In-Dependence is using new screening tool to help users

Manager Tracey Rear said this will provide a means of screening people referred to the group with drugs issues and this will allow it to build up data year-on-year.

‘The one we are looking at has had a lot of service user involvement,’ she said.

‘So the questions are very relevant, they’re the right language, they’re meaningful and it’s how clients would consider what real recovery is.’

2021 saw the charity holding more than 1,414 client sessions according to its recently-published annual report, which was an increase of nearly 250 over 2020, although the number of referrals to the service had dropped. This showed that some clients were being kept in treatment longer.

The average number of sessions that a client has with the service is between six and eight, amounting to a similar number of weeks. ‘We have some work that we do where we will be working with people for maybe nine to 12 months,’ said Mrs Rear.

While she had not looked at the make-up of those attending for longer periods and for more sessions, she said it was most likely to be people with alcohol issues since out of the 227 people referred in 2021, 156 had alcohol problems. By contrast, the number of cannabis referrals fell to about half of the previous year and so were people referred for issues with opioids.

Mrs Rear also said there had been an increase in affected family members attending, which she said was a good sign, but was still only 11 people.

‘There’s a large group of people who will be significantly impacted by someone else’s use, who as far as we are aware aren’t reaching out for help,’ she said.

While some had said they were unaware that In-Dependence offered support for the family, she suspected not wanting to talk about the topic was another factor.

‘I do think there’s an element that because we’re a small community people are very reluctant for anyone to know their business. It’s very private.’

The charity tendered for and was awarded five contracts for its services this year.

One that it did not seek to re-apply for, however, was for Guernsey Prison. Its report said it was concerned that it could not offer a high enough standard of service while satisfying the requirements of the prison, including that a worker be there full-time and provide additional services.

But Mrs Rear said it would continue to provide some support for prisoners. ‘We haven’t completely pulled out of the prison. As part of our community offering we’re doing in-reach for prisoners who want to receive an intervention prior to their release. So we’ll go in and we’ll start doing the work and we’ll continue in the community so that’s part of our drug and alcohol community work.’

After dealing with alcohol and drugs since its inception, the service is now turning its attention to gambling addiction, too, and in line with this an online survey is available for someone to use to assess their gambling issues, if any, and a campaign to raise awareness of the work appeared on milk cartons last year.

The results of the campaign are being collated for publication later this year and Mrs Rear said she would be looking at the data collected and how this translated into people engaging in treatment.

n To find out more and to access the gambling survey, visit independence.gg.