The Independence Initiative
Information for Referral Agencies
A Drugs Rehabilitation Partnership
Mission Statement:
‘Answering needs, assisting Change, avoiding relapse.’
The Independence Initiative works with individuals, agencies and the community to facilitate the long-term rehabilitation of people with a history of drug misuse and also provides support for their families.
It provides a personal programme, addressing individual needs, overcoming barriers to social inclusion and assisting reintegration into the community.
The independence Initiative works in partnership with other agencies by establishing agreed criteria for the referral of clients to the project.
The key characteristics of the Independence Initiative are:
• Clients can only be referred by key workers at other agencies, or by their GP.
• The project only works one to one with individuals and never with
groups.
• There is no drop-in facility. Clients are given individual appointments
and timetabled sessions.
• The project recognises that the only thing clients have in common
with each other is a history of drug misuse.
• The project is dependent on inter agency working and avoids duplication
of effort.
When a client is referred to the project an appointment will be made with one of our Client Support Workers within one week. This will lead to the negotiation of an individual action plan which is participant driven and designed to meet the short, medium and long-term goals of the client.
The in-house team provides one-to-one advice, counselling, guidance and support, playing an advocacy role on behalf of clients and helping them to gain access to the services provided by other agencies.
We believe that effective treatment, rehabilitation and relapse prevention can only be achieved through individually-tailored and holistic arrangements that encompass all aspects of health, social and personal development needs.
The project is driven by the needs of the individual and strives to achieve reintegration into the community rather than exclusion from it.
Regular two-way communication between our staff and each client’s key worker maintains a high level of trust. That ensures that if relapse does occur we can work together to support re-entry to the programme as soon as stability or abstinence is re-established.
Demand for the services of the Independence Initiative continues to grow, the number of referrals from key agencies has exceeded our profiling every year to date, leading to a doubling of active clients and staff members.
The growth has been made possible by our success in moving clients on to mainstream education, training and employment opportunities. This has, in turn attracted new funding from a variety of sources including:
• Objective 1 – European Social Fund
• Sefton and Liverpool Heath Authorities.
•Merseyside Probation Service
• Sefton Social Services
• Single Regeneration Budget from the North West Development Agency