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Working with young people: A profile of projects funded by the Partnership Drugs Initiative
Angus: Web Project
The project is directed at young people who are at risk of, or have become involved in drug misuse and aims to provide and help achieve a "plan for change" tailored to each individual's needs. For one individual this might involve harm reduction and for another this may mean becoming completely drug free. Particular attention is given to tackling client's low self-esteem and providing advice and information for both parents and children.
February 2002
The project employs two full time workers and one half time worker together with a separately funded trainee drugs support worker. The three project workers are all trained and experienced in social work and/or community education.
The project covers the entire Angus area.
The project provides counselling in a location near the client's home, including schools, social work offices and community flats. It also provides services to people at Rossie School, a secure unit for children and young people.
The project focuses on pre-teenage children who are at high risk of becoming involved in substance misuse and young people who are developing or have developed problems with drug misuse.
As of 31 July 2003, 46 people had been referred to the service since its inception.
The age breakdown is illustrated in Figure 15 below:-
Figure 15
The gender profile is as follows:-
All were from a white background. Twenty-one cases had been closed by 31 July after an average intervention period of just over 7 months.
A programme (Plan for Change) of graded objectives for the young person to achieve is identified and negotiated using the EuroADAD assessment tool. The agreed objectives may include harm reduction rather than becoming drug free, though project workers may challenge clients' views of the problems that they need to address.
The project provides one to one cognitive behavioural counselling for each client, paying particular attention to tackling low self-esteem. Meetings normally take place every week but may become more frequent if necessary and less frequent as a client's involvement with the project is coming to an end. It is anticipated that any one client will be in contact with the project for at least six months. The project also provides educational activities for both parents and children and supplies advice and information on an individual or group basis.
Referral to the project comes from a variety of sources, however the social work department refers the majority of cases. The pattern of referrals is shown in Figure 16.
Figure 16
(LMARTS = Local Multi Agency Resource Teams are local panels of statutory and voluntary organisations that help to co-ordinate the provision of services to vulnerable people aged 11-16.)
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