WDP celebrated International Women’s Day (8 March) to shine a spotlight on the accomplishments of the incredible women at WDP.

International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

This year’s theme is ‘Each for Equal’. The theme highlights the responsibility we all have to challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden perceptions, improve situations and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively, each one of us can help to create a gender equal world.

WDP Harrow celebrated by holding a women’s coffee morning at one of WDP’s Capital Card spend partners, Nando’s UK. The restaurant provided delicious pastries and hot drinks for service users and staff.

The service also held an International Women’s Day event, where the group discussed gender violence and shared empowering messages with one another. Refreshments for the event were kindly provided by Pret A Manager and complimentary toiletries for the attendees were provided by Lush.

WDP’s Chair, Yasmin Batliwala, gave a powerful and moving keynote speech about the significance of International Women’s Day.

“It’s about recognising the importance of woman in an unequal world where everyone has a role to play in making the gender balance more equal.”

Batliwala explained how WDP’s ability to support women in their recovery attracted her to the organisation.

“WDP was relevant to the women we served and because they gave us their trust I knew this was the service where I too belonged.”

WDP Harrow’s Service Manager, Jaya Karira, also shared her thoughts on this year’s ‘Each for Equal’ theme.

“During our day to day lives, we often overlook the fact that equality is a mindset. However, it starts from within, equality can be achieved if the diversity, differences and qualities of women are truly valued.”

Today and every day, WDP will continue to celebrate the accomplishments of the incredible women who work and volunteer at WDP and will continue to strive for gender equality across the organisation.

WDP has joined forces with Storyhouse, an award-winning library, theatre, cinema, and cultural centre in Chester, to offer local people who access substance misuse services the opportunity to enjoy events and facilities available at this valuable community hub. It is the first partnership between WDP and a significant regional cultural centre.

Storyhouse will be enabling users of the Capital Card in Cheshire West and Chester to attend film screenings between Mondays and Thursdays at the Hunter Street venue.

The Capital Card is an award-winning reward card scheme which empowers WDP’s service users and helps them on their recovery journey. It rewards people for their engagement at their local service, through a simple earn-spend points system. They can earn points by attending appointments or engaging in treatment, and then spend their points on positive activities in their local community, such as the cinema or gym.

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair of WDP, said: “We are delighted to welcome Storyhouse into the Capital Card® Spend Partner family. We believe with the right support people can make long-lasting transformations in their lives to improve their health and wellbeing. Having such complementary values with Storyhouse, in being committed to create and offer opportunities for marginalised and isolated groups, means that we are extremely excited to work together. Being able to embrace opportunities in their local area such as this will help our service users to benefit from positive new social opportunities with their friends and family.”

Alex Clifton, Artistic Director at Storyhouse said: “We want users of the scheme to come to Storyhouse to enjoy themselves, to experience something fun. Whether that’s at an event in the cinema, discovering a new book or relaxing in our many spaces.”

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

About Storyhouse

Storyhouse is the UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre (UK Theatre 2019/20). Storyhouse is a progressive business whose activities include theatre production, library management, site-specific productions and festivals. It is creating a new model for a modern cultural organisation. It is already one of Chester’s principal visitor attractions and welcomes 3,000 visitors a day. The public library has the longest opening hours in the UK and its community programme reaches in excess of 150,000 individuals. It welcomes 1 million visits a year. Storyhouse has won the RIBA National, was highly commended at the RICS Award, shortlisted for the BBC’s People’s Building for the Decade and has been nominated for The Stage Awards.

Website: www.storyhouse.com
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Twitter: @storyhouselive
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Address: Hunter Street, Chester, CH1 2AR

We are delighted to announce that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published a glowing inspection report for our Merton substance misuse treatment service. The overall CQC rating was ‘Good’ but the service was also scored ‘Outstanding’ against how responsive the service was to people’s needs.

The CQC inspectors highlighted that “the service had gone over and above in understanding the local community in Merton” and that “staff were exceptional in recognising and responding to the needs of the local population.”

The report also includes some fantastic feedback from service users. The CQC inspectors reported that service users “felt that they were always treated with kindness, dignity and respect by staff” and that “staff were friendly, polite and helpful in creating a positive and healthy atmosphere.” One service user in particular said that “the kindness and care was the best that they had ever received.”

