Communications and campaigns
Back to AwardsTeam winners 2008
The Tackling Drugs Changing Lives Awards recognise individuals and teams who have really made a difference in their local community. The overall winners receive £10,000 for their project or organisation to spend on the prevention of drug misuse.
Winner
Families First - Middlesbrough, North East
Run by Middlesbrough Council, Families First offers support to families with drug or alcohol difficulties where there is a real risk that children may be placed into care as a result of their parents' substance misuse.
The team has been described by the local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership as a 'groundbreaking service that goes to the heart of the drugs strategy in reaching and supporting families at risk'.
Research shows that family conflicts and drug and alcohol misuse have been significantly reduced: 77% of children now stay in their families, and 90% of families who stay together have maintained progress or exceeded goals at one-year follow up.
Regional finalists
BAC-IN - Nottingham, East Midlands
Black and Asian Cultural Identification of Narcotics (BAC-IN) offers recovery programmes for substance misusers from the African, Caribbean and South Asian communities in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.
The team, made up of former substance misusers, pay particular attention to the cultural and religious issues that substance misuse can cause in these communities.
As part of this work, the team visits the most deprived communities in the area to make new contacts and give hope to people who have lost their self-respect. They also offer round-the-clock counselling and support and an open-door drop-in service.
The Spider Project - Liverpool, North West
The Spider Project is a drug-relapse prevention organisation helping former drug users to rebuild their lives.
The service offers a diverse programme of activities such as art, creative writing, yoga, football, gorge walking, photography and massage to drug-free individuals.
These activities improve those involved on many levels: not only their physical and mental wellbeing, but also their self-confidence and self-esteem. This in turn strengthens their ability to integrate with society and move into employment, training or education.
Bradford Service User Forum (SURF) - Yorkshire and the Humber
The Bradford Drug Rehabilitation Requirements SURF team has had great success in improving the service available to substance misusers who need to meet their drug rehabilitation requirements.
Its work has particularly focused on community sentence offenders who are often very hard to reach. As a result of the team's innovative approach, clients who have previously struggled to manage their substance misuse and responsibilities to the criminal justice system have successfully engaged with treatment.
CASA Family Service - Islington, London
CASA Family Service is a small, multi-disciplinary voluntary sector team that offers advice and direct therapeutic support to children who parents suffer from alcohol or drug abuse.
In the past 12 months, 77 families have turned to the team for advice and support, establishing the service as a lifeline for those affected by parental substance misuse. It was recently included in a National Children's Bureau toolkit as an example of excellent working practice around hidden harm.
Drugs Specialist Nurse Team - Bristol Royal Infirmary, South West
The Drugs Specialist Nurse Team at Bristol Royal Infirmary is made up of nurses working very closely with substance users who have fallen between the gaps in services.
Ensuring that its work is in line with the drug strategy, the team has developed wrap-around reintegration support - a service which is helping clients with treatment, housing and general healthcare.
The team is also training hospital staff to understand the client group, which enables those staff to meet substance users' needs sensitively and appropriately.
Its success was instantaneous, particularly in terms of reducing MRSA infections. The team is highly regarded across the hospital and has been successful in collaborating with other agencies.
RAPt - HM Prison Send, South East
The Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners trust (RAPt) programme is a service provided at the women-only prison in Send. It enables women to feel safe and explore their potential.
The team members' commitment and dedication has gained them trust and respect among the prison community, and this has enabled them to engage with women prisoners regardless of what stage in the process they are at.
One of their clients, Lindsay Jones, commented on how impressed she was with their service: 'My counsellors' commitment to me is unbelievable - even now when I've left that establishment and am in an open prison, I still have regular contact with them'.
The North Wales Harm Reduction Team - Shotton
The North Wales Harm Reduction Team is a multi-disciplinary team working with hard-to-reach, at risk substance misusers and other vulnerable groups. Being based in mobile vans enables the team members to quickly get to the hot-spot areas where they're needed, taking their lead from the service users themselves.
Research carried out by the National Public Health Service in Wales in 2006 reported that service users praised the team's work. The local police are also pleased with the team - particularly the impact it has made on the local community, as they are now finding significantly fewer discarded needles and syringes in public places.
West Midlands Police DIP team - Birmingham, West Midlands Team
This Drugs Intervention Programme team has introduced some innovative practices to how the programme is run.
This includes the use of drug testing data to identify 1,100 high crime-causing users (HCCU) who regularly tested positive and were not engaged in treatment. The team also established that 95% of HCCUs were not Prolific Priority Offenders. Today, 120 offenders are being managed under the HCCU process.
The team's success is also a result of the strong partnership link it has developed with other agencies involved in supporting drug users within the criminal justice system.
