A new innovative and compassionate approach to supporting people affected by alcohol and drugs has made a significant positive impact on people’s lives over five years.
Renfrewshire’s Alcohol and Drugs Change Programme was established to take forward the recommendations of Renfrewshire’s Alcohol and Drugs Commission, a first-of-its-kind commission that published its recommendations in 2020.
The programme is funded by £2million from Renfrewshire Council, who lead on this partnership initiative with Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) and Renfrewshire Alcohol and Drugs Partnership (ADP).
Around 5,000 people have been better able to access services through testing ideas on service delivery in six Council services and six partner initiatives through this funding. Three research and review projects were also funded.
The money also supported recovery events, such as the Recovery Walk Scotland held in Paisley in 2022, with more than 5,300 people in attendance.
The commission was unique for its listening approach, with more than 330 people with lived experience of alcohol and drugs harm taking part. This approach has continued into the change programme, which focused on tailoring support to support service user needs, including trauma-informed care, lived experience, early intervention, and recovery.
One of the most impactful changes has been increased positive relationships between services and people who previously had difficulty engaging with services.
Projects like housing-led support My Life Ahead (MyLA) has supported 90 people facing complex challenges to sustain tenancies and reduce substance use.
Mobile outreach service Harm Reduction Response Team (HaRRT) reached more than 2,600 people, including many who were not engaged with existing services, offering lifesaving and harm reduction advice and support in the heart of local communities.
The CIRCLE Recovery Hub in Paisley is a cornerstone of Renfrewshire’s recovery community and offers peer-led support with around 250 people supported at any one time. Its volunteer pathway empowers those in recovery to support their own and others’ journeys.
The Council’s education team and I Am Me Scotland developed an Alcohol and Substance Awareness Education programme with young people and those with lived experience. More than 750 staff and teachers have accessed this training and is widely adopted across Renfrewshire schools. It has been recognised nationally with a COSLA Excellence Award and a Scottish Public Service Award.
More than 300 staff across the partnership have been trained in trauma-informed practice to embed compassionate approaches across services. It will be supported by a Language Matters training to promote respectful, recovery-focused language use.
The Connected and Caring Renfrewshire initiative to help reduce stigma and promote recovery has brought thousands of people together through community events, including the Recovery Walk Scotland event that took place in Paisley.
Councillor Jacqueline Cameron, depute leader of Renfrewshire Council and chair of the Fairer Renfrewshire sub-committee, said:
Renfrewshire was ahead of the curve by creating its Renfrewshire Alcohol and Drugs Change Programme. These projects and tests of change were developed and started ahead of national work to reduce the harm of drugs on people’s lives.
Together, the Council and its partners have worked hard to maximise the value of the work we have done in Renfrewshire with the national work. The Change Programme aligns with wider ongoing work taking place across the area to reduce alcohol and drug-related harm.
Making real meaningful change that positively impacts people affected by alcohol and drugs has been made possible by the listening approach Council and HSCP services have taken. That’s the legacy of the Alcohol and Drugs Commission and it has continued through the Alcohol and Drugs Change Programme and everyone involved should be proud of what has been achieved.
Teams have made positive changes and innovated how services are delivered, but we remain hugely aware of the ongoing challenges around alcohol and drug-related deaths and harm. Addressing these lasting harms across communities throughout Scotland is estimated by some experts to take generations.
As a Council and partner of Renfrewshire ADP, we remain committed to continuing this work to better support people affected by alcohol and drugs now and in the future.
Renfrewshire ADP have recently undertaken an assessment of local need. Feedback from this assessment is being developed into a plan to take forward improvements to service delivery.
Third-sector organisations like I Am Me Scotland, Recovery Across Mental Health (RAMH), Turning Point Scotland, and Scottish Recovery Consortium have been commissioned to support service delivery change and research over the past five years.