Friends Newsletter Issue 10

8/18/2019 Friends Newsletter Issue 10

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There has been a lot of attention on services

offered to domestic violence perpetratorsin the news recently. Five years ago webegan our Resolve to Stop the Violence

Programme (RSVP), working with perpetratorsin Bath and Bristol, through an innovativeprogramme which helps aggressors to understandand change their controlling and violent behaviour.

Support for victims of violence is crucial.However, we also believe that domestic violencecannot be overcome without working with

perpetrators to challenge the social, cultural andattitudinal issues that contribute to their behaviour.The alternative is risking that they go on toreoffend and create further suffering.

Kevin, our Bristol Services Manager, explainsthat the power of RSVP lies not only in thechanges seen in the lives of clients and theirfamilies, but also in the impact these changes have

DHI FriendsDHI Friends newsletter #10 Spring 2016 www.dhi-online.org.uk

“If we can share thatlived experience, it’s akind of alchemy” – PeerMentoring Launch, p4

Tackling the Rootsof Domestic ViolenceDHI works with perpetrators to end violence and create long-term change.

Celebrating anotheryear - photos from ourannual event at theBath Guildhall, p5

Inside this issue: A perpetrator’s story of recovery / Support for Steroid UsersOur CEO reects back on our 20 year history / Welcoming Syrian Refugees

Continued on page 2 …

http://www.dhi-online.org.uk/http://www.dhi-online.org.uk/


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DHI Friends Issue 10

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Joe had a dif cult

childhood and struggledwith opiate addictionfrom the age of 17. He

had fallen into a pattern ofdestructive behaviour towardshis partners, and in anger wouldresort to aggression.

He came to DHI seekingsupport to tackle his substancemisuse, and soon came to realise

that he also needed support tobreak this cycle of violence:“For me [the programme] wasa self-discovery, about whyI’m doing this, what’s settingme off.” He now recognisesthat feelings of powerlessnessresulting from addiction andunemployment led him to assertcontrol in relationships through

aggression. He describes thetechniques he has learnt todeal with feelings of anger,explaining how something as

simple as taking a time out can

allow him to catch his breathand re ect on why those feelingshave emerged. He has learnt tocommunicate his feelings to hispartner and treat her with respectand patience: “I can’t controlher, I don’t try to manipulate thesituation any more [...] I’m moremindful of other people now”.

Joe has been completely clean

from drugs for 5.5 months andis con dent in his recovery. Hehas trained as a peer mentorwith DHI and now also mentorswith Salvation Army and GoldenKey. This desire to share hisexperiences comes from a wishto ensure that others like him areable to access support to change;a desire to encourage others by

showing that the cycle can bebroken, and from the recognitionthat by helping others he iscementing his own recovery.

“We frequently see severalwomen come through ourservices with the sameperpetrator and only wish that

the perpetrator could also be

referred for support, for hisown sake and that of thewomen he abuses”Anna Smith, CEO of Survive

Joe’s Story Joe, a past RSVP client, feels compelled to tell hisstory and let as many people as possible knowthat help is available and change is possible.

in the wider community: “what’simportant about this work is that itcreates advocates in the communitysaying ‘actually, that’s not the waythat you deal with anger, there areother options that you have, thereare choices that you can make’. Andthat’s what I think is powerful, it’sembedded in the community.”

RSVP was developed after ourteam recognised a group of menin our drug and alcohol treatmentservices that acknowledgedproblems with their violentbehaviour but could not nd thesupport necessary to break theirbehavioural patterns. It is a course of10 one-to-one sessions, throughoutwhich clients are offered the toolsand techniques to manage feelings ofanger and to communicate positivelywith loved ones, without usingviolence or aggression. Substancemisuse is often an accompanyingfactor to these behaviours, andthe majority of clients will also bereferred into our drug and alcoholtreatment services.

Tackling theRoots of Domestic

ViolenceContinued…Avon & SomersetPolice and Crime

Commissioner SueMountstevens visited

our RSVP team and metwith ex-service user, Joe,

as part of her work toend violence against

women and girls.


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Issue 10 DHI Friends

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This April it is 20 yearssince I began workingfor Bath Self HelpHousing Association

(BSHHA) to set up a newproject, Stall Street, an earlyincarnation of what wouldbecome DHI’s agship detoxsupported housing project,Burlington Street. With plansto purchase this property in thecoming year, it feels like thingshave come full circle for DHI!

