Leading drug and alcohol charity WDP has been successful in its bid to work in partnership with Surrey and Borders NHS Foundation Trust and Surrey County Council in delivering substance misuse services in Surrey.

WDP will be providing services as part of the wider NHS service, i-access, which is jointly provided by Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Public Health (Surrey County Council). The new service provision will commence from 1 April 2022 and will be operational for an initial three-year term.

WDP will be delivering one-to-one and group support for service users, as well as harm reduction. It has an award-winning Capital Card® scheme, and a unique family safeguarding service which will be co-located with children and families’ social services teams.

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair of WDP, said: “We are looking forward to working together with the Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Trust and Public Health (SCC) to provide high-quality support for all those living in the county who require help with their drug or alcohol use. This partnership provides an exciting opportunity to deliver meaningful support which will enable the users of our services to explore options to ensure a positive future. We also look forward to welcoming new staff into the WDP family.”

WDP welcomes the publication of HM Government’s 10-year drugs plan and, in particular, its adoption of the recommendations of Dame Carol Black’s Review of Drugs.

As a third sector provider of recovery treatment and support services, we welcome the additional investment in these systems. We are positive about the difference this can make to the health and wellbeing of those suffering from addiction issues and society as a whole.

The new funding will help providers such as ourselves to invest in more specialist roles to support our most complex clients. Increasing client-facing staff numbers overall will also help to increase the quality of personalised care.

The continuation of current increased funding is appreciated, as is the introduction of further investment, staggered over the next three years according to geographic areas of need. However, it should be borne in mind that every local authority has a proportion of people with the highest levels of need, and they must benefit from this investment equally.

A holistic approach to recovery, including accommodation and employment status is encouraging, particularly the commitment to have IPS employability programmes in every local authority by the end of 2024/2025. We have seen first-hand the effectiveness of this approach in our award-winning IPS Into Work service in West London.

The strategy recognises that addiction is a long-term health condition. This is vital, as is the focus on equality in treatment opportunities. WDP treats all those who access our services with the utmost dignity and will ensure that their voices are continually heard as the recommendations of this report are implemented.

We look forward also to the further development of the 10-year plan beyond the detail for the first three years outlined today. It is critical that the ambitions of this strategy are realised for the social, physical, and mental wellbeing of the nation.

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair of WDP said “We are encouraged by the financial investment being put into drug treatment; Dame Carol Black’s Review rightly states that the ‘payoff is handsome’ with each £1 spent on treatment saving £4 from reduced demand on other services. It is imperative that services are evidence-based and robust, providing a comprehensive range of treatment and care to meet the differing and complex needs of those we support. Dynamic partnerships will be essential if the drugs strategy is to work, and this will require coordinated action within and between government departments and the drug sector.”

To read the government’s drug strategy, please visit: From harm to hope: A 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Leading drug and alcohol charity WDP has teamed up with SEND Coffee, a not-for-profit organisation that hires and helps people with special needs or disabilities into jobs in the coffee industry, to offer rough sleepers in Camden the opportunity to enjoy hot drinks in a friendly and welcoming local coffee shop.

SEND Coffee’s site at Camden Road overland station, Hidden Coffee Roasters, will be offering people who are rough sleeping and engaging with WDP’s INROADS Camden service to visit and get a hot drink, in exchange for Capital Card points.

WDP’s INROADS service provides intensive street support across both Camden and Islington for rough sleepers aged 18+ who are experiencing drug or alcohol issues and are currently unable to cope with attending structured treatment services.

The Capital Card® is an award-winning reward card scheme which empowers WDP’s service users and helps them on their recovery journey. They can earn points by engaging in drug and alcohol treatment and spend their points on positive activities and products in their local community. Full details of the offer at Hidden Coffee Roasters and all other spend options are available at capitalcardrewards.com.

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair of WDP, said: “We are delighted to welcome SEND Coffee into our Spend Partner family. Collaboration with SEND Coffee will enable us to develop a partnership based on common values focusing on the needs of marginalised and isolated communities. The simple pleasure of enjoying a coffee together with their peers will provide the users of our services an opportunity to benefit from companionship which most of us take for granted. We look forward to working together with SEND.”

