From small seeds mighty oaks grow…!
Our lettuce and cauliflower seeds are coming through this week.
The team continue to work hard on clearing the site. As you can see from the picture, we’ve found more red bricks than we know what to do with! Luckily the inner wall of the greenhouse needs building so we can find a use for them.
Special thanks to Stewart, Kev, Steve and Nail – they’ve played a blinder this week with their efforts and should be proud of their achievements!
Phoenix Futures has been awarded the prestigious European-wide “Recognised for Excellence” accreditation. Phoenix Futures were awarded four stars which puts us in the top 94 organisations in the UK who hold the EFQM Excellence accreditation! Some unique Phoenix Futures approaches to recovery were highlighted in the submission document.
Between 8th and 12th April two Independent Assessors conducted an assessment over five days, with representatives from 12 services plus support staff.
Interviews were conducted with 15 senior managers, and 48 staff and managers. It included interviews, site visits, reviewing evidence from the Submission Document as well as other written and online evidence.
The Voyage of Recovery A tremendous example of partnership working and the power of service users in recovery.
A crew from a leg of the Voyage of Recovery
Recovery through Nature 57% improvement in time spent in treatment when engaged with Recovery through Nature.
Tree maintenance on our Recovery through Nature programme
New Year Honours Reinforcing a culture of excellence and recognising outstanding achievements.
Glass awards for our annual New Year Honours event
Phoenix Futures is a customer focused organisation, which shows through our positive results:
Compliments and complaints: This graph illustrates that Phoenix Futures receives substantially more compliments than complaints and that compliments are rising at a faster rate as the organisation grows.
Service user satisfaction: This graph shows the average satisfaction of service users since 2009
In addition to these customer focused results, staff at Phoenix Futures are fully engaged with the services we provide:
According to the annual staff survey, Phoenix Futures staff ranked around ‘world class’ for having someone at work who cared about them as a person. According to the annual staff survey, Phoenix Futures staff feel that the mission and purpose of the organisation makes them feel that their job is important.
Also, Phoenix Futures was awarded ‘Best Employer’ at the Third Sector Excellence Awards 2012.
But this accreditation is not the end to the excellence journey. We will keep on improving; in what we provide, in our confidence in providing it, in the number of people we help and how well we help them move forward in their recovery.
“Recovery through Nature has helped my recovery no end it keeps me fit and I learn lots of new skills. I am also doing extra voluntary work for the wild life trust hopefully gaining enough experience to get a job in the industry”, Stephen.
“Finally after ten years lost, Recovery through Nature has given me back a sense of fulfillment and purpose, not to mention well needed exercise! (where were you earlier) with John Muir awards and OCN qualification up for grabs for your CV I strongly recommend Recovery through Nature to all new comers as it is the main tool I use for staying abstinent, very helpful”, Chris
“Recovery through Nature has been really helpful and good to be outdoors a great exercise and enjoy other peoples company and I might consider finding work in conservation thank you”, Dave.
“The day really chills me out and is good to relax outdoors and learn a variety of new skills from tree felling, winching, fence erecting building fires and eating hot food on open pots. It has a sense of timelessness going back to the days when things were uncomplicated that’s what I enjoy most about Recovery Through Nature it gives you a sense of peace and time out to explore your feelings in a safe environment with other people in recovery from drugs and alcohol it has played an important part in my recovery from alcohol”, Louisa
The Birmingham based Recovery through Nature group has achieved some great successes in the past year. Let’s hear what the service users think of it:
“Brilliant, identifying trees and flowers and wildlife; lizards, catapillers and moths. Fantastic grub aswell”
“The day was magic”
“Had a really good day, worked hard and loved it!
“Great first day! Enjoyed working with the lads and getting to know them. Very enjoyable day”
“I enjoyed it very much. The weather wasn’t too good, didn’t like getting soaked…we smell now, but enjoyed the day!”
“Awesome day as always. I love the greenery and it helps me chill and be silent”
The Recovery through Nature team in Birmingham have been hard at work removing brambles, ferns and weeds to produce Heath land in preparation for the reintroduction of native reptiles and amphibians!
Whilst removing flora, we came across some other amphibians – toads, which were moved to a nearby pond!
Phoenix Forest in partnership with The Woodland Trust will plant a tree for each service user who completes a structured treatment programme at Phoenix Futures as part of their recovery from drug and alcohol problems.
