we visited everyday of our second week) brought about the next lot of tears and emotions. This service enabled us to really understand how their TC model really worked. Their welcome house phase, main house, re-entry and the ‘kangourou’ service (for mothers with children) enabled us to meet many different characters and listen to true testimonies of parents that were struggling with sons/daughters who were battling with addiction……..words cannot express the emotion that I experienced when meeting these parents, it was a truly humbling and overwhelming experience that provided me with a sense of desire and passion to create something new and dynamic at Wirral residential. The final day brought about so many mixed emotions. I began to realise that even though we and our Belgian colleagues work in different countries, thousands of miles apart….we all have one common aim which brings us all together…..bringing about positive change!!! This is something pretty special!!!

Now, back to reality with a bump but feeling invigorated, even more committed than ever before and ready to transfer some very exciting skills, practices and qualities to the Wirral Residential. The Ecett placement creates a sense of unity amongst our European colleagues and enables us to realise just what amazing work is taking place across so many fascinating services to enable individuals to begin making positive changes to their lives

So a big Merci Beaucoup for a life changing experience!”

(In the photograph from left to right Nadia Audhali, Nicola Owens, Fabrizio Amico Directeur Pedagogique, Fabienne Vanbersy Assistant de Direction and Tracey Ironside)

My name is Hayley and I’ve worked at our National Specialist Family based in Sheffield  for over four and a half years. The service is unique in providing for treatment for both mums and dads with substance misuse problems. What I find most enjoyable about my job is working with vulnerable people and seeing them make the positive changes to leave the service as the family. I really enjoy supporting service users with their parenting and guiding them with strategies to build positive relationships with their children.  I am from a childcare background, so obviously enjoy working with the children within the nursery. It still amazes me to see how far they come on in a six month period!

We’ve recently enhanced our service by offering Triple P. So far the sessions have been going really well and the parents have started to put into practice what is being learnt. I feel that Triple P will benefit the parents greatly and fits in well with the programme through similar traits such as self regulation and motivational interviewing. One thing I have noticed in this first run of the course is that parents have been supporting each other with implementation through role modelling strategies and giving advice on them to other parents in the house who may be struggling. Advice and support like this from peers can be very powerful due to them sharing the same experience. This is an added bonus to completing the course in a residential setting.

Having group Triple P within the service has ensured that all parents are able to learn and put in to practice parenting strategies to promote a positive relationship with their child. Even though some of the strategies may not be relevant for their child’s age, they have been able to support others and now have the knowledge and skills at their disposal.

What is Triple P?

Group Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) This is an accredited programme we run within the service over nine weeks. Five sessions are group work based and three sessions are 1-1 consultations. The aim of the intervention is to enhance parents self sufficiency and self efficacy in managing their children’s behaviour. Triple P achieves this aim by teaching parents skills for promoting their children’s development, social competence and self control. Triple P has been subjected to extensive research that has demonstrated its effectiveness. Through having group sessions the parents can receive support as well as constructive feedback from other parents. The sessions involve discussion, workbook exercises, role plays, PowerPoint presentations as well as DVD material. The 1-1 sessions aim to assist parents with the practical implementation of the strategies learnt on an individual basis.

The sessions run as follows;

-Week one, introduction

-Week two, Positive parenting

-Week three, Helping children develop

-Week four, Managing misbehaviour

-Week five, Planning ahead

-Week six, seven and eight, 1-1 consultation, using the positive parenting strategies, putting them into practice

-Week nine, Program close’

Phoenix Futures has recently been granted European funding for a fantastic opportunity to send fifteen members of staff to spend two weeks working in Therapeutic Communities in Europe as part of the European Campanionship in Education, Training by Travel (ECETT). The destinations are Poland, Belgium, Greece and Spain and our first group have departed for Belgium to spend two weeks working in Trempoline coordinated by the Learning and Development department. Tracey Ironside from HMP Channing’s Wood, Nicola Owens from the Wirral Residential Service and Nadia Audhali from Sheffield Family Service arrived in Belgium on Sunday 17^th June.