Tobin Byers, Merton Council’s Cabinet member for Health & Social Care said: “This really is a local service to be proud of. It is providing real support to those who need and want to improve their lives, have a positive role in the community and have a healthier future.

“Tackling the stigma associated with substance misuse problems is critical and they deserve our support, and I’m delighted that the standard bearer for these services – the Care Quality Commission – has rated it so highly. Both staff at the council and those staff and volunteers at WDP should be proud of the service they’re providing.”

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair of WDP, commented: “We are extremely proud that the excellent work of our staff and volunteers has been recognised in such an overwhelmingly positive way. To receive such a first-rate report from the CQC and hear incredible feedback from our service users is incredibly inspirational to everyone at WDP. The services provided by WDP Merton are hugely important for the local community and we look forward to continuing to support our service users’ recovery and identify even more ways to reach out to those in need.”

Although there were many examples of good practice highlighted – including safeguarding, local partnership working and the staff team – the areas of outstanding practice that the CQC was particularly impressed by were:

• Encouraging service users to access the local community and activities within it.
• Employing a Tamil-speaking apprentice to provide specific group interventions in Tamil and providing written materials in Tamil and Polish, due to the large local populations of these groups.
• An in-house employment support programme with strong links to the local Jobcentre Plus, who hold a monthly drop-in session at the service.
• Providing a reward card scheme for service users, the Capital Card®, to incentivise service user engagement, where they can earn points by attending groups or engaging in treatment interventions and spend these points on fun activities such as the cinema or gym.
• The staff team winning an organisational award for going the extra mile for their service users.

To access the full CQC inspection report, please click here.

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

WDP has teamed up with the UK’s largest hospitality company Whitbread to offer people accessing substance misuse services the opportunity to take part in a monthly lunch club and reconnect with their local communities in a healthier way.

From January 2020, WDP service users in Cheshire West and Chester, and the London Boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Hackney, Harrow, Havering, Merton and Redbridge will be able to use their hard-won Capital Card points on a group outing to a local Whitbread restaurant each month. This offer also extends to service users at WDP’s residential rehabilitation facility, Passmores House in Harlow, Essex.

WDP staff will accompany a group of service users from each of these services so that they can enjoy a hearty main meal and a soft drink and learn different and healthier ways of navigating social surroundings, in a safe and welcoming environment.

The Capital Card is an award-winning reward card scheme which empowers and helps people on their recovery journey. It rewards service user engagement through a simple earn-spend points system, where they can earn points by attending appointments or engaging in treatment, and then choose to spend their points on positive activities in their local community, such as the cinema or gym.

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair of WDP, said: “We continually look to expand the range of opportunities available through our Capital Card scheme and are excited to have Whitbread join our Spend Partner family. These lunch clubs with peers provide a safe space for our service users to take part in a shared social activity that they may have felt not able or too anxious to do without support. It is also an opportunity for our service users to re-learn positive behaviours and how to interact more fully with their wider community. I would like to thank Whitbread for this invaluable partnership in helping our service users to embrace and benefit from new positive social activities.”

Phil Birbeck, Managing Director, Premier Inn & Restaurants UK, said: “At Whitbread we take huge pride in creating a safe and welcoming environment for all our guests and for a wide range of occasions. We are delighted to be partnering WDP in this innovative approach to rehabilitation. Our venues have always been the traditional social point out of the home and that remains as true today as it ever was.”

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

About Whitbread

Whitbread PLC is the owner of the UK’s favourite hotel chain, Premier Inn with over 800 hotels comprising almost 80,000 rooms and restaurant brands including Beefeater, Thyme and Bar + Block.

Outside of the UK, Whitbread is investing in more Premier Inn hotels in Germany, Ireland and the Middle East. Whitbread has particularly exciting expansion plans in the German market, it opened its first hotel in Frankfurt in 2016 and now has more than 35 further Premier Inn hotels in its secured pipeline in Germany. Whitbread has already committed more than £700 million of investment capital in Germany.

Whitbread is committed to being a force for good in the communities in which it operates. It’s sustainability programme, ‘Force for Good’ is focused on enabling people to live and work well and is built around three pillars of Opportunity, Community and Responsibility.

In the year ending February 2019, Whitbread PLC generated revenue of £2.0 billion and Underlying Profit before tax of £438 million.

