Date: 01 Jan 2006
Area where based: Manchester
Outline of Project:
Addaction Manchester offers a free, confidential and comprehensive ‘resettlement’ program for ex-prisoners (both male and female) returning to the City of Manchester from prisons across the UK.
The project looks to bridge the gap between prison and community based-services for ex-offenders with a drug dependency thereby creating a seamless sentence.
Clients are referred to the project via the Drug Intervention Record (DIR) which is completed by the Counselling Assessment, Referral, Advice and Thoroughcare team in prison (CARAT). Prisoners approaching release in the prison are allocated project workers who arrange to visit clients in custody and conduct an assessment of what their needs might be on release.
In appropriate cases, Addaction staff will meet released prisoners at the prison gate and provide them with advice on how and where to access local support services. The project has worked hard to develop close links with organisations to refer to who provide drug treatment, accommodation and employment and training opportunities in Manchester. In the instances where a face-to-face meeting isn’t possible staff will write a letter to clients with this information.
An appointment will also be offered to visit the project’s clinic, based next to the city’s Strangeways Prison, where ex-offenders can gain further support to overcome drug dependency.
Here, the team of project workers and volunteers offer relapse prevention work, one-to-one sessions and IT and employment skills training thanks to a recently installed computer suite.
The service has an ‘open door’ policy and no appointments are needed, a factor that has contributed to the project’s above average attendance levels for appointments.
The role of volunteers is crucial to the service’s success and they regularly offer to accompany clients to their first job interview on leaving prison or help them enrol on courses.
Aims and Objectives:
To reintegrate people into their community and reduce the likelihood of re-offending in the process.
The project tries to monitor outcomes as far as possible and has multi-agency meeting to discuss the progress of clients who have been in touch with the service.
Outcomes:
Approximately 50% of referrals attend the project, almost the double average attendance rate for similar projects of 26%.
Date Added: 10 May 2010