Week 1:

Monday 18^th June 2012 “Went to Andennes yesterday by train then caught a local bus to a hospital and visited Philippe and his team; Mohammed and Jenervive. This is a drop in services, harm reduction and allow clients to pop in for coffee, tea, use the phone, internet and access one to one appointments with Jenervive or meet with Mohammed who is a peer supporter. They were very welcoming. Bye for now” Tracey Ironside, from HMP Channing’s Wood travelling with Nadia Audhali, from Sheffield Family Service and Nicola Owens from the Wirral Residential Service.

Week 2:

Sunday 24^th June 2012 “We have all been keeping a diary and have written notes as well as all of the hand outs we have received. And of course me and Nicola have been David Baileys with the cameras, so there will be no short of information for when we return. Tuesday took us to Ghent, a 3 hour journey to “de Sleutels” (Gand) central office. We visited a day service in the morning where they hold group sessions 1-1 and support of life skills. Each client pays 1 euro 67 per day to access the service. This gives them the sense of ownership and they can access the doctor. Each client is encouraged to seek support and use support networks. They also have parent groups. PM we returned to “de Sleutels” (Gand) for PowerPoint talk by staff. Wed AM we went to a TC by “de Sleutels” (Gand), it was brilliant. Everyone was so passionate about the programme and although a rehab, residential staff are only there till 5pm Mon to Fri then a senior peer takes charge again putting the ownership onto the residents. There were lots of ideas taken from here and a resident showed us around before we had to leave. PM we went to an employment department again run by “de Sleutels” (Gand) that employs clients for work and gives them the skills needed for full time work in the community, from woodwork, to painting to gardening. They presented with a PowerPoint presentation which was intense about their future being the best so far. So Friday I think we were all just working on passion and adrenaline as being tired was an understatement. Brussels saw us visit, it’s a day transit to a centre for anyone; homeless, working, male, female, or someone that wants time out from their family and there substance lifestyle. Here they also offer accommodation to live in whilst searching for accommodation. Isabel was great and informative showing us a short film of the service. They issue harm reduction medication and you can access meals, shower and sleeping facilities for up to 13 days, it’s brilliant and so clean. Each case is followed by a care worker. What we have found is that we have been made to feel so welcome and everyone has been accommodating. The travelling has been hard but we have managed. All clients really want to be where they are and the passion and respect of their service has been immense. Well that’s it for the first week. The girls have been next door this evening watching England v Italy so thought I would catch up. It’s now 11 pm and after the penalties if needed I’m off to bed for some shut eye. A busy week next week. Oh and fingers crossed I may get to visit a prison.” Tracey Ironside, from HMP Channing’s Wood travelling with Nadia Audhali, from Sheffield Family Service and Nicola Owens from the Wirral Residential Service.

Back in the UK:

