Drugs and alcohol services

Many of the service users who we support have a dual diagnosis which means they may have more then one support need.  In addition to their primary support need, we regularly provide help to those who have a dependency on drugs or alcohol.

Building on our experiences of working with people with substance misuse needs, we developed our only specific drug and alcohol service in Kensington and Chelsea in partnership with the local authority in August 2008. The service provides housing management and support during the week as well as a support worker who provides additional support over the weekend.  Service users also have access to telephone advice and support from the on-call manager when staff are not available on site.

At this particular service, Hestia aims to provide short-term high quality single-occupancy flats for men and women who are in the process of recovering from experiences with substance misuse and to provide a “dry” living environment in order to support individuals to maintain sobriety and a drug and alcohol free lifestyle. This is achieved through a number of interventions such as:

• Assistance with moving into their own flat
• Welfare rights advice including completion of benefit claims
• Advice and support accessing community services, in particular substance misuse services
• Advice and support accessing day-centres and other community involvement projects including employment, education and voluntary work opportunities
• Assistance and support to enable service users to develop the living skills to become self-reliant members of the community
• Advice with move-on options, in particular accessing private rented sector schemes
• The Supported Housing Workers will provide an ongoing assessment and review service, and organising emergency professional intervention as required