What to expect
Entering treatment can be difficult. Knowing what to expect will make that first step easier. This section provides useful basic information to help you to understand that various stages of the treatment journey.
We can’t be too specific about treatment because a lot depends
on you and your individual circumstances. This is just a general
guide. Everybody’s treatment is different because they are
different. Basically, we are “experts” on drugs and but you are the
expert on you.
Drug use causes problems for people psychologically (e.g. It can
make you depressed), socially (it may affect your housing or your
family relationships) and physically (you might be dependent-the
rattle, you might have injecting injuries, or be at risk of
infection). It can also cause people to commit crimes.
We aim to help in all those areas and your key worker is the
person you can work with to solve the problems drugs have caused.
Treatment can take a long time and patience is vital. If stopping
drugs was easy you would have done it yourself ages ago without any
help.
Some Information for Families & Carers
If you are supporting some one through drug treatment find out where you can get some support for yourself.
If your area is a hi member you will find local support services by going to the services option on the main menu. Here you will get a description of the services you can expect and a map showing where the service is located. You can also use the family and carers groups page by clicking on 'groups' on the main menu. By joining or starting a group you can share your worries, experiences, good and bad. Remember, when you sign up for a hi account you do not need to use your real name.
Who may be involved in the drug treatment system?
There may be a number of people involved in the treatment
journey, and from time to time they will discuss the progress the
person is making.
Discussing progress can only happen when the service users has
given consent for information to be shared. Many family
members want to support the person through their treatment
journey. It is often very frustrating when they call the
service to find out how their family member is doing only to be
told that the service cannot share that
information.
The service user must give consent for information to be shared
with anyone, just in the same way a GP cannot share information
about your health unless you are aware of it. When a family
member decides to enter treatment, it is work while to discuss with
them what your involvement will be.
Some of the workers will work from a medical perspective, the
physical effects of drug use and substitute prescribing and any
physical health issues that may exist. Others will work from the
social perspective, this includes, working with the person to
develop an understanding of their behaviour and its
consequences. The social model also supports the person to
develop positive interests and participate in society in a
rewarding way.
- Prescribing nurse/doctor
- Community psychiatric nurse
- Key worker
- Counsellor (talking therapy)
- Community support staff
- Structured day programme team
- DIP (drug intervention teams)
- Probation teams
- Social workers
- Community midwife
Assessment
The first stage of treatment is assessment. This is where you
meet a worker to discuss your case and your particular needs. The
worker may need to find out a lot about you, your background and
circumstances, and the nature of your drug problem. What that means
is lots of questions (sorry!) and probably a drug test. The drug
test is normally a urine sample, we will just ask you to provide a
sample (privately) in a special pot.
From that you and the worker will start to agree a care plan.
Care Plan
A care plan is exactly what it says-a plan of your care. It will
be agreed by you and all the bits in it described for you. There is
a lot of information to take in at parts of the drug treatment
journey, just make sure to ask if you have any questions. Don’t be
shy about this, remember that the worker does this all the time and
should have many ways of describing the same thing to suit you.
You will be given a copy to take home (if you wish) so that you
have it all written down and you know what happens next, what that
means and who to call if you need extra help. The care plan changes
as you change and improve in treatment so you and your key worker
will regularly go through it and change it to fit you NOW.
Treatment Wait?
After assessment you will leave with an appointment to start
treatment. The wait from assessment to treatment will usually be
about one week or less. That treatment may be an appointment with
the doctor to start prescribing, an appointment with a key worker
to start psychological work or a group. There are lots of different
options and the person who assesses you will go through them all
with you.
This is a journey, not everyone travels at the same speed, just
make sure that you have the support you need along the way.
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