Monday 2^nd July 2012: “Well I’m back now but I thought I would give you a brief update of the second week so here goes. Sunday saw me, Nicola and Nadia being picked up at the hotel by Umberto a department manager from Trempoline to go to the service for a BBQ graduation with residents and their families. We were welcomed with open arms. The graduates all gave a speech during the ceremony and although they spoke in French, the facial expressions by them and others there left me and Nicola reaching for the tissues. It was a very emotional day with such passion from all. Monday took us to the beginning of a great week in Trempoline. Monday morning Fabrizo the manager of the TC gave us a PowerPoint presentation on the history of Trempoline and looking at various tools that are conducted within the programme such as the bonding tool and the ‘de plonge’ tool, both we will keep you in suspense for until our report lol… Monday afternoon a text from Koen at “de Sleutels” (Gand) left me with a smile on my face for the rest of the day as he had managed to get me into Brugge prison on the Wednesday, yipee. Also in the afternoon Tony a resident took all of us around the service for a look around. I should at this point mention Monica, a Spanish lady who was also spending a week at Trempoline as part of the Ecett project. She deals with finance and administration at Projector Hombre, an organisation in Spain, and was to spend a big part of the week with me as my translator, and true to style in between note taking we laughed, and became great friends. And as nicola would say when posing for photos, say ” skinny arms” lol…. Tuesday we met other staff members from Trempoline and got an in-depth talk on what they do at the service. We spoke to people from administration to finance to kangaroo the family service to Christof the Director of Trempoline. Nicola and Nadia had the amazing opportunity one day to meet two parents whose children have substance misuse issues but will not access the service or treatment. They visit Trempoline to get advice and guidance on what to do. Nicola was seen reaching for the Kleenex again as lots of questions were asked by them both with notes being taken. Me and Nicola were David Baileys throughout the whole week. Wednesday saw the girls en-route to Trempoline whilst I travelled nearly 3 hours to Brugge penitentiary, one of 34 prisons in Belgium. I was met by Mirella who ran the drug free wing recently been opened only 2 years ago. She showed me around the whole unit as well as the female wing, mother and baby wing, men’s wing and the high security section. The whole experience was amazing and a dream come true. Still excited from the trip I returned to tell the girls all about it, but I didn’t return till past ten PM- poor Nicola missed the football game to hear my news. The rest of the week had us meeting George, founder of Ecett who had sooooooo many stories we could have sat there for hours, he is such a talented, knowledgeable and friendly person with such passion. Meeting with the kangaroo team and a close meeting with Fabrizo was the end of our trip, but not our vision or passion for our work. We all took notes and are looking at forms of best practice to put in place at our service. Reports will be given and photos collated. Saying goodbye was very emotional, we had all taken gifts from our home towns/ areas and we received some Belgium cake from Deni and one of the ladies gave me some biscuits.  I had taken some posters and life stories that my residents had written which they loved. Fabienne was lovely and a perfect host. Kleenex was needed as per normal for our goodbye, but the experience was second to none. Thank you Phoenix Future and Ecett for this opportunity.” Tracey Ironside, from HMP Channing’s Wood travelling with Nadia Audhali, from Sheffield Family Service and Nicola Owens from the Wirral Residential Service.

It’s a principle I have been taught from an early age, familiar to many families and communities across the country. It is the principle that whilst state support and intervention is essential, the role of the community in ‘taking care of its own’ is a powerful one.

I have been reminded of it recently as our family have helped to support my Nan’s neighbour who has terminal cancer. She wrote a lovely letter to me and said ‘’your whole family have been so supportive, you have made me feel one of your own’’. That led me to reflect on the importance of ‘looking after your own’ within recovering communities.

People often refer to Phoenix as a family, and in our early years that was undoubtedly true. The concepts we use within our Therapeutic Communities of the ‘family’ supporting itself, seeped through to the culture of the organisation. The increased size and diversity of the organisation probably makes it more of an extended family but the key functions of a family or a community are clearly evident today: we have ceremonies to mark a beginning or an end, we love a celebration of an achievement and rally round to offer steadfast support in times of difficulty even when people have flown the nest.

I am sure I am not alone in being able to identify recent examples of this type of community behaviour. Last week I was at Trafford welcoming new staff to our new service as part of their week long induction, a clear beginning. Recently we held a celebration of the Tyneside residential service, closing after 27 years of delivery. It would have been easy to just mourn the loss of this service but we made a conscious decision to mark the end of era with a celebration of what has been achieved through the life of the service. Last week I also had the privilege to watch one of our staff members and a graduate  carry the Olympic torch.  She wrote later to say that it was the best day she had ever had and it was a privilege to do it on behalf of Phoenix. A few weeks ago I got concerned about a graduate and asked staff to reach out to offer him support. He hadn’t asked for help but welcomed it when it came, we looked after our own.

Families and communities challenge and support each other, celebrate and mourn together, nurture and grow together.  They realise that we will all move on both spiritually and physically, but the ‘family’ is always there to celebrate your success with you and go back to in times of trouble.  How vital is all of that for those in recovery?

I was in Greece last week at an international  conference of treatment providers. We heard from many who were trying to ensure the case for drug treatment was made in the midst of deep economic crisis.

We hear daily about the impact of the economic crisis on the Euro, but rarely do we hear about the impact the economic crisis is having on society. The Greeks I met were depressed and angry, and from what we heard they had reason to be.

Suicide rates  are up by 22% , HIV cases have increased by 8 times in the first half of 2011, 1 out of 2 young people are unemployed.

All of that you would think might create a very fertile environment for the need for social care and public health programmes. But then we heard of how HIV positive prostitutes had their names and photos published by the police this month, a shocking response to a serious public health issue.

