Issue - meetings

5.1          The Committee considered a report by the Director of Adult Social Care and Health updating it on the progress of the new Support and Treatment for Adults in Recovery (STAR) service. STAR is commissioned by the Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) and provided by Crime Reduction Initiatives (CRI).

5.2       The Joint Commissioning Manager, Substance Misuse, and representatives of East Sussex Recovery Alliance (ESRA) and Active in Recovery (AiR) provided the following additional information to supplement the written report:

·              CRI sub-contracted some of the services it provided as part of STAR to Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SPFT). Consequently, the DAAT had no input into SPFT’s decision to serve notice on its involvement in STAR as the Trust was not commissioned directly by DAAT.

·              There have been notable improvements in the performance of STAR since SPFT withdrew from the contract. This could be due to better communication between the individual services provided within STAR now that they are all provided by the same organisation (CRI).

·              The purpose of STAR was to address the previously high number of re-presentations of the same clients within 6-18 months of completing treatment. The latest figures against the baseline show that this is being achieved.

·              The STAR service uses a recovery based model of treatment rather than a medical model. The recovery model focuses on psycho-social and empathetic treatment for drugs and alcohol and involves the referral of people for rehabilitation at mutual aid groups. This model is increasingly favoured as the most effective model for recovery.

·              Mutual aid groups include:

o  12 step fellowship groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous; and

o  local recovery groups run by people with lived experience of addiction who act as role models for patients, encouraging and inspiring them to complete their recovery process. AiR and ESRA are two local recovery groups to which STAR refers patients.

·              Active in Recovery (AiR) is a project run by Action for Change that provides peer-led activities in Eastbourne. AiR is using funding from Public Health England (PHE) to set up a community café in Eastbourne. The café will offer a dry bar and a social space for people in recovery to use; it will also offer training in food hygiene and first aid – with other courses to follow.

·              East Sussex Recovery Alliance (ESRA) is a peer-led local recovery group with hubs in Eastbourne and Hastings. It is run by Community Recovery Champions (who themselves are in recovery) who develop and facilitate peer-led support groups. ESRA is reliant on funding but is aiming to be self-funding.

·              ESRA support groups are gender specific as men and women tend to have different support needs. The groups are designed to increase self-esteem and offer a safe space – which are best nurtured in a gender specific environment.

5.3       The following additional points were made in response to questions from the Committee:

·              There is no time limit to when a client is considered out of recovery. If a client relapses at any  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5