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I attended the Lancashire user forum this week, and was asked for my opinion on a paper advising people of the easy availability of rehab. Apparently there are always beds available. You can access these bed spaces easily and quickly.
There is no limit to the amount of times you may go to rehab and you will be allowed to choose the rehab most suited to your requirements. This will be facilitated by your social worker who will, without prejudice, inform you of the various options available. You can then go and check the rehabs out, almost like shopping for your best option for your recovery.
Amazed I was at her idealism. Subdued she became by the responses to her claims. For all who were there who had gone through the rehab path had certainly not had the experience she described. What was happening, she asked, as she was willing to fund places immediately and she holds the purse strings to peoples recovery in Lancashire.
Despondent she became with our answers. Of no-one offering or informing us of the choice of rehab. That drugs workers were almost resistant to go the rehab way. That the bureaucracy involved posed too much effort for the drug workers to offer this option. That social workers refused the clients choice of rehab and offered their personal opinionated choice of recovery method. That social workers refused places if they deemed that you would not benefit from rehab.
The list of our experiences on the path of rehab goes on.
Now some things have supposedly changed and the drug workers don’t have to do the leg work any more. The social worker deals with it all without prejudice (that’s a laugh) and the process is more simple. Potential clients for rehab are to be advised of the choice of rehab and the ease of accessibility. Not only by their drug workers but also by way of the leaflet she was now asking our opinion on.
She was looking a little bedraggled when we had finished with her. And to be fair a lot of what has, and is, happening is beyond her control. So we unwittingly threw her a life line, this being the fact that most rehabs do not offer detox, you must be detoxed before entering rehab and bed spaces are limited and pre-allocated to each area.
Her response was that detox was nothing to do with her and not her remit. So off the hook she went.
Now maybe it’s a little idealistic of me but wouldn’t it make more sense to work detox and rehab together? To make the bed spaces more easily available in detox? For I attend a group at the Chapman-Barker unit and it never runs at full capacity due to how bed spaces are allocated to different areas. Would it not make more sense both financially and for the good of peoples recovery to work together?
Hi Tony – great blog. Have a brilliant image in my head of the poor woman getting progressively more worn out and then springing back to life again.
I think it would make more sense – and am interested why it doesn’t happen that way….
Hello Tony
Good to hear from you again and an interesting blog.
Well it sounds like an ideal situation to have beds readily available where is this place?
Also I was astounded to hear that clients had a social worker – wow when did that happen?
Sorry I sound cynical but maybe things are moving faster up North – or maybe not, from what you have written. But rehab is like gold dust down south and social workers for addicts well they don’t exist (or do they) and as for unlimited access to rehab and choice – such good news if it really existed.
In Portsmouth access to detox is pretty good although still a waiting list – its the after care that is a struggle to get funding for.
Do you not think that all these initiatives and projects are great on paper and look good but in reality they don’t exist and its like a game that the client never wins or ends up with the booby prize because they never meet the criteria for the first prize – even though it would suit their needs better.
Wow just imagine it if it was true that “you can then go and check the rehabs out, almost like shopping for your best option for your recovery”.
I attended a dual diagnosis conference a couple of weeks before Michael died and sat with my mouth open most of the time thinking are we on different planets but again that is another blog.
Thank you Tony for writing about this.
Think of you often and your support.
Sue x
Hey Tony,
I guess that’s the difference between theory and practice.
As it happens there’s a project in Cardiff where there is at least a direct link between detox and rehab (at least in the latter’s broadest sense) and both stages are taken care of on the same site. It’s called the Bridge Project and it’s based at the local Salvation Army hostel. I don’t know much about the eligibility criteria or the details of the project itself but I do know that it has a lot to recommend it.
Hi Tony
Sadly the experience of getting into rehab you talk about is true. In many areas getting into rehab is very difficult. Effectively its a postcode lottery. Although I was under the impression it was easier in Lancashire.
My organisation, TTP Recovery Communities, operates a 34 bed Community rehab in Warrington and we offer a detox inclusive in the 12 week rehab primary care episode. We also offer 12 weeks secondary and third stage recovery housing for clients wanting to resettle in a safe Recovery Community.
If you still have the contact details of this person get them to call me on 07766 227122 or email me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and we can advise her on what steps she needs to take to access her local rehab panel.
Regards….Tom
Tony, your honesty, realism and common sense always strikes a chord with me.
You always tell it like it is and the “campaigning arm” of the recovery movement needs people like you to challenge people’s assumptions.
Naivety, misunderstanding and plain ignorance all need to be tackled.
I cant speak for Lancashire, but I feel that the UK in general is making some progress. But there is still a real need to “keep it real” as it were. Let us not pretend we are where we want to be already.
Keep on keeping on my friend
Tony maybe you could get a delegation from Lancashire to come and visit our Recovery Orientated part of the world – Sheffield.
I have just been involved in enabling a mentee I work with arrange funding for rehab.
From referral to approval took 5/6 weeks and I am arranging for them to visit several rehabs this week and also Tom’s new detox unit in Bradford on Weds.- thanks Tom ttp looks fantastic.
Also several of our clients have recently entered rehab after a seemless detox – finish detox 9am rehab 9.30am.
Anyone in Sheffield who has a problem with drinking can have a tier2 assessment at SAAS within 72 hours of contacting us, at the assessment they will be offered a range interventions including Solution Focused Therapy, BI, PSI, and also told about a wide range of peer led schemes we run such as SMART, Drop-in and mentoring, they can also be quickly reffered to the Fitzwilliam centre for any medical interventions or to arrange detox/rehab.
I know some people will be saying if only I lived in Sheffield but I think it is essential to report best practice and hopefully others can learn from it and realise it can be done – because it is being done.
So Tony if you suggest it at your next meeting I would gladly take the time off work to show you all around.
Tony,
Sorry to come late to this. Are you saying that access to In patient detox and residential rehabilitation are not easilly available in Lancashire>
I have just read this and feel that I need to write a reply. I work in the lancashire area and the people I work with are given choices in the types of rehabs that are on offer to them. I have some support staff that will take people to visit a number of rehabs before they make thier final choice. I also work closely with the detox inpatient or home detox teams as funding for detox comes from the health budget. There is partnership working with the alcohol and drug workers, detox teams social workers and rehabs and the aim is to give the client a seamless service. In my experiance I have placed a number of client’s in to rehabs within weeks for others it has taken some time due to many different factors, sometimes involving the client sometimes other agencies. I know that in some areas it is more difficult as I have worked in other areas within the substance misuse field over the last fifteen years. There is always room for improvement but we should also recognise when positive work is being done.