One wonders in times of economic crisis why, rather than pulling together to protect the vulnerable, countries turn on themselves and find scapegoats for the pain they are suffering.

On a day when the question of benefit entitlement for those with addictions rears its ugly heard again, it’s worth us reflecting on that. Economic crisis raises important questions about the use of limited resources and asks us to make judgements about the deserving and  underserving poor.

I don’t believe Governments on the whole, intend to do harm. Neither  though do I see them  making political policy decisions based on evidence, or fully considering the unintended consequences of their actions.

So can you make a case for drug treatment in the midst of economic crisis? Undoubtedly yes, but please let’s not do it in a way that makes scapegoats of anyone.

When I recently took on the project management of the Voyage of Recovery I was reminded of the EFQM excellence model. The voyage is a three month sailing voyage around Britain crewed by our service users who are actively involved in treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. It’s definitely a challenge with a demanding array of tasks and deadlines to ensure that we can raise the funds to cover the voyage costs and complete the journey safely.  Most of all we need to ensure the voyage offers real help in the recovery process of those involved. It’s a huge project but I know ultimately it will transform lives, it may even save lives.

We know that excellent organisations add value for customers, our customers are our service users, to think of the voyage ‘as an added value customer service’ might seem odd in the language of the charities and the addiction sector, but that’s exactly what it is, we’re enabling our service users to get greater value from our treatment by offering them  a powerful personal development opportunity.

Ultimately we succeed through our people. The voyage is not just about service users, many of our staff have stepped up to take the challenge of sailing for the first time, even though the voyage is split into 12 legs we’ll still be seeing staff members offering counselling and support in an unfamiliar environment, on 4 hour shifts for 5 nights in a row aboard an 80ft sail boat!

Finally the voyage has highlighted the need to building partnerships. Our services focus on creating communities of support and learning, to enable them to learn how to grow as people by accepting the support of others and realising they have something to offer themselves. The voyage will be a community of trust at sea. What’s more to make the voyage happen we’re forming stronger community relationships as our services enlist the support of their communities to help fundraise.

Business models might be seen as theoretical, perhaps even divorced from the realities of life, but we’re finding that in the case of this project these principles may just help us do something truly inspirational.

Adele Duncan

Operations Director – England

Phoenix Futures

I attended a conference in Manchester last week that filled me with hope and inspiration for the future. It wasn’t the Conservative Party Conference it was the Phoenix Futures Service User Conference, designed and delivered by service users of Phoenix Futures from Sheffield, Barnsley, Birmingham, Wirral and Trafford. Supported by the Trafford Drug Action Team with Phil Valentine as keynote speaker.

I spoke at that conference about generations of recovery.

At Phoenix Futures we have the privileged of knowing people who having addressed their addiction in our services in the 1960s and 1970s went on to create other recovery services across the world – true pioneers in recovery.

Many Phoenix Futures staff have been in recovery, generations of them all with their own experience of addiction and recovery. All experts by experience contributing to the unique character of the organisation.

You often hear people talk about generations of worklessness, generations of addiction. Many of our service users will have been introduced to drugs by a mum or dad, brother or sister with a substance misuse issue.

But how often do we talk about recovery being passed through the generations. An alternative heritage than the one we are born into that can support and inspire motivate and nurture us to recovery.

The music and clothes are different. The drugs being used today are likely to be different to those accessing services in the 1960s and 1970s. The older recovery generation would say that those accessing services today have it easy; services are easier to access, methadone is easier to get, benefits are more forthcoming.

That makes the detail of the recovery experience different but the constant is that for generations people with addictions have been accessing services that help them get better and as they progress through their recovery they get better than well. They become good mums and dads, they become talented employees, they inspire and lead in turn give hope and aspiration to others. They become role models of the best kind and show others what can be achieved.

What better way to spend a day than in the presence of those that have recovered inspiring those still on their recovery journey.

No wonder we had a better day at our conference than those politicians and party activists in the other conference in Manchester last week!

There is nothing more effective in bringing silence to a cosy middle class dinner party than my answer to this question. My husband and I now time how long it takes for people to ask, “How did you get into that then?” For them the career path to becoming a Energy Regulator or a Stockbroker is so much clearer than how you end up becoming the Chief Executive of a drug and alcohol treatment agency.

