Want to know more about the life experiences of people who use our Residential services?
We’ve carried out the Footprints survey in 2013, 2020 and 2025. Each survey covers a core range of topics and also reflects some of the key issues of the time.
In 2013 and 2025, in addition to the footprints survey we also carried mosaic analysis to combine insights with survey responses data and create a more comprehensive view of the socio-economic circumstances experienced by our residents.
We also encourage you to read Scott, Justin, Megan and Sarah's stories to better understand the lives of the people we support.
Top 6 findings
1. Poverty and Recovery Capital
“I grew up seeing addiction in my household… I struggled with feelings of not fitting into the family unit and my behaviour changed to seek attention from acting out.” — Scott
Poverty (economic, poverty of opportunity and poverty of esteem) is the most significant indicator of risk of addiction and successful progress in recovery
• 66% of our residents from the 33% of the UK Population with the lowest income.
• There is a clear correlation in successful completion of treatment and levels of recovery capital and self-efficacy – this tells us that the resources (personal, social, community, cultural) people bring with them into treatment are an influence on success in treatment and potentially also an influence on their perception of their own ability to make change (self-efficacy) and therefore their chances of success in residential treatment
• This relationship is significant with treatment completion rates varying by up to 30% between the wealthiest and least wealthy mosaic segments
• Over the last 12 years on average residents are entering services with more recovery capital (personal, social, community) this is possibly due to greater representation in treatment of women with a primary alcohol need who are likely to be younger, with higher levels of education, higher income, less like to have recently accessed A&E and significantly more likely to have childcare responsibilities. All of these are characteristics correlate with increased likelihood of completing treatment.
• We think this may be because over the last 12 years the system of accessing residential treatment through community funding processes increasingly favours those with greater recovery capital
2. Demographics and treatment need
“The turning point was during an AA group realising that sharing doesn’t make you weak. It makes you human.” — Justin
Within our residential services we are moving towards a 50/50 gender balance - Over the last 10 years we’ve moved from 70/30 male/female to a roughly 55/45 male/female split.
• Mosaic analysis highlight that traditional masculine beliefs – for example agreement with the statement “real men do not cry” is associated with lower success rates – this aligns with our experience of women completing treatment at higher rates that men
• Age distribution of residents remains concentrated in the 31–50 range with women more likely to be in their 30s and men in their 40s
• Along with this gender shift comes a move to more alcohol and fewer opiate treatment need (46% in 2013 to 57% in 2025 primary alcohol treatment need)
• This in turn correlates with our steadily increasing average completion rates since 2013 as both women, and people who use alcohol of any gender, are more likely to complete treatment than men and opiate or other drug users.
3. Housing and benefits, crime
“My struggles began in my teens after a series of painful and destabilising experiences including sexual violence that changed how I saw the world and myself. Those years left deep marks on me, and I coped the only ways I knew how at the time through self-punishment, isolation, and drugs and alcohol. What started as attempts to manage unbearable feelings eventually became dependency. I sank into a deep and angry depression." Megan
Access to appropriate housing has been a consistent issue in 2013 and 2020 and continues to be so in 2025
• There has been a significant reduction in people accessing treatment with private rented accommodation and corresponding increase in council/HA rented
• There has been a clear shift in benefits from people tending to access employment benefits (JSA) in 2013 to disability (PIP) 2025. This may be due to the tightening of JSA eligibility and the introduction of PIP that recognises long term mental health. PIP started roll out in 2013 so we can see that increasing in use through our 2013, 2020 and 2025 surveys
• Residents are as likely to be perpetrators (39%) as victims of crime (40%) in the 12 months prior to accessing rehab.
• Prior to accessing treatment the average weekly spend on substance has more than doubled from £320 in 2013 to £687 in 2025
4. Stigma and discrimination
“No one chooses this. People need to see the person, we don’t just wake up one day and decide to use substances. There needs to be more education around this, starting in schools.” Sarah
For the first time in 2025 we asked about discrimination/stigma with 75% of residents stating they are ‘occasionally or frequently’ discriminated against due to their substance use.
• Stigma and funding barriers are consistently reported as hindering access to rehab with people who use illicit drugs reporting greater levels of discrimination.
• Health professionals score highly as people who are reported to discriminate against our residents.
• 31% of residents stated stigma as a barrier to seeking support.
• 65% of people who selected alcohol as a primary substance experienced discrimination compared to 100% of those who reported crack use
5. Reframing addiction as a health issue
“For years, I believed I could manage everything on my own. I spent almost a decade trying to cope with my mental health and addiction, never realising how much of what I was struggling with came from trauma, from things that were done to me, not things I had done wrong.” Megan
Our resident’s motivation for recovery is increasingly described as ‘mental health’ (45% in 2013 to 88% in 2025) in line with ‘mental health’ increasingly reported as a cause for addiction (52% in 2013 to 82% in 2025) - this may suggests an increased understanding and framing of addiction as a co-existing mental health issue over the 12 years.
• Other reported motivations include - finding a sense of purpose (74%) and improving physical health (71%), processing the past, helping others, and repairing family relationships also feature significantly
• 77% of people experienced childhood trauma – sexual and physical abuse were the most common types of childhood abuse
• Anxiety and depression are the most frequently reported mental health difficulties with 45% of people stating that they have experienced this over the last 12 months.
• 63% of respondents reported having attended A&E for a drug and/or alcohol-related issue in the months prior to accesisng rehab
• Use of A&E prior to rehab access doubled between 2013 peaked in 2020 and remains high
6. Care experience
“My mum is now in recovery, and I am glad she has been able to access support. I just wish that help had been available sooner. When the harm I experienced at home stopped, I began to harm myself, and I have lived with addiction, or its effects, for all my life.” - Becky
Approx 20% to 25% of residents over the last 12 years have been in care as a child.
• This remains a significant over representation compared to a UK average of approx 1%
• UK government research* shows that substance use is one of several intergenerational issues affecting children in care, alongside unemployment, offending behaviour, and domestic abuse.
• These patterns often persist into adulthood, increasing vulnerability to addiction - adults who were in care often report higher levels of depression, anxiety, and trauma, which can lead to substance use as a coping mechanism
*Parents with alcohol and drug problems: adult treatment and children and family service – May 21
Want to know more about the life experience of our residents, who rehab is most likely to work for and how people benefit from rehab? Get in touch Jess Douglas, [javascript protected email address]