Whitbread PLC is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100.

For more information about Whitbread, visit www.whitbread.co.uk.

We are delighted to announce that WDP has been successful in its bid to deliver a new drug and alcohol service in the Royal Borough of Greenwich.

The new service will commence from 1 April 2020 and will be operational for an initial five-year term.

The service will be available to adults in Greenwich requiring help with substance misuse of any kind. It will be delivered from fixed hubs as well as in a variety of community settings across the local area.

The new service will have a strong focus on community, notably through our unique Capital Card, and will bring with it WDP’s recovery focus and commitment to working in partnership with the areas we serve.

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair of WDP said: “We are delighted to be chosen as the new provider of high-quality adult substance misuse services in Greenwich. In securing this new contract, WDP will be able to reach more people in need of our services; as part of this we are excited to be piloting a number of new digital approaches to expand the accessibility of the service. We are also very much looking forward to welcoming the new staff into the WDP family.”

We welcome the Health and Social Care Committee’s latest report (First report of Session 2019-20, Drugs Policy – HC 143) published today (23 October 2019) which calls for a radical new approach to the country’s current drug policy.

Its findings and recommendations mean that we could have, for the first time in many years, a policy which would be fit for purpose: one that deals with 21st century issues and gets to the heart of the matter.

A health focused and harm reduction approach would not only benefit those who are using drugs but would reduce the harm to and the costs for our society as a whole.

We also strongly support the Committee’s recommendation that a fundamental change is required to address the shameful number of drug-related deaths in the UK, which are some of the highest in Europe, particularly in Scotland.

Moving away from a criminal justice to a healthcare-led approach, with responsibility for drugs policy moving from the Home Office to the Department of Health and Social Care, is a no brainer.

We urge the Government to consult on the decriminalisation of drug possession for personal use from a criminal offence to a civil matter. Evidence shows that the decriminalisation of possession for personal use can not only reduce costs to our criminal justice system, but also allows for more investment in prevention and treatment, resulting in the saving of more lives and providing better protection for our communities.

A holistic, non-judgemental approach is essential if we are to properly address this issue once and for all.

Without significant investment into drug treatment, the number of drug-related deaths will increase, despite the fact that every single drug-related death is preventable.

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair

Read the full report from the Health and Social Care Committee.

We are one of more than 30 organisations that endorse the Alcohol Charter.

Read our blog about why we support this proposal on the Alcohol Charter website

One of the Charter’s 16 evidence-based policy proposals to achieve this is a call to:

• Provide and promote a ‘ring-fenced’ resource for alcohol treatment, early alcohol intervention provision and prevention services.
• Ensure local areas have adequate service provision for those with complex needs, especially those with both alcohol and mental health conditions. One way to achieve this is through assertive outreach and multi-agency partnerships.

The Alcohol Charter, produced jointly by the Drugs, Alcohol & Justice Cross-Party Parliamentary Group and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Alcohol Harm, sets out effective and workable policies to reduce the damage to society caused by alcohol misuse.

We are excited to announce that our innovative Capital Card scheme has been shortlisted in the Digital Innovation category at this year’s Guardian Public Service Awards. These prestigious awards showcase projects, teams and individuals from across the UK making a real difference to people’s lives.

The Capital Card is a ground-breaking reward card scheme for users of WDP services. It rewards and incentivises their engagement through a simple earn-spend points system. Our service users can earn points by attending appointments or engaging in treatment interventions, and then spend these points on positive activities such as the cinema or gym – helping them on their recovery journey and empowering them to reconnect with their local community.

The scheme was launched in the London Borough of Hackney in 2017 and has since been rolled out to Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Brent, Cheshire West and Chester, City of London, Harrow, Havering, and Redbridge.

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair of WDP, commented: “I am delighted and proud that the Capital Card has been recognised by this heavyweight award body. It is yet another ringing endorsement of our pioneering scheme, which is truly leading the way in service user engagement across the substance misuse sector and beyond. I would also like to extend my congratulations to our hard-working Capital Card team. This shortlisting is well-deserved and a testament to their tireless dedication and creativity, as well as to the innovative technology that is continuously being developed to deliver ever-increasing benefits to our service users.”

For more information about the Capital Card®, please click here: www.capitalcard.org.uk.