If things get too uncomfortable my husband comes to the rescue. “That’s how we met”, he tells them. He is a musician – well it all falls into place!

Many of us working in the sector this weekend will have had those arguments about addiction and the inevitability of it. The death of Amy Winehouse has for many reinforced their prejudice that all musicians are drug addicts and all drug addicts die.

The media who should know better this week of all weeks, haven’t pulled back from their glamorisation of addiction, adding Amy to the list of all those talented people who die from addiction and making one more member of the 27 Club.

The debate that is following Amy Winehouse’s death for me typifies what is wrong with the way this society looks at addiction.

The death of Amy Winehouse is very sad. It’s not sad because she was a hugely talented musician. It’s sad because her life came to an end possibly through addiction. And that makes her story no different to the stories of mums and dads, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters across the country that today are dying of their addiction.

The depressing truth is that many families have an Amy, or someone like her, who is wrestling with a dreadful condition that takes huge strength and bravery to get over.

Most wont have her talent or have so many people tracking their decline into an addiction that will ruin their lives. But all need our support and the opportunity (however many times it takes) to get help.

I have the privilege of seeing people recover from addiction every working day. I know it is possible but I also know how hard it is.

It is witnessing recovery that makes me love my job. And it’s very sad stories of the people like Amy who don’t make it that make me more determined to ensure that people understand the reality of addiction and the possibility of recovery.

In a book I read recently the original Phoenix House was referred to as a self help organisation. Some might baulk at the idea of their organisation being referred to in this way but actually I think it epitomises the essence of what Phoenix Futures is today and what I am most proud of.

Along the course of the last 40 years there have been the inevitable tensions between the ‘professionals’, the psychiatrists, and those ‘experts by experience’, the service users.

I think everyone at Phoenix Futures today is an expert by experience and delivers that expertise in a wholly professional manner. Their expertise may come from direct personal experience of the treatment system or as a result of experience of delivering services in a wide range of settings to a wide range of people. It is that diversity of experience that we relish and gives us an insight into how to deliver effective recovery services.

This month we held our 3rd annual New Years Honours awards. This is one of the best events in the Phoenix Futures calendar where we honour the outstanding dedication and commitment of our staff and volunteers.

Each year I give a Chief Executive’s Award which is my opportunity to highlight someone’s outstanding contribution to our work. This year I gave the award to a graduate of Phoenix Futures and a current volunteer. Jose is an inspiration to all those moving through their recovery journey. In his acceptance speech he said that after many attempts at not achieving abstinence, through the support and care he got from Phoenix Futures he was able to rebuild his life. I don’t believe recovery organisations save lives, I believe that we give people the tools to allow them to save their own lives.

That is what our experience has given us and I am very proud that we continue to help people become experts in recovery.

Chuck Dederich the founder of Synanon, the first addiction Therapeutic Community, said that what we do is teach people to live right, the fact that they choose to stop using drugs is just part of it.

And of course for many of us that is right, treatment isn’t single dimensional. Tier 4 services are deeply rooted in Phoenix Futures history, it’s where we learnt how to do recovery 40 years ago and whilst we continue to flex and adapt the model to the needs of our service users the core of what we do remains as true to those principles of the founding fathers.

But those services haven’t survived for 40 years without understanding that the needs and wants of our service users and our communities and our governments change.

We can’t be an island of resistance in the current world of change and those providers that are won’t survive. The days of Tier 4 services working in splendid isolation are over.

Some thought that the new government was going to be the great saviour of Tier 4 services. And whilst I don’t doubt their commitment to recovery I do hope that people have realised by now that this commitment doesn’t mean loads of money being pored into the provision of Tier 4.

You don’t have to listen too carefully to the government to hear that they no longer want drug treatment services – they want recovery services. What it means is that for the first time we will be commissioned to deliver the wrap around services that enable people to ‘live right’. We will be measured on how our services support and reinforce the recovery capital of our service users.

