Published: Wednesday, 16th January, 2008 12:30
Drug addicts need respite care
By Hamish Hutchinson
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AN ALVA documentary film maker believes respite centres are the way forward in helping drug addicts kick the habit.
Russ Fenton (56) has been shooting a documentary on the life and struggles of recovering addicts going “cold turkey” at Greenock’s Jericho House.
Each year the hostel helps addicts go clean using alternative therapies and group work – without relying on the drug substitute methadone – which culminates in a play based on their experiences.
Performed at Gilmore Hill in Glasgow last August ‘The Myths of Methadone’ was a sell-out and a new group of residents again took to the stage last month.
Mr Fenton has been filming the residents and volunteers at the hostel for the past two years, with fellow film maker Berny McGurk, and he has been encouraged by what he has seen.
Speaking to the Advertiser, he said, “It is the idea of how the arts can be used to help people recover from drug dependency and you can see the benefits of acting and being in front of an audience, boosting their confidence and working as a team.”
Figures from NHS Forth Valley reveal that in 2006, 596 people received methadone treatment – 118 in Clackmannanshire – with a further 228 people in Forth Valley recommended for treatment with methadone.
During his research for the documentary, when speaking to recovering addicts, Mr Fenton discovered that there didn’t seem to be the same sort of opportunities for rehabilitation in Scotland as there are in the rest of the UK.
He said, “Methadone is only what’s on offer and they are only substituting one drug with another, and you seem to be left very much alone if you want to come off the methadone programme.”
In Clackmannanshire there are a number of organisations to support people and their families affected by drug abuse.
Counselling and Support Service for Alcohol and Drugs (CSSAD) provides confidential one-to-one counselling, Signpost Forth Valley is a direct access point for individual drug and alcohol users (16 years plus) and LADA Link in Sauchie brings together substance services.
But Mr Fenton feels that the best form of help is respite and care centres for families with addiction problems.
He went on, “My research shows that people have begged for their children or their family to go for rehab only to be told that it’s not policy in Forth Valley.
“The best help for people when they are recovering from an addiction is when addicts work together. That’s what happens at Jericho.”
NHS Forth Valley admits there are no residential rehabilitation facilities in the area but claims that there are few people who are assessed as either requiring or are likely to benefit from that form of treatment.
Only around seven or eight people from Forth Valley are placed in residential facilities outwith Forth Valley per year.
A spokeswoman for NHS Forth Valley said, “The planning and delivery of substance use services is focused on the provision of a range of community based services which provide treatment and support as appropriate.
“The criteria for consideration, assessment and recommendation for rehab is very clear, and clinical staff must be sure that there will be benefit in someone going to rehab which cannot be achieved within the local services.
“The resourcing of all placements is governed by a joint protocol between health and the three local authority social work departments.
“Each placement is funded on a 50/50 basis.
“As well as the prescribing services there is also a pilot being run called FV TOX which aims to trial an alternative to methadone for people who are opiate dependent.”
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