Dominique Spencer, Operations Director at SEND Coffee, said: “We are thrilled to be working with WDP and Capital Card! We are a social enterprise that works primarily with young adults that have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), however we are always on the lookout for ways to level up and extend our support to the wider community. We feel that this partnership is not only a no-brainer for us but is a crucial contributor to building a stronger support network for rough sleepers in the Camden borough, both for existing service users and future service users. We are proud to be part of this initiative and we welcome one and all for a coffee, any time!”

About SEND Coffee

SEND Coffee is a non-profit organisation on a mission to train those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities to become professional baristas in the speciality coffee industry.

During internships at our three London coffee shops, our learners are trained on a 1-to-1 basis with a dedicated mentor on a range of life skills, ancillary skills and, of course, barista skills. When the internship comes to an end, we support our learners in finding paid positions in speciality coffee shops (and beyond).

We also roast and sell our own beans! 100% of profits from coffee sales go back into funding our internships for our students.

For more information about SEND Coffee, visit sendcoffee.co.uk.

If you have any questions about our organisation, our partnerships, or our internship programme, reach out to our founder Harry at harry@sendcoffee.co.uk. If you are interested in stocking our coffee or would like to know more about how you can work with us, reach out to Dominique at dominique@sendcoffee.co.uk.

WDP’s IPS into Work service and the West London Alliance (WLA) have won the ‘Transforming Lives’ award at the 2021 MJ Awards.

The MJ Awards celebrate local authorities’ delivery of services and showcase the hugely important role they play in communities across the UK.

The IPS (Individual Placement and Support) model used by WDP is designed to support our service users into sustainable jobs, with a focus on finding meaningful work tailored to their interests. The programme is managed by Mental Health and Employment Partnership (MHEP) with support from Social Finance and provides up to 12 months of support to ensure service users are supported to sustain their employment.

The IPS model impressed the MJ Awards judges due to the impactful outcomes produced by the programme. The judges said the IPS model is not only changing perceptions of drug and alcohol problems but also changing mindsets and empowering people to move into work by providing wraparound services through a cross-partnering approach. Read the full judging comments here: https://awards.themj.co.uk/winners/2021-winners/

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair of WDP said: “Helping the users of our services to find work can be an essential part of their recovery and wellbeing. This is what makes our work with the West London Alliance so special and this programme so important. It is therefore gratifying that the programme has been recognised for the excellent work it does by receiving this award. Transforming people’s lives in this way does indeed make that essential difference”.

Kim Archer, Programme Lead at West London Alliance said: “I am delighted that the WLA-commissioned IPS into Work service won the ‘Transforming Lives’ MJ Award. It recognises the quality service WDP staff have provided to their clients to overcome some of the challenges of the last 18 months. This should really encourage people with a history of substance misuse to put themselves forward for the IPS programme. IPS can change lives.”

Find out more about our IPS into Work service.

Pictured left to right: Ed Balls, Rebecca Odedra (WDP), Anna Whitton (WDP), Kim Archer (WLA), Harj Bansil (WDP), David Lillicrap (WLA), Chris Luck (Shaw Trust). In front: David Francis (WLA)

We are delighted to announce the launch of a new and exciting benefits package for our workforce.

We know that the work our people do is challenging, complex and important. We exist to support individuals, families, and communities to make significant changes – that’s not an easy thing to do but it is a huge privilege to be part of.

Putting in place new conditions and benefits that support a happy, healthy, and impactful workforce will help us to continue to make a significant and positive difference. We don’t underestimate the importance of this and have introduced a new suite of terms and conditions that respond to the diverse and changing needs of our teams.

Earlier this year, we carried out an extensive consultation with our staff. We listened to their feedback, and it is reflected in our new offer. As well as gathering feedback from our people, we also undertook research and benchmarking work, in our sector and beyond, to ensure we pushed and challenged ourselves. This benchmarking is something that we will be doing every two years from now on. It means that our pay and reward offer should be sector leading and support us to attract and retain the very best people.