It is clearly time to stop saying change is coming and accept that change is here. Whilst most of us may be reminding ourselves it is the summer it isn’t stopping every government department taking a microscope to their delivery to understand how significant reductions in expenditure can be made. And if we are naive enough to think that smaller voluntary sectors organisations will somehow be immune to the cuts then we have a shock coming.

The abolition of the NTA is but a mere detail in the systemic shift that is coming in how drug treatment is delivered and commissioned.

And whilst we might want to challenge the speed of it, the economic or political reasoning or the sense of it all we don’t have time.

I have a proverb on my wall that says ‘those who think it cannot be done should step back and let the rest of us get on with the job’. If ever there was as time for us to take a deep breath and get on with the job it’s now. And that job for me and all at Phoenix Futures is to continue to do all in our power to deliver services that help people along that pathway to recovery.

At Phoenix Futures we have decided on some important principles that we believe will allow us to navigate the choppy waters ahead.

Firstly and most importantly we are going to use our 40 year old resolve that has not changed, has not waivered and in fact grows stronger by the day that we, Phoenix, can make a difference and play an important and vital role in the recovery agenda.

Then we’re going to do what we have done many times through our history and indeed we ask our service users to do everyday; we are going to change our mindsets and accept a new reality.

We are going to accept that people will have less money to spend on services, that they are going to want more from their providers for less and that they are going to be resistant to spend money on drug and alcohol services when they perceive they have more pressing needs of more deserving people.

What does this mean for us as a sector? My view is that we should understand the needs of our local communities and show how delivering drug and alcohol treatment can help those communities.

We need to:

Stop looking in and start looking out
Stop thinking we know all the answers and start listening to what our commuities tell us
Stop thinking about recovery in isolation and start thinking about how we can contribute to someone’s overall rehabilitation

Why?

Because recovery doesn’t start when people enter our services, it starts before they come to us and it ends after they leave us.

What we hope to give them whilst they are with us are the tools to move on with confidence to their next stage of recovery. For the sector to be indispensible we need to understand how each of our services contribute to that recovery, the part we play in that process. Once we are clear of that we will be better placed to ensure we continue to deliver services to the most vulnerable in our society.

Localism isn’t an election fad that will go away, it is deeply entrenched in all the major parties thinking. It saves money by reducing central government quangoes and bureaucracies, it empowers local government to make decisions about how to spend their money and what issues to address.

But the world is changing and we need to ensure that we can respond to that. This doesn’t mean we need to change what we do fundamentally but it is a change in how we think of ourselves.

We are all, I am sure, busy trying to work out what the future will bring for our organisations and the sector. Whilst some think it foolhardy to make predictions at such times of uncertainty it is my view that as the Chief Executive that is what I am paid to do. So here we go, this week’s predictions on the challenges of the future:

The first is we are entering a period of sustained cuts and financial constraint. The harsh truth is that we are about to enter the most difficult time the sector has ever faced.

Reduced public spending means that all public sector services are going to feel the pain. We will be competing with other services for a drastically reduced amount of money. The argument won’t be about harm reduction or abstinence – it will be about whether to fund the local needle exchange or the local nursery. Whether to keep the local old peoples’ home open or the local rehab. These are going to be hard decisions for local politicians to make.

Our new government will be focused on reducing the public debt. Regardless of any ideological thinking or promises made through the election, decisions will be taken within that framework.

The cuts will be harsh, it will affect us all on a personal level and our organisation’s income. We need to be preparing ourselves now for what that might mean. So the first feature of our future is significantly less money.

The second feature of our future is localism and the big society.

It might be being portrayed as a Tory fad but it is a deeply held ideological belief that can be seen to permeate all Tory social policy. Whether it creates Cameron’s vision of an army of volunteers and community workers striving to make the difference in the most deprived areas, only time will tell. But the tangible difference will be that local government will be given more power to make decisions for themselves without the interference of central government, this will be achieved by a radical devolution of power. That will also mean financial autonomy for those local authorities that can prove their competency.

The third feature of our future is the ‘rehabilitation revolution’; the coalition government’s commitment to rehabilitating offenders including those with drug related offences. That gives us a signal that funding for services we deliver will be given on a commitment that we can reduce crime and improve our communities. We will not be able to rely on central government to ensure that drug and alcohol services exist in our communities, we will need to convince local communities short of cash that our services are worth continued investment, that our service users deserve continued support, that what we do contributes to the rehabilitation revolution that the government wants to achieve.