My role was to develop StallStreet as a supported housingproject attempting to bridge thegap between drug and alcoholtreatment and housing services.As my interest and passion grewso did the project, and soon DHIparted from BSHHA to focus ondeveloping interlinked servicesfor the socially excluded, be thatas a result of substance misuse,homelessness or other reasons.

As the name suggests, BathSelf Help Housing Associationwas an organisation dedicatedto empowering people withthe tools and opportunities to

shape their own future, andthis remains very much at theheart of what DHI does, as ournew Peer Mentoring Servicefor the Golden Key initiativedemonstrates (see page 4).

We believe in the power ofindividuals to make positivetransformations, and will continueto do all we can to support themost excluded in our society tobuild happy, healthy lives.

A Word from the CEO

DHI Welcomes Syrian Refugees to BristolOur social enterprise lettings agency Home Turf Lettings (HTL) has been chosen to assistBristol City Council in their pledge to take in Syrian refugees. The first families granted

refugee status will be arriving in Bristol this spring and will be housed in HTL managedproperties. We are honoured to play a role in welcoming them to the city and making them feel as at home as possible.


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The launch of our newPeer Mentoring Serviceat the Trinity ArtsCentre in Bristol on 21st

January saw Mayor of BristolGeorge Ferguson take to the

stage, promoting the powerof lived experience and peersupport in tackling the city’s mostentrenched issues: homelessness,addiction and mental ill health.

The Service is led by DHI aspart of the Big Lottery fundedGolden Key partnership, whichseeks to open doors to thehundreds of people in Bristol

who are locked into a cycle ofdeprivation and dependency. AsNicky, one of our peer mentors,explained: “The people it wantsto reach are those who have beenleft behind or discarded for manyyears, and it’s about time that wetry to include everyone. Just thatethos is brilliant.”

We will train people with

lived experience of these issuesto support others in their recovery,by providing everything frominspiration and encouragementto practical support, such asaccompanying clients to hospitalappointments.

This support is invaluable,as our Peer Mentor ServiceLead Alv explains: “If we can

share that lived experience,it’s a kind of alchemy, it’ssomething that changes thingswithin our society, and changes

things for individuals. Peermentoring is about that alchemy.Because our peer mentors, justby being here, are living proofthat change is possible, thatrecovery can be a reality”.

Unlocking the Power of PeersDHI launches new Peer Mentoring Service as part of Golden Key initiative totackle deprivation and social exclusion in Bristol.

The teambehind our

new PeerMentoring

Service

“Thanks to you that havehad the courage to turn your

adversity into somethingreally positive – I will alwayscelebrate what you do”Mayor of Bristol George Ferguson


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Rising to the Challenge


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November saw the biggest event in DHI’scalendar, our Annual Event, take place at the beautiful Bath Guildhall. Over 100 peoplejoined us to celebrate the year gone by withspeakers, performances and the ever-inspiringClient Achievement Awards.

Top: The Mayor of Bath, Will Sandry, congratulates awardwinner Andy Nott. Left: Stephen Robertson, CEO of the BigIssue Foundation, gave a fascinating talk on the powersof using business enterprise to do good. Above: Jeremy &Caroline from our Bath & Swindon teams.


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BattlingSteroids There is increasing concern inthe UK about the use of Image andPerformance Enhancing Drugs(IPEDs), particularly as traditional drugtreatment services struggle to reach out tothese drug users. IPEDs includes steroidsand weight loss drugs, which pose a highrisk of Blood Borne Viruses (BBV) andliver and kidney damage.

We are involved in several schemes toincrease access to treatment and supportservices for IPEDs users. Our team inSouth Gloucestershire runs a weeklydrop in session where IPEDs users canseek confdential harm reduction adviceand access treatment. This has been wellpublicised on social media and numbersare growing fast.

Meanwhile in B&NES our treatmentstaff took part in a pilot to offer advice andsupport on IPEDs use at a local gym. Therewas a huge uptake, and the pilot was such asuccess that we are now looking to expandthe programme to a selection of gymsacross B&NES.


