Leeds DIP wins mentoring and befriending award
A Leeds drug treatment programme which provides services for drug users within the criminal justice system has won an award for its volunteering scheme which offers opportunities for members of the public and recovering drug users to work as volunteers and peer mentors and develop new skills.
The Leeds DIP (Drug Intervention Programme) run by Northern social inclusion charity DISC (Developing Initiatives Supporting Communities) is the first DIP programme in the UK to achieve a National Standard for Mentoring and Befriending from the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation.
The accredited award recognises the way in which the Leeds DIP volunteering scheme benefits everyone. Volunteers and peer mentors gain confidence, accredited training and work experience, staff gain supervisory skills and new perspectives, and service users gain extra support from people who act as positive role models and show that it is possible to turn their lives round.
The initiative was praised for its clear structures, which range from screening, preparation, training and guidance, to matching, ongoing support and evaluation.
Well-supervised volunteers help staff with a variety of activities, including creative and sporting group events and one to one buddying. They also deliver training and workshops, and help with and any other work, including support with aftercare to those finishing their drug treatment programmes.
Peer mentors are given support by staff to develop close relationships with mentees – the service users they mentor – and inspire and enable them to achieve short and long term goals.
Some activities take place in a dedicated service-user centre, where staff and service users can work and socialise in a relaxed and supportive environment. Others take place in mainstream facilities in the community like a city-centre gym, and in the countryside.
Jimmy, a former drug user who developed into a peer mentor and then a fully-fledged volunteer, and was sponsored to visit a drug and alcohol community in Finland in July 2007, is a volunteer success story. There is a full case study below. (Jimmy is not his real name.) His progress is a testament to his talent and commitment, and DISC’s ethos of giving people a chance whatever their circumstances.
Leeds DIP also provides accredited volunteering opportunities for members of the public who are interested in giving something to the community and developing positive relationships with a stigmatised group of people.
Peter, a retired police officer, is one example. After completing his training and supervision sessions he flagged up his interest in orienteering, and now helps drugs workers run a weekly walking group in the Yorkshire countryside. (Peter is not his real name.)
Carl Hairyes, a trained chef, is another example. He delivers healthy eating sessions, is organising a Ready Steady Cook event and hopes to develop a career in the substance misuse field in the future.
Leeds DIP manager Vicki Fryer said: “We don’t just process service users through the system. We are committed to providing pathways to enable them to move towards employment. Peer mentoring and volunteering opportunities help them to help others and develop valuable skills like listening and supporting. Service users who become peer mentors and volunteers really do add an extra dimension to our service. They allay new service users’ fears, break down barriers, and help keep them in treatment and out of crime.”
DISC executive director Mark Weeding said: “Many service users don’t have a chance to put something back. The idea that they can move from being a recipient to being a peer mentor who helps someone else is an important step which raises their self-esteem. Volunteering also breaks down the barriers between the general public and service users, and members of the public who become volunteers bring a wealth of experience.”
For further information contact DISC’s Leeds DIP manager Vicki Fryer in Leeds on 0113 245 6464.
Background Information
- Leeds DIP is a multi-agency project which works with Class A drug-using offenders, moving them out of crime and into treatment. It also offers a wraparound aftercare service to help clients tackle other issues in their lives like housing, debt, relationships and employment, and achieve long term recovery and a stable lifestyle.
- DISC is an independent charity working across the North East, Yorkshire and Lancashire to combat deprivation and promote social inclusion. DISC’s work is structured into 4 main areas: employment and training including basic skills; problematic substance abuse; independent living and housing support; and vulnerable children, young people and families. DISC started in 1984 and is still true to its original vision that everyone deserves a chance to fulfill their potential regardless of their circumstance. Three other DISC projects have also won mentoring and befriending quality marks. For further information visit www.disc-vol.org.uk
- The Befriending and Mentoring Foundation promotes best practice in organisations where volunteers work one to one with people who are undergoing change and in need of support. For further information visit www.mandbf.org.uk
Jimmy (not his real name) is a Leeds DIP volunteer who has put 20 years of drug use and two prison sentences behind him, and is now doing voluntary work and studying counselling at university ‘in order to put something back.’
Coming in contact with DISC in January 2005 was a major turning point in his life. Although he had become abstinent from drugs and committed to changing his life while in prison during 2003-2004, he found it difficult to move into new social circles and pursue new interests once he was released. He also found his criminal record put employers off taking him on, and realised that he risked relapsing.
His probation officer put him in contact with DISC’s Progress to Work scheme at Leeds DIP, where for the first time he felt that he could talk and explore training and employment opportunities without being judged or told what to do. He decided to focus on counselling and to work towards a degree.
“I chose counselling because it wasn’t available when I needed someone to listen to me.” He also started volunteering at Leeds DIP as a peer mentor and then a full volunteer in order to build up his confidence and develop new skills and friendships.
“I really like the fact that there is no ‘them and us’ at DISC. If it hadn’t been like that I wouldn’t have made so much progress. I never ever engaged with the probation service in the same way. I did what I was told and said what they wanted to hear but it didn’t do any good because I wasn’t getting the sort of help I needed,” he said.
Jimmy is now working with four Leeds DIP service users, including one with whom he meets up with and attends the gym with at weekends. He wants to help him make productive use of his time, overcome loneliness and set off on the path towards peer mentoring and eventually fully-fledged volunteering.
Jimmy’s role at Leeds DIP has led him into voluntary counselling work with recovering drug users in prison and bail hostels for two other organisations.
“I know how frightening it can be to access services. People don’t have the confidence to go and keep putting it off. But if there someone is there who knows what they are going through it is easier,” he said.
In July 2007 he decided to further his personal and professional development by applying to visit an alcohol and drugs community in Finland. DISC part-funded the trip. He was impressed by the way drug and alcohol abuse was treated as a medical rather than a criminal issue, and by the freedom clients were given to make their own choices, and has given presentations on his experiences to DISC staff and volunteers.
“If I had spoken to people with my DISC project workers’ attitudes earlier on in life, perhaps things would have worked out differently, and I would not have done so much harm to myself and other people,” he said.
Updated 19/12/07