For more information about the Guardian Public Service Awards please click here: www.theguardian.com/society/series/guardian-public-service-awards-2019

Leading drug and alcohol charity WDP is working with the UK’s largest discount diners’ club tastecard to provide people who access substance misuse services the opportunity to dine out at thousands of independent restaurants and high street chains across the country.

tastecard, a member of The Dining Club Group (DCG), will be giving a free three-month tastecard membership to users of the Capital Card, giving them access to the following amazing offers:

• 2-for-1 (or 50% off) food at 6,000+ restaurants
• Up to 40% off cinema tickets at Cineworld, Odeon, Vue and independent cinemas (all day, every day)
• Up to 50% off on days out that include attractions, aquariums, and theme parks.

The Capital Card is an award-winning reward card scheme which empowers WDP’s service users and helps them on their recovery journey. It rewards service user engagement through a simple earn-spend points system, where they can earn points by attending appointments or engaging in treatment, and then spend their points on positive activities in their local community, such as the cinema or gym.

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair of WDP, said: “Having tastecard on board and part of our Capital Card Spend Partner family is exciting news for our service users. We are looking forward to working together so our service users can access a wealth of dining and entertainment experiences – both locally and nationally. This is a great opportunity that our service users can take advantage of and I would like to thank the tastecard team for their extremely generous contribution to our scheme. It will help our service users to embrace and benefit from positive new social opportunities with their friends and family, as well as with their peers.”

Anwar Sultan, CMO of The Dining Club Group, said: “tastecard, the mighty black and green card, always knows where to take its members. Whether they want to save on food, cinema or days out; we’ve got plenty of discounts on offer. At tastecard, what’s important to us is that our members enjoy more experiences with their friends and family.”

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

About tastecard

tastecard is the UK’s largest discount dining membership, allowing its members to dine out more often and spend less money. Offering customers 2 for 1 meals or 50% off food at 6,000+ restaurants, 7 days a week, members can choose from some of the nation’s favourite big name brands as well as local independent restaurants.

For more information, visit www.tastecard.co.uk.

WDP and Chester Football Club are teaming up to give people who access substance misuse services the chance to obtain tickets for home matches at Swansway Chester Stadium.

This opportunity will be available through the Capital Card, a ground-breaking and award-winning reward card scheme which empowers WDP’s service users and helps them to bolster their recovery journey.

The WDP Capital Card rewards service user engagement through a simple earn-spend points system. They can earn points by attending appointments or engaging in treatment interventions, and then spend their points on fun activities in their local community, such as the cinema or gym.

From September 2019, Capital Card users in Cheshire West and Chester will be able to exchange their hard-earned points to attend Chester Football Club home games, which include:

• Leamington on 28 September 2019
• Alfreton Town on 9 November 2019

Chester Football Club are donating 20 tickets to each game as part of this pilot scheme and service users can ‘pay’ for these tickets with 30 of their Capital Card points.

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair of WDP, said: “We are delighted to be teaming up with Chester Football Club to give our service users such a fantastic opportunity. I welcome Chester Football Club into the Capital Card Spend Partner family and thank them for this extremely generous contribution. It will have a big impact on our service users in Cheshire West and Chester. I hope that we can continue to build on this pilot and work together to benefit not only our service users but also their local communities.”

Jim Green, Chief Executive of Chester FC Community Trust, said: “Chester FC is an inclusive, community club and we hope this new partnership with WDP will make a positive contribution to service users and their recovery. We are proud to be a spend partner for the Capital Card in Cheshire West and Chester and look forward to welcoming service users to a game this season.”

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

About Chester Football Club

Chester Football Club play in the sixth tier of English football. Owned 100% by the fans, Chester City Supporters’ Society Limited, the club are into their tenth season since reforming as a supporter-owned club. Chester FC has both mens and womens senior and youth teams, and the first team play their matches at the Deva Stadium.

Chester FC Community Trust uses the power of sport and appeal of Chester FC to improve and enhance the lives of people living in Chester and the surrounding areas. Established in 2013, we deliver high quality football and sport opportunities, education programmes, social inclusion provision, and health and well-being projects to people of all ages and abilities. The Trust was granted charitable status in 2017 by the Charities Commission.

For further details about the Trust, interviews or images contact chief executive Jim Green on 07512 355396 or email jim.green@chesterfc.com.