Each donation of £5 will enable us to plant a tree.
These new forests celebrate the recovery journey of our service users, creating a visible representation of new lives beginning. In January 2011 we planted 737 trees, and in January 2012 we planted 974 more. The planting is scheduled to continue and expand through the years, with the first planting in Scotland started in November 2012.
Imagine this: in ten years’ time, there will be at least 7,000 trees reaching maturity. A uniquely Phoenix vision. What better symbol of growth and renewal could there possibly be than a tree?
Click here to download a pdf of our Christmas E-Card
For more information visit our Phoenix Forest page.
Thank you for all your support with our growing Phoenix Forests.
Today is the final day of European Health and Safety week, which is an annual event promoted by the HSE and by Healthy Workplaces. We hope service users and staff at Phoenix Futures have enjoyed the week and taken something from it.
We’ve been celebrating with events in services- particularly at HMP Channings Wood TC where events have been held each day this week. A team meeting activity was also sent out to all Phoenix Futures teams and department, encouraging teams to think locally about ‘working together for risk prevention.’ We have been tweeting about European Health and Safety Week- amongst other things- from the Phoenix Futures Twitter account here. We’ve also been promoting the week in our staff magazine, Network.
If you’ve enjoyed European Health and Safety Week at Phoenix Futures, why don’t you tweet us?
Today is the first day of European Health and Safety Week. There will be new information on Phoenix’s approach to Health and Safety throughout this week on our website.
As this is the first day, we thought we’d focus on our organisational approach to Health and Safety. It fits quite nicely into this year’s Health and Safety Week theme; ‘working together for risk prevention.’
Our ‘hats’ structure ensures that as an organisation we work together to identify and prevent risk. The structure consists of a Health and safety committee (comprised of Senior managers and members of the Quality Team) and separate English and Scottish Forums.
At each forum, regional representatives (white hats) come together to discuss themes and issues. Each ‘white hat’ is responsible for between 5 and 10 ‘gold hats’ (gold hats are the health and safety representatives at service level.) Services also have ‘green hats’ who are responsible for first aid and ‘red hats’, who act as Fire wardens.
Today, we’d like to say thank you to all our hats for the hard work they have put in to their roles!
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The Tyneside Recovery Through Nature Team are now starting work on our new allotment site at Sunderland. As you can see from the photos it will be a long term project with lots of potential!
At the moment there are some old out-buildings on site that we are turning into a greenhouse and vegetable planting area. Challenging but really rewarding!
Health and Safety Week is taking place all across Europe from Monday 22nd October to Friday 26th October. The theme this year is ‘Working together for Risk Prevention.’
This year, there are events going on across the organisation to celebrate European Health and Safety Week. At the Therapeutic Community in HMP Channings Wood, there is a full week-long schedule of events organised. The week includes sessions with prison healthcare on manual handling and testicular cancer. Service users have been involved in coordinating events and will be leading exercises in the gym.
Every team, in each service and office will be encouraged to play a part. A team brief will be released which offers everyone the opportunity to raise issues of Risk Prevention in their own service.
For more information you can email Ruby Newton or alternatively look at one of the following links:
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Recovery Through Nature in Birmingham has been a great success.
Here is what some of our service users had to say about it:
Final plans in place for the Voyage of Recovery
Innovative sailing treatment to aid people with addiction problems ready to launch
Our innovative addiction treatment project organised in association with sailing charity Tectona Trust will launch as planned on 1st August 2012. The 3-month voyage will see over 100 people in active treatment for drug and alcohol problems sail around Britain. Although we are still fundraising, enough money has been pledged to ensure the voyage will go ahead as planned.
The 3-month voyage will launch from Plymouth on Wednesday 1th August and travel west stopping at Milford Haven, Holyhead, Liverpool, Glasgow, Corpach, Peterhead, North Shields, Ipswich, London, Portsmouth and finally arrive back in Plymouth on 24 October.
Crewing the 80ft Gaff Ketch Tectona will be people drawn from Phoenix’s community and residential treatment services across the country, including the Wirral, Trafford, Barnsley, Sheffield, Derby, Birmingham, Hampshire, Glasgow and Tyneside.
The objective of the voyage is to offer a huge personal development opportunity to those people struggling to transform their lives, and highlight to the world that recovery from addiction is possible and is happening.