Some examples of the new benefits include:

• Annual leave of 30 days, from start of employment, increasing to 33 days over time.
• Sick leave of 6 months full pay, then 6 months half pay, from start of employment.
• An additional day’s leave for the following important life events: birthday, getting married, moving house, and child’s first day of school.
• Maternity leave (including shared maternity leave) of 8 weeks full pay, 8 weeks half pay, then statutory.
• Paternity leave of 3 weeks full pay, 1 week half pay.
• Other support we will be offering our staff includes leave for: IVF (both partners eligible), adoption (replicates maternity leave), gender transition, dependents, compassionate, miscarriage (both partners eligible) and domestic abuse.

Anna Whitton, Chief Executive Officer said: “We spent a great deal of time thinking about the diverse needs of our current and future workforce, the important times in people’s lives, and how we recognise the hard and important work that they do. These new benefits respond more effectively to the individual needs of our staff. We feel that this will not only help us to become more effective and productive, but it will also support our journey towards becoming a truly inclusive employer.”

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair said: “The Board of Trustees and I were extremely impressed with the forward-thinking pay and reward proposals put forward by the WDP senior management team. We were very happy to put our support behind this new suite of benefits and think that they will champion our ambitions to attract, retain, and develop a sector-leading workforce.”

Read more about the full range of benefits available – including health and wellbeing initiatives, financial perks and support, and recognition and development opportunities – in our Benefits Package area.

Interested in working at WDP?

Check out our latest vacancies

Leading drug and alcohol charity WDP and literacy charity Shannon Trust are joining forces in an innovative partnership to help address low literacy rates in community substance misuse support services.

Shannon Trust works in prisons across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland to enable prisoners to read using its Turning Pages programme, a unique phonics-led approach to learning. Through one-to-one mentoring, prisoners who can read teach those who can’t.

This new collaborative partnership with WDP is Shannon Trust’ first community pilot to launch. Shannon Trust will be providing training to WDP staff, peer mentors and volunteers to enable them to provide this ground-breaking literacy programme across multiple services, to reach and help those who would benefit from supportive one-to-one sessions with a peer.

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair of WDP, said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Shannon Trust and, especially to be the first of their community pilots to be launched. Support with reading will help users of our services toward a more inclusive experience of living in their communities. Literacy skills can lead to a greater participation in work, family life, and directly improve health. Developing literacy skills will give them the choice to feel part of an increasingly digital, social-media world, rather than be automatically excluded. These skills are a fundamental part of how we understand, communicate, and interpret the world around us and to this end, these skills, have the potential to increase the motivation of our service users in their recovery journey.”

Ian Merrill, CEO of Shannon Trust said: “We know that reading is a vital skill, and when people learn, it can make a huge difference to their lives. They’re able to complete the everyday tasks that many of us take for granted, such as managing bills or accessing the internet. It can boost their chances of finding employment, or they can take a more active role in their children’s education. And for those with drug and alcohol problems, these achievements can be important building blocks in recovery.”

“Working closely with WDP, we will look at how our reading programmes can be adapted to meet the needs of service users. We hope to train their staff, volunteers and peer mentors to better identify those who may require help in this area, and to deliver Shannon Trust reading sessions in tandem with existing support.”

About Shannon Trust

Within the prison system, 50% of people have a literacy level below that expected of a child leaving primary school, and around 20% of the total prison population read at a much lower level than this.

Shannon Trust has been working in prisons across England, Wales and Northern Ireland for over 20 years, delivering programmes which help thousands of prisoners improve their literacy levels.

The programme operates through one-to-one mentoring, with prisoners who can read teaching those who can’t, using an evidence-based phonics-led approach – Turning Pages. Sessions are around 20 minutes each, and learners work with mentors through Turning Pages guides at their own pace. 90% of learners go on to seek further educational courses after completing the programme, and 60% report increased confidence.

The charity funds its work through the sale of Turning Pages and public donations. More information can be found on www.shannontrust.org.uk.

