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.

Leading drug and alcohol charity WDP has renewed its partnership with City Lit, one of the country’s top destinations for evening, weekend and daytime courses, for a third successive year. City Lit will be offering WDP service users access to an array of online and face-to-face courses across a wide range of subject areas, in exchange for their hard-won Capital Card points.

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 at Spend Partners, such as cinemas, gyms or eateries.

Some of the fantastic feedback from service users who have had already had the opportunity to attend courses at City Lit includes:

• “After 18 months of hard personal work, being given something that I would not have done for myself made a big difference to my confidence.”
• “Learning a new skill and discovering something that I thought I could not do was magical; when you are working through really difficult/painful experiences to be reminded that you can learn new skills and succeed is a huge prize.”
• “It’s given me more confidence to be amongst other people, reason to get up in the morning and look forward to my day, it lifted my depression and has also given me a different perspective on life.”

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair of WDP, said: “We are delighted to be continuing our partnership with one of our first Spend Partners, City Lit. This collaboration will provide a vast range of opportunities for our service users to learn new skills, develop their interests or take up a new hobby. To be able to look ahead to the future and have these options is hugely beneficial and invaluable in supporting our service users in their recovery journey.”

Phil Chamberlain, Executive Director External Engagement at City Lit, said: “I am thrilled that we are continuing our partnership with WDP. Building on the success of our long-term partnership, we’re excited to offer WDP service users access to an array of online and face-to-face City Lit courses in exchange for their hard-won Capital Card points. Together we will be able to support WDP service users in their recovery journey by rebuilding confidence, helping to regain a wellbeing equilibrium or upskilling to increase employability. This is the latest offer in a long collaboration between our two organisations and we look forward to developing our partnership further in the future.”

For more information about the Capital Card®, visit www.capitalcard.org.uk.

About City Lit

City Lit is the country’s leading adult education college, famous for “Bringing people together to enrich lives through learning.” Since 1919, City Lit has welcomed thousands of Londoners every year, with well over a million people having benefitted from our unique offering. Londoners from all walks of life come together to try something new, learn a new skill or follow a passion. City Lit caters to a diverse group of adult learners – professionals, retirees, deaf students and learners with severe disabilities, ranging from 19 to those in their 90’s. City Lit offers a wide range of online and face-to-face courses in performing and visuals arts, languages, humanities and social sciences.

For more information, visit https://www.citylit.ac.uk/ or contact kim.snijders@citylit.ac.uk

We are delighted to announce that our partnership with Hermes, one of the UK’s largest parcel delivery companies, has been extended until the end of September. This partnership ensures that our most vulnerable Capital Card users continue to get access to essential items during the coronavirus pandemic through a home delivery service.

Service users place orders for essential items that they would usually ‘buy’ in their local WDP service’s Pop-Up Shops, such as toiletries and non-perishable items. Hermes then delivers these orders to the service user’s door within one week, as part of the Capital Card ‘Shop on Wheels’ initiative.

Below is some of the fantastic feedback we’ve received from service users who have benefited from these generous Hermes deliveries:

• “A huge thank you for a lovely parcel full of goodies, it has made my day.”
• “It is very important for me to know that there is somebody out there thinking about me as I have been shielding since March 2020. Thank you for the lovely parcels.”
• “I love receiving parcels full of goodies, the variety of items is wonderful and also the surprises.”
• “Thank you ever so much for helping both myself and my child to get through those difficult times.”

A huge thank you to Hermes for all the support that they have given our services users during this challenging time.

For more information about the award-winning Capital Card®, visit www.capitalcard.org.uk.

We are proud to be a part of the latest published research and guide from the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, Managing Drug and Alcohol Misuse at Work.

The report has an accompanying practical guide for employers and line managers on how best to manage drug and alcohol misuse in the workplace and how to proactively support their staff.

As WDP specialises in helping people with drug and alcohol problems, our in-house Innovation and Research Unit was uniquely positioned to review and contribute to this guide.

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair of WDP, said: “We are pleased to have taken part in this timely work published by the CIPD. As highlighted by their report, it is important for organisations to have a proactive and preventative approach to managing drug and alcohol misuse within their teams. This is especially vital during these challenging times, as this research indicates that alcohol consumption among workers has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Read the report here

Read the guide here

We are pleased to announce that our Redbridge substance misuse treatment service (known locally as R3) has been rated ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The CQC inspectors highlighted that staff “treated clients with compassion and kindness” and that the “service was well led, and the governance processes ensured that its procedures ran smoothly.”

The report also includes some excellent feedback from service users. The CQC inspectors reported that service users “gave overwhelmingly positive feedback about the service they received” and shared that “staff were caring, supportive and non-judgemental towards them.” Service users also praised WDP’s Capital Card® scheme, sharing that it was a “good initiative and that they enjoyed spending points on toiletries and on group service user meals in the community.”

