Hi Richard,
you are right it is going to be hard for him, but I have a strong belief that this is the right time for him,
and as long as there is hope and desire there is a chance.
All people want is to be given a chance, but sometimes we need a couple of them.
I know I certainly needed a good few over a lot of years before I came out the other side.
Calum
>>> Richard Phillips <[log in to unmask]> 07/01/2009 13:34 >>>
Hi Calum
Going from 100 to 50 is no fun, and if the client doesn't have good housing
and support this might be hard to achieved before admission - if you can get
funding, doing the detox (or get down to 50mls) prior to admission sounds
wise. Sheffield is a great service, so if you can get him to the door lets
hope he finds his path from there.
Regards
Richard
----------------------------
Richard Phillips
----------------------------
2009/1/7 Calum Blair <[log in to unmask]>
> I currently have someone who is going to Sheffield to be assessed, they are
> currently on 100mg of methadone and they need to reduce that to 50mg before
> they can enter the community.
> The detox will then last for around 3 weeks.
> The problem is that this person has tried a numerous home detoxs but has
> had no joy because he is in homeless accommodation
> with other drug users. So he is worried that he is never going to get into
> rehab, some would say that he cant be motivated, but when you have failed so
> many times and have neg self efficacy it is easy to look as if you are not
> totally motivated and committed to getting drug free.
> But I believe that it should always be the person who should decide what
> they want, and if they want to go to rehab then why not, if it does not work
> they will have learned a lot that will help for the next time.
> What he now wants is to go to Red Towers to detox then go down to
> Sheffield.
> As i said he has tried self detox numerous times including stopping his
> Methadone outright, but he has never managed to stay drug free for very long
> before returning to Heroin as he is staying in homeless accommodation and
> there is always someone there in the wee small hours that offer freebies.
> Calum
>
>
>
> >>> Rowdy Yates <[log in to unmask]> 07/01/2009 12:24 >>>
> Wendy
>
> As you know, I think there are some real positives for your idea.
> Certainly, I feel the voluntary sector in general (at least in the UK) has
> lost touch with it's old skills-base in this respect. Certainly, when I was
> working at Lifeline in the 1970s we developed a real ability to do
> home-based detoxs (effectively and with low levels of discomfort) because
> that's all there was! By and large the medical profession didn't want to
> know and if they did, they stuck folk on some godawful general psychiatric
> ward (usually excusing the appalling conditions as a "test of motivation"!!)
> and detoxified people with librium.
>
> The early Synanon was characterised by the fact that people could come in
> off the street and detox in the lobby of the hotel in which the TC was
> based. I've said before on this list, my view is that this had a positive
> impact on the dynamic of the community. When you started to get pull-ups,
> as often as not, the people doing the pulling up were the same community
> members who soothed your troubled brow and mopped up your sick when you
> first arrived.
>
> My view is that the medical profession has consistently demonised
> home-based non-medical detoxification in their inexorable drive to
> medicalise the whole of addiction. The tendency of most doctors (apologies
> to all the doctors on this list - but you know it's the truth!!) to revert
> to the security blanket of the disease model of addiction is profoundly
> depressing. It's as if the work of Zinberg, Engel, Kantzian, Schaz and all
> the other addiction theorists of the past four decades had never existed!!
>
> But maybe this is just the pining of an old man for those far-off good old
> days when drug workers were able to work out whether someone was stoned (and
> on what) without having to wait for the results of an observed urine test
> (shudder!!).
>
> One other thing though. You say:
>
> "indeed policy will not allow them to enter into a residential TC treatment
> until successful completion of a detox"
>
> Whose policy is this? It sounds completely daft to me. It should be up to
> the TC itself to decide the most appropriate entry conditions/regulations.
> Certainly, Phoenix Sheffield have for some time accepted clients on
> reducing doses of methadone - I'm not sure of the exact amounts/timescales
> and unfortunately, I don't think anyone from Phoenix Sheffield is on the
> list - and my impression was that it had been an extraordinarily uneventful
> development for them. Certainly when I was there about 18 months ago, it
> wasn't really possible to work out who the detoxing residents were (though I
> suppose other residents would be more critically aware.
>
>
> Rowdy Yates
> Senior Research Fellow
> Scottish Addiction Studies
> Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology Section
> Department of Applied Social Science
> University of Stirling
>
> E: [log in to unmask]<BLOCKED::mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>
> W: http://www.dass.stir.ac.uk/sections/showsection.php?id=4 (home)
> http://www.drugslibrary.stir.ac.uk<
> http://www.drugslibrary.stir.ac.uk/> (library)
>
> T: +44(0)1786 - 467737
> M: 07894- 864897
>
> ________________________________
> From: Therapeutic Communities [mailto:
> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Wendy Dawson
> Sent: 07 January 2009 11:31
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [EFTC] Methadone residents study
>
> Hi
>
> This is disturbing news!
>
> Particularly as I am keen to challenge NTA guidelines by developing a detox
> unit without prescribed medication here at the Ley. We have 15 people
> waiting to come into the Ley but their funders and indeed policy will not
> allow them to enter into a residential TC treatment until successful
> completion of a detox. However with increasing demand and waiting time for
> detox these people may possibly be dead, change their mind or decide to be
> maintained for the rest of their lives on a script - where is the client
> choice in all of this?
>
> Best wishes
>
> Wendy
>
>
>
> Wendy Dawson
> Chief Executive
>
> The Ley Community
> Sandy Croft, Sandy Lane
> Yarnton
> Oxford
> OX5 1PB
>
> Tel: +44 (0) 1865 378600
> Fax: +44 (0) 1865 842238
>
> Email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
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> Company No. 3736193
>
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> ________________________________
> From: Therapeutic Communities [mailto:
> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Anthony Slater
> Sent: 07 January 2009 11:20
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [EFTC] Methadone residents study
>
> Hi,
>
> This study is now being promoted in Norway via various news groups.
>
> In some ways this will be, I think, unfortunate for drug free addiction
> tc's, as we have already been under a great deal of pressure to take people
> on methadone in to treatment, in drug free recovery tc's.
> A real dilemma is that the medical authorities / advisors strongly also
> recommend that individuals stay on it for life.
>
> More to come on this topic no doubt...............................
>
> Best wishes,
> As ever
>
>
>
> Anthony Slater,
> Director - Phoenix House Haga,
> President, E.F.T.C.
> Folkenborgveien 198,
> 1850 Mysen, Norway.
> tlf. +47 69 89 82 50 / fax. + 47 69 89 82 51.
> E-post: [log in to unmask]<mailto:
> [log in to unmask]>
> www.phoenixhouse.no<http://www.phoenixhouse.no>
> www.eftc-europe.com<http://www.eftc-europe.com>
>
> http://www.tc-of.org.uk/wiki/index.php/RadioTC_International_Norsk
>
>
>
>
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