Fewer referrals, more sessions for charity dealing with addiction
MORE than 1,400 client sessions were carried out last year by the charity In-Dependence, as people are staying in treatment for longer.
The charity helps support people whose lives are affected by drug or alcohol use.
Manager Tracey Rear’s report, as part of the charity’s annual report, revealed that the increase in sessions was despite referrals dropping.
‘As in 2020, we were again affected by Covid at the beginning of the year, and have continued to offer a variety of platforms to ensure our service is as accessible as possible,’ the charity stated.
‘We saw a reduction in the number of referrals coming into the service with 227 for the year – 49 fewer than the previous year.
'While the referral rate was reduced, the number of client sessions we delivered increased by 245 to 1,414, indicating we are retaining clients in treatment for longer.’
Alcohol remains the biggest problem, with 156 people seeking help.
‘This number has increased in recent years and may increase further following the award of the contract to provide alcohol services,’ the report stated.
‘Cannabis referrals (17) were down by nearly half from 2020. This may be related to the increase in the prescribing of medicinal cannabis, but there is insufficient evidence to confirm this.
'Opioid referrals (17) continued to fall and were less than half those received in 2020.
'Referrals for affected family members almost tripled in 2021 with 11 people seeking help.’
Charity chairman Jim Le Pelley said the charity's team had learned how to deal with the disruption of Covid, meaning the charity’s work was less affected than in 2020.
The charity won the States’ tender under the drug, alcohol and tobacco strategy, but decided not to tender to work with the Prison Service after some 20 years.
‘We consider the work to be of great importance,’ he said. ‘We take satisfaction that, over the years, we have helped many prisoners turn their lives around. For others, we have at least made a difference.
'In reaching our decision, we were mindful of the difficulty of providing management supervision and, crucially, support to a staff member working remotely under day-to-day exposure to prison culture.
‘In that circumstance, we were concerned that we could not ensure a high professional standard of service while satisfying the requirements of the prison, in particular the requirements that a worker be on site full-time and that the worker provide additional services, such as pastoral care, perhaps better provided by other agencies.’
In 2021, 29 prisoners were assessed, with 16 prisoners engaging in an intervention, and nine of those accepting after-care support.
One of the charity’s main aims for 2021 was to understand the local gambling scene better. An online survey was carried out and the results should be published this year.