Andrew Hardwick, Integrated Strategic Commissioner (Substance Misuse) for London Borough of Redbridge, said: “WDP were commissioned in Redbridge to embed an innovative, person centric treatment service in the local community that would offer a high standard of care and support to local residents and the community of Redbridge. We are delighted with the outcome from the recent Care Quality Commission inspection which underlines the progress that has been made locally in developing our specialist substance misuse treatment provision. This has been possible because of WDP’s flexible approach to delivery which adapts to the individual needs of each and every service user providing a truly person-centred treatment experience. This is clearly reflected in the outcomes we are seeing for individuals and indeed the service as a whole.”

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair of WDP, commented: “We are delighted with yet another excellent CQC report acknowledging the high quality of our services within Redbridge. It is a credit to the team for their hard work and commitment to our service users, as it recognises the importance we place on providing a service which is tailored to the needs of each individual who comes to us for support. Working closely with our amazing Commissioners is a key feature of our success and together we are able to deliver so much more. It is a partnership we value immensely and hope to continue to build on. We remain grateful to the users of our service for having faith in us to assist them in improving their lives.”

The areas of good practice that the CQC was particularly impressed by were:

• Staff provided a range of care and treatment interventions suitable for the client group and consistent with national guidance about best practice.
• The service treated clients with compassion and kindness. They understood the individual needs of clients and supported clients to understand and manage their care and treatment.
• Clients were involved in the service in a number of ways, including at the monthly service user forum, and encouraged to leave feedback on how the service could be improved.
• Staff welcomed their clients’ families into the service and offered support to them, when appropriate.

We are looking forward to using the findings of the report to continue to improve our services. To access the full CQC inspection report, please click here.

If you live in Redbridge and would like to talk to someone about your or a loved one’s drug or alcohol use, please contact us on 0300 303 4612 or info.r3@wdp.org.uk

We are pleased to announce that WDP has joined the national alliance of drug and alcohol treatment charities, Collective Voice.

Collective Voice was created in 2015 by voluntary sector organisations coming together to ensure the voice of the drug and alcohol treatment sector, and the people who use its services, was heard in policy and political discussions. Its members offer support to over 200,000 vulnerable adults and young people annually across the country and now that WDP has become a part of Collective Voice, there are 10 members in total.

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair, said: “We are delighted to have joined colleagues in the sector in order to provide a strong unifying voice to support the cause and share best practice. There is so much more we can achieve together than we can do alone. The resilience of the entire sector post COVID pandemic is of concern, and we need to work together – as well as with partners in government – to ensure that in 2021 we not only have an Addictions Strategy which is fit for purpose but that the future of all such services remain secure.”

To read more about this news, visit www.collectivevoice.org.uk/news/the-forward-trust-and-wdp-join-collective-voice/.

WDP’s Merton service has launched its Merton Month off Booze (MOB) initiative to help the local community to take a break from alcohol and boost their health and wellbeing.

The inspiring online course will be delivered via daily emails and is specially designed to help Merton residents to improve their drinking habits after lockdown.

Research by Alcohol Change UK shows that during lockdown 1 in 5 drinkers have been drinking more frequently. The Merton MOB’s mission is to help the local community to reset their drinking habits after lockdown and to experience the remarkable health benefits of an alcohol-free month.

By signing up to the MOB, you will receive interactive, daily emails from WDP’s MOB coaches, who will motivate and guide you through the month. The emails will help you to develop strategies to stay off the booze, share ideas for non-drinking activities, and help you to track your progress throughout the month.

There is an optional weekly online group, where you can receive tips and encouragement from others who are taking a MOB, and you also have the option to have personal check-ins with your MOB Coach during the month.

If you live in Merton and would like to talk to someone about your or a loved one’s alcohol or drug use, please contact us on 0300 303 4610 or info.merton@wdp.org.uk.

We are pleased to announce that Anna Whitton has started today (1 July) as WDP’s new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Anna joins us from the Executive Team at BBC Children in Need and brings significant experience from the substance misuse field after 12 years at Addaction (now known as We are With You).

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair of WDP, said: “This is an exciting and challenging time for WDP as we continue to develop and extend the reach of the important programmes and services that we provide. We are delighted that Anna is joining us as CEO and welcome her wholeheartedly to the WDP family. She brings skills, commitment and experience that will support the ongoing development and impact of our organisation.”

Anna said: “WDP is an excellent organisation that makes a positive difference to people’s lives. I am delighted to be joining a brilliant team who demonstrate so much care, expertise and creativity. These are challenging times for all voluntary sector organisations and I look forward to being part of an organisation that continues to find, develop and support solutions to complex challenges.”