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Effective Interventions Unit Moving On: Update Employability And Employment For Recovering Drug Users

Chapter 2: Employability and the individual

In the first Moving On review, we identified the main motivations of service users for joining an employment-focused project. Our further consultations and more recent evidence (EIU 2002) confirm that employment-related activity and the goal of employment are important elements in the recovery of drug users. The main motivation is to make a break - from drug dependency and the drug 'culture', from offending, from reliance on benefits - and to achieve participation in "normal" life. Getting a job is a major aspiration for many recovering drug users because it is seen as an important milestone in the recovery process.

Aspirations and expectations

There may be a difference between aspirations and expectations. While a job is the ultimate goal, many drug users do not feel ready for work, or at least for a full time job in the open market, without education, training or support (EIU 2001, Klee et al 2002). Even if clients have completed a treatment programme, they may still have problems with housing, social or family circumstances, the criminal justice system or health. Perhaps most crucially, low levels of confidence and self-esteem may cause fears about their ability to cope with new situations and additional demands.

Expectations of the kinds of jobs that might be attainable may also be limited to lower level jobs. Participants in focus groups felt that they were likely to have to enter the labour market at a relatively low level in areas such as cleaning, retail and manual labour (EIU 2001). Klee et al (2002) found that fear of relapse often affected the motivation and expectations of success of recovering drug users. When clients on the Education, Training and Employment (ETE) programme in North West England were asked what job they think they would do eventually: approximately one third named work of a skilled manual nature; a quarter said counselling; and nearly one-fifth each said skilled non-manual or unskilled.

A growing number of recovering drug users want to enter employment in the area of social care or drug counselling. This would enable them to draw on their experiences to help others. Klee et al (2002) found that amongst the participants in their research a common view was that counselling is best delivered by those with direct experience of it and an appreciation of the benefits. While there have been concerns in the past about the feasibility of this kind of career aspiration (linked to motivation or risk of relapse), there now seems to be some acceptance that, with the right support, it is achievable. One example is the setting up of the G6 (Glasgow Street Intervention Group) by the Scottish Drugs Forum to offer stable recovering drug users the opportunity to do voluntary work that includes ascertaining views of service users, doing peer research and presenting this information to a range of organisations.

There are some key aspects to discuss with the client if their goal is to move to this kind of work. There is likely to be a requirement that the individual is drug-free or stable. There will also be a period of education and training. Key aspects to consider include:

• the need to 'manage' the expectations of ex-drug users who want to 'put something back' to the system

• the benefits of volunteering, especially when linked to the pursuit of recognised qualifications, as a valid route of progression

• additional support that may be required by ex-drug users during initial training, volunteering and subsequent employment

• the need to have a very clear understanding of what constitutes 'drug free' or 'stable' (i.e. length of time off drugs, on methadone or other substitute prescribing) that is shared by all the relevant agencies

• awareness of the possible risks involved to ex-users

Design of programmes

For those planning and delivering services designed to help individuals to improve their employability, it will be essential to engage with the client about their aspirations and expectations. The evidence suggests that most clients will have little or no awareness of labour market opportunities (EIU 2001, Klee et al 2002). Indeed, many of them will not have worked for a number of years or perhaps never. However, a number will have skills relevant to employment either through activity in the 'informal' economy or through the 'entrepreneurial' lifestyle of a drug user (Klee et al 2002).

There are likely to be a number of transitions along the pathway to employability and to employment. The move from more treatment focused services to employability programmes or indeed to more 'mainstream' education or training is an important and difficult transition. It matters to the individual that at an appropriate point they move away from the 'drug' label. It is very often at that stage that service users want to be known as 'students' or 'trainees' rather than recovering drug users. They do not want programmes or training courses to be 'badged' as drug services.

From our consultation and review of the evidence we have identified a number of key

elements of an employability programme that matter to drug users:

• there should be choice available about the types of programmes, their content and focus

• there should be clear and meaningful objectives shared by client and provider

• structure is important but must be balanced by flexibility to allow for individual's circumstances e.g. dealing with housing or benefits problems, crises of confidence and daily methadone consumption.

• staff should be knowledgeable, skilled and supportive. They should be aware of drugs issues and be sensitive to possible problems. They should also know about the local labour market conditions

• there should be a focus on strengths, skills and interests rather than barriers. There should also be an expectation, bolstered by support, that the participants can succeed.

Job-readiness is an important issue for the individual as well as the service providers. As described in Chapter 1, there are a number of options prior to entering full-time employment e.g. supported employment, Intermediate Labour Market, voluntary or part-time work. For some, one of those options may be the most appropriate outcome. Although an individual might have taken a long time going through the process of improving their employability and may seem well equipped to start a job, the step into a full-time job is a major one. If for any reason individuals cannot sustain the job, there is likely to be significant damage to their self-confidence, willingness to consider employment in the future, and in the worst case the potential for relapse.

There is a difficult balance to achieve between holding someone back and putting them forward to employment before they are ready. This reinforces the importance of a robust and continuous assessment process, conducted by skilled practitioners in collaboration with the individual. There is a Digest of Assessment Tools for use by practitioners in employability-related services produced by the Scottish Executive ('Identifying Learning & Support Needs: a digest of assessment tools,' Scottish Executive, July 2001 ISBN 0-7559-0214-9). Careers Scotland is now taking forward further work on assessment (for information: www.careers-scotland.org.uk ).

Aftercare is another important element of the process that leads to sustained employability. The lack of continuing support or aftercare was particularly highlighted by participants in the focus groups (EIU 2001). There are now examples of how that can be done emerging for the New Futures Fund projects and from new developments within Further Education colleges.

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