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News in brief

Reach Out 2016l There were over 8,000 alcoholrelated and 3,000 drug relateddeaths in England and Wales in2014. Despite this there is stilla huge taboo around substance

related bereavement. Our 2016Reach Out conference will featurea presentation and Q&A fromLorna Templeton, part of a team ofresearchers from the University ofBath studying the experiences andneeds of families facing substancerelated bereavement.

The Reach Out conferenceis a chance for families and

carers of people with substancemisuse issues and professionalsto come together and share theirexperiences, break down thestigma and silence surroundingfamilial drug use and start an opendiscussion about what we can do toimprove the support available.

The conference will take place at the

Somerdale Pavilion in Keynsham,on 9th June 2016 from 1-4.30pm.Email [email protected] formore info or to RSVP.

Shop ‘til You Dropl DHI has now signed up to Give as You Live,so you can support our work just by shoppingonline! All you need to do is go to www.giveasyoulive.com and you can shop at thousands

of online stores, who will then give a donationto the charity of your choice – just type inDeveloping Health & Independence to help uscontinue the fght against social exclusion.

A Very Merry Christmas!l Thanks to all who got involved in the Homeless Shoe Box Appealfor the South West– a group on Facebook that collected over 10,000gifts for homeless people this Christmas. Here’s Sarah from our teamin Somerset collecting gifts that went to people in our supportedhousing. Your generosity made this Christmas day one to remember.

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mailto:[email protected]://www.giveasyoulive.com/http://www.giveasyoulive.com/http://www.giveasyoulive.com/http://www.giveasyoulive.com/http://www.giveasyoulive.com/http://www.giveasyoulive.com/http://www.giveasyoulive.com/http://www.giveasyoulive.com/http://www.giveasyoulive.com/http://www.giveasyoulive.com/http://www.giveasyoulive.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.giveasyoulive.com/


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Developing Health & Independence15/16 Milsom Street, Bath BA1 1DE tel: 01225 478730web: www.dhi-online.org.ukCompany No. 3830311 Registered Charity No. 1078154


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News in brief continued …

PAD Launchl The Post Alcohol Detox Project is a multi-agency collaborationthat will ensure patients exiting hospital after an alcoholdetox are directly referred into appropriate housing andsupport services, offering the stability necessary to stay onthe road to recovery. The launch event in December saw

doctors, commissioners and health and social professionalsgather at Bath Guildhall, where Dr Mark Farrant, consultantgastroenterologist at the RUH, gave a moving speech explainingwhy, for him, this change in approach cannot come soonenough: “The liver gets better amazingly, the patient gets better,but then we sort of ing them out. And when that happens it’sa disaster. Because you make the patient physically better, butyou’re dealing with a minute proportion of the whole problem,and unless the environment is looked after then the patient willgo back to drinking and come back to rehab.”

Congratulations...

... to Jess Elmer, who works in our Project 28 team, forwinning a Police and Crime Commissioner Pride Awardrecognising her dedication and commitment to workingwith young people in Keynsham.

Join us!

We are always keen torecruit more volunteers atDHI. We have a number ofvolunteering opportunitiesavailable, from physicalwork in the open air on ourallotment to offering admin

support in our head office inMilsom Street.

Please [email protected] visitwww.dhi-online.org.uk/volunteering/for more information.

Don’t be a stranger

We have strengthened oursocial media activity andwe’re now regularly updatingour Facebook page and ourTwitter account. Follow us forupdates on our work andshare or like our posts tohelp us raise awareness ofimportant issues.

@DHI_Online pages/Developing

HealthIndependence/

Donate

Your donations allow us to

provide essential support topeople facing social exclusion,to support our work go to:www.justgiving.com/dhi/
http://www.dhi-online.org.uk/mailto:[email protected]://www.dhi-online.org.uk/volunteering/http://www.dhi-online.org.uk/volunteering/https://twitter.com/dhi_onlinehttps://www.facebook.com/DevelopingHealthIndependence/https://www.facebook.com/DevelopingHealthIndependence/http://www.justgiving.com/dhi/mailto:[email protected]://www.facebook.com/DevelopingHealthIndependence/https://twitter.com/dhi_onlinehttp://www.dhi-online.org.uk/http://www.justgiving.com/dhi/http://www.dhi-online.org.uk/volunteering/

Documents

Friends Newsletter Issue 10