The voyage will also be studied by Plymouth University to identify exactly how activities like the voyage can aid recovery from addiction.
Adele Duncan, Project Manager for the Voyage of Recovery;
“This has been a huge project but with the help of major sponsors Trafford Council and Birmingham’s Drug and Alcohol Action Team (BDAAT) along with many companies and individual supporters, we’ve been able to make it happen”
“We’ve had staff, service users and supporters fundraising by climbing, swimming and cycling and some more unusual events such as a zip wire-ing off the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle, an international snail eating contest in Birmingham, a pirate fancy dress day in Barnsley and a clairvoyant evening in Peterhead. In our prison treatment services across the country prisoners have been using the prison gyms to row the length of the voyage and climbing the height of Kilimanjaro on the step machine to support the voyage.
It really has brought people of all ages and backgrounds together to support recovery from addiction and help transform individuals and their communities around the country.”
Barry Eveleigh, Lead Commissioner for Drug Treatment Services in Birmingham with the responsibility for the commissioning of adult drug treatment services says;
“It’s great to see innovative ideas to jump start recovery and this programme of getting drug users to sail a ship around the country can only help boost confidence, something we often forget as a crucial element in the recovery journey.”
Darren Long, an ex-Phoenix service user and the originator of the voyage concept added;
“The voyage will be a life-changing opportunity for those people taking part, I know it will also be a symbol of hope for people who are in a similar situation to the one I was in a few years ago. I’m now drug-free and working on the Tectona helping others overcome their addiction problems.”
We’re still fundraising and accepting donations at www.justgiving.com/voyageofrecovery
You’ll be able to follow the voyage with blogs and updates from the voyagers right here on our website.
If so, join us for a Virtual Rehab Experience. This is a free interactive and educational session where you can see how our Therapeutic Community based in Hampshire runs.
You’ll have the chance to meet our staff and service users and experience first-hand what it’s like to be in a residential rehab. We’ll cut through some of the myths and false perceptions surround rehab and give you the reality of how we help people to transform their lives for the better.
This event is ideal for anyone who works with people with substance misuse problems. The day is designed to give you the knowledge to confidently advise your clients on how rehab works and what they can expect.
Previous attendees have found these unique events to immensely helpful to them in their day to day work. Here are some quotes from previous attendees…
‘A positive & humbling experience’
‘Whole day was a wonderful & enlightening experience’
‘An enjoyable interactive educational day
Places are limited so please get in touch as soon as possible if you are interested in attending our next free session in Hampshire. Please check our events calender for upcoming dates and more information.
The Woodland Trust’s Project Patron HRH The Princess Royal planted the 6 millionth Jubilee tree, reaching an ambitious target and helping transform the UK’s landscape.
Phoenix Futures plants a tree for each service user who completes a structured treatment programme at Phoenix Futures as part of their recovery from drug and alcohol problems. That is approaching 700 recovery journeys each year which we seek to celebrate, immortalize and commemorate whilst making a significant contribution to the environment.
“More Trees, More Good” is the Trust’s campaign to facilitate the planting of 20 million trees a year for the next 50 years as part of its aim to double native woodland cover across the UK. This includes planting at Heartwood Forest, the location of Phoenix Forest, which will become England’s largest new native woodland with 650,000 trees being planted – all by volunteers.
Working with their supporters, they have created 60 large Diamond woods, hundreds of Jubilee woods and thousands of commemorative community copses. They’ve planted over 5,000 hectares creating vital new habitat for wildlife and a lasting legacy for generations to come.
Jubilee Woods did more than mark this historic occasion – with just 12,000 hectare planted in the UK last year, their Jubilee trees are a huge contribution. In England, they have helped prevent woodland cover tipping into decline.
Phoenix Futures is proud to be a part of this fantastic achievement and will continue to invite you to contribute by donating to our planting days
Courtney and Katie with the help of a few friends take you through our first foray into podcasting. The Phoenix Podcast Listen and Subscribe here or scan the QR code above.
In March, Phoenix Futures and the NTA hosted ‘An Audience with George De Leon’ to enable thesector to discuss our approach to recovery in the UK and how it mirrors the Recovery Orientated Integrated System that De Leon developed and what we need to do take this further. George De Leon is an internationally recognized expert in the treatment of substance abuse, and acknowledged as the leading authority on treatment and research in therapeutic communities.
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