So less money, more local decision making and a focus on rehabilitation – this is the external environment we all need to respond to.

At Phoenix Futures, as with most other substance misuse providers, our ambition for people we work with stems from our belief that everyone has the potential to end their dependency and rebuild their lives. Whilst we deliver abstinence based services we don’t believe this prevents us from delivering harm reduction services. The process of recovery is a personal one, defined by individual aspirations. It isn’t for me to choose how someone achieves their recovery. Our job as providers is to ensure there are sufficient choices for those seeking treatment, at all points in the recovery journey.

As simple as I think it is, the debate within the sector is unlikely to go away. It seems to get more febrile each week, with groups clambering to come up with their own definition of recovery that is better than anyone else’s. With calls for 2010 to be the year of Recovery and aspirations that any new Government will bring resurgence in abstinence based services, the drug sector is at risk of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Debate about how we improve the effectiveness of what we do is of course essential. However, this doesn’t need to be done in the public domain. At a time when public finances are under pressure we should be demonstrating our effectiveness not airing our disagreements in public.

My fear is that the argument about recovery will be a comfortable cul–de-sac for us to retreat into and we will miss the bigger more serious job at hand; understanding the needs and wants of our service users not our politicians, and demonstrating that at times of recession we need continued investment in substance misuse services and that they can in turn deliver real and lasting benefits to individuals and communities alike.

Despite all the rhetoric in the lead up to the election the manifestos tell us that substance misuse policy is not a major policy priority for any party. Of course drugs and alcohol provision is mentioned in both Labour and Conservative manifestos but when you get past the posturing on classification of drugs what do each party offer us:

Labour promises to:

• Switch investment towards those programmes that are shown to sustain drug-free lives and reduce crime
• Treble alcohol treatment places to cover all persistent criminals where alcohol is identified as a cause of their crimes

The Conservative Party promise to:

• Give courts the power to use abstinence-based Drug Rehabilitation Orders to help offenders kick drugs once and for all
• Pilot a scheme to create Prison and Rehabilitation Trusts so that just one organisation is responsible for helping to stop a criminal re-offending
• Apply our payment by results reforms to the youth justice system; engage with specialist organisation to provide education, mentoring and drug rehabilitation programmes to help young offenders go straight

Representation of our sector:
Paternity rights of fathers get more words than the policy on drugs and alcohol together and other social policy agendas – mental health, residential care for the elderely, family support – all get major manifesto commitment far outweighing the needs of those seeking substance misuse services.

In my view we have no one to blame but ourselves for this.

Until we start speaking as one voice, clear of what we deliver and why, recognising we have the same values and that our differences are our advantage we will fail to convince anyone we are a sector worth prioritising .

What makes Phoenix Futures unique is our combination of staff, service users, volunteers, Board members, commissioners and stakeholders. The dynamic that happens between those individuals on a daily basis is what defines us an organisation. There is something that binds us together; culture, values, a shared experience. You see it in how staff and service users work with each
other.

The one thing I can rely on when anyone visits our services is that they will come back with an overwhelming sense that they have witnessed something special. That doesn’t mean we can’t do it better, that doesn’t mean we should be complacent, but witnessing that specialness is something that drives us through the most difficult days.

It is often hard to put your finger on what that Phoenix uniqueness is. At our New Years Honours ceremony in January we had a glimpse of it:

• How teams work together to deliver more than they would be able to on their own

• How people go that extra mile over and above their day job because they can see how to make a difference

• How people driven by their own experiences want to share what they have learnt

• How people are willing to give their time unpaid as volunteers because they believe in what we do

• How proud our staff are of the organisation they work for

• How we understand our limitations and seek effective partnerships bringing together the skills of two organisations to deliver what we couldn’t do on our own

• How people invest time and energy in developing themselves so they can be more effective in what they do

Put all that individuality, drive, ambition, passion, commitment and experience together and you get what Phoenix Futures is.

Sometimes I think this drug and alcohol treatment sector is a hard sector to work in. Not just because it seems to be the last male bastion of the social care field but because in places it is entrenched in ideology that stops it from presenting itself at its best.