Shannon Trust is a registered charity no. 1117249

For further information, please contact media@shannontrust.org.uk.

WDP welcomes the publication of the second part of Dame Carol Black’s independent review on drugs. As a third sector provider of recovery treatment and support services, we took part in the consultation and are supportive of the recommendations being outlined and feel there is a lot of potential for positive change.

We are grateful to see a strong recognition of the disinvestment in our sector over the past few years, as well as the recommendations for increased and protected funding. The acknowledgment of the complexity and challenging nature of recovery worker roles and the recommendations around workforce development and investment are also appreciated.

The recurring themes around the importance of holistic care, supporting individuals who use drugs with their health and wellbeing (mental and physical), housing needs, and opportunities for education, training and employment, are especially pleasing to see. It is also encouraging to read that the review includes input from and highlights the value of including people with lived experience in shaping the support available for those who need it.

As an additional next step, we would advocate for a similar independent review to look at alcohol or a formal recognition that many of the report’s findings around drug prevention, treatment and recovery issues also overlap with sector and public health concerns about alcohol use.

To read the full report please visit: Review of drugs: phase two report – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Volunteers’ Week takes place between 1-7 June every year and is an opportunity to recognise the fantastic contributions our volunteers make to WDP.

To celebrate Volunteers’ Week, our Recovery in Action team has organised an exciting week of online events for our volunteers and staff to attend.

From creative vase decorating and music concerts, to volunteer forums and ‘Meet our CEO’, there is an event to suit all interests.

All of the events are virtual and will be run on Zoom. Take a look at our Volunteers Week events page to find event details and information on how to sign up.

WDP is hugely grateful for the invaluable time and support our volunteers provide to our services. We wish all of our volunteers a happy Volunteers’ Week and we look forward to seeing you at our online events.

If you are interested in volunteering at WDP and would like to find out more, visit our Volunteering page.

We are delighted to announce that WDP has been successful in two bids to deliver substance misuse services to rough sleepers.

The new services will be delivered in the London Boroughs of Camden and Islington. Each service will operate an outreach model of psychosocial support and prescribing to help rough sleepers address their substance misuse issues and eventually enter structured treatment.

The services’ key focus is people’s safety, and our staff will be out in the community, working with rough sleepers wherever they feel comfortable and safe. In both boroughs, there will be specialist roles that will work with women and also around dual diagnosis, to help those experiencing complex mental health and substance misuse problems.

WDP’s Capital Card will also play a big role in helping people get the essential items they need and find their feet in the community.

Lisa Luhman, Commissioning Manger for Camden & Islington Public Health said: “Camden and Islington are excited about the development of the new rough sleeper services, and believe the services will achieve great outcomes for some of our most vulnerable residents.”

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair of WDP said: “Winning two new contracts to provide substance misuse services for rough sleepers in Camden and in Islington is a testament to the quality of our care. We will be able to reach more people in need of our services, especially rough sleepers who are particularly vulnerable. We look forward to welcoming new staff, and new hope into the WDP family.”

We are delighted to announce that following a successful tender process, WDP has begun providing a new mental health outreach service to young people (up to age 25) in Brent.

This new service will work alongside WDP’s ELEV8 young people’s substance misuse team. WDP also provides the local adult substance misuse service, New Beginnings, in partnership with Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL).

The new street-based mental health service will provide support to young people who are living or studying in the borough and will take a trauma-informed and person-centred approach.

This early intervention service forms part of the wider Violence and Vulnerability Programme in Brent and will focus on:

• Helping young people affected by mental health conditions (diagnosed or undiagnosed) to better understand and look after their mental health and wellbeing.
• Helping young people affected by mental health conditions enter structured treatment, such as supporting access to local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
• Reducing re-offending and improving the health and wellbeing of young people, carers, families and communities in the borough.
• Engaging with young people/cohorts currently unknown to statutory services.

If you live or study in Brent, are under 25 and would like to talk to someone about your own or another young person’s mental health concerns, please contact ELEV8 on 0300 303 4547 or brentyp@wdp.org.uk.