Regardless of what political party comes into power the new government will be focused on reducing the public debt. Regardless of any ideological thinking decisions will be taken within that framework, David Cameron is committed to drug rehabilitation, but regardless of his personal thinking he has said that his government’s success will be measured on how successful he is in reducing this country’s debt. That is his priority and will be the same for any government.

The emergency budget after the election in May will be harsh, it will effect us all on a personal level and our organisations’ income. We need to be preparing ourselves now for what that might mean.

We also need to be speaking as one voice, clear of what we deliver and why, recognising we have the same values and that our differences are our advantage.

I often say that Phoenix Futures has recovery in its DNA.

A bold statement and one I continually seek to test in our services.

My guess is that the definition of recovery is as varied amongst those that deliver services as it is amongst those that receive them. It’s that individual nature of addiction that makes it so challenging to achieve and maintain. But is there a recovery gene that can be traced through all of our services and if so how can we detect it?

My view is that our ambition for people we work with stems fro

m our belief that everyone has the potential to end their dependency and rebuild their lives. Whilst we deliver abstinence based services we don’t believe this prevents us from delivering harm reduction services. The process of recovery is a personal one, defined by individual aspirations. Our job as providers is to ensure there are sufficient choices for those seeking treatment, at all points in the recovery journey.

The debate within the sector is unlikely to go away with the dawning of a new decade. With calls for 2010 to be the year of Recovery and aspirations that a new Conservative Government will bring resurgence in abstinence based services, the drug sector is at risk rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

We are about to enter a very different world for drug treatment with reduced public spending and a further devolving of power to local communities. Its not just the substance misuse sector that will feel the pressure, all third sector organisations will see themselves operating in a very different environment over the next four years. That challenges us all to ensure we properly demonstrate the value of what we do. As a sector we bring about real and effective change to individuals and communities and we do this by providing a full range of services that respond to varied and diverse needs. Under localism it is local communities, influenced by local politicians that will be making decisions regarding what services are prioritised within increasingly reduced budgets.

The value of what we do can be seen evidenced by real improvements in health housing education employment and crime reduction. Let us not allow our ideological disagreements overshadow that.

This month has seen the first of our 40th Birthday celebrations in Sheffield. Rather than having a big national party we have decided to go local – letting regions and areas celebrate in whatever way they want to through the course of the next year.

It was quite fitting that Sheffield was the location for the first celebration. Whilst our birthplace was London it was expansion in the north that took us national. Fifteen years after the establishment of the first Phoenix House in the UK in London, Sheffield Residential Service was opened followed by Tyneside and the Wirral. It was also in Sheffield that we developed our first community service, the Horizons project in partnership with probation. From there on in we have grown from strength to strength in the north developing a range of services that have the ethos of recovery as their core; regardless of whether they are delivering harm reduction or abstinence services; in the community or in prison. Today we have a balanced split between our residential community and prison services. This has been a purposeful aim, because we believe that our ability to provide a diverse range of provision is critical to our mission.

With that in mind it is slightly depressing that yet again the sector has been challenged to evidence its worth and demonstrate that the £384m spent on treatment provides value for money. The National Treatment Agency published its annual report and as we would expect it shows a significantly higher spend on community and harm reduction services than on residential services. The BBC reported that of the 270,000 people accessing treatment last year just 4,600 or 2% were able to access residential treatment.

At Phoenix Futures, we don’t place different modalities of treatment in opposing corners. Residential or community based services, whether abstinence or harm reduction focused, shouldn’t be seen as alternatives, they are part of a holistic treatment system that offer choice and progression for people. If a treatment system is ambitious for its service users it will understand that whilst recovery is a hard thing to achieve, it is achievable if we respond to different needs of people appropriately.

It isn’t for me, or for us, to choose how someone recovers. If we are going to do our best by those that seek our help we have to use every means we can, whatever it takes within our professional capacity to support people to get to their goal.

So today we look like a very different organisation to the Phoenix House of 40 years ago, but the thread running through our history, the thing that defines us as ‘Phoenix’, is and I hope will always be our belief in every individual’s ability to recover from addiction.