OUT Volunteer Project
OUT has been running with active help from volunteers for nearly 4 years. We 1st chose to take on volunteers after we had a number of ex users or those trying to reduce their drug use contacting OUT who wanted meaningful activities that enabled them to gain work experience to take onto full time work or full time education, and because we were so inundated with work, we needed more people like ourselves that could help carry out our core activities.
No other services would take these people on as they had only been clean or reducing their drug use recently and most services were sticking to the “2 year rule”, which, by the way, has never been a rule or policy, it was 1st used by Drugscope many years ago, then every service adopted this policy. A publication called ‘Enhancing Drug Services’ that was co written by the NTA, the Alliance and Drugscope In 2003-2004, clearly states that no person should be excluded from work because of current prescribing, or a history of drug use and appointments should be made on merit and ability to carry out the role required, not based on how long a person has been clean etc.
The way we see it, through our experiences, is that most people who stop using drugs need meaningful activities to carry out to reduce the boredom level that comes with being unemployed and surrounded by people you have to cut out of your life for obvious reasons, which, is proven to reduce relapse. Many of those people want to get employment in the drugs field but can’t for a long time as they have not been clean long enough. OUT has found that this leads to them taking on employment in factories etc as the only form of work open to them with no qualifications or work history. This type of work gives quite a big wage check at the end of the month, most of these people have never had this amount of legitimate finances, so, many of these people relapse, they are unhappy with their work, but, cannot sit around all day as this also leads to relapse, so, they try to do the right thing, but, end up worse off and with habits again.
Again, through experience and work carried out, OUT has proved that, if these people had a place to go where they could use up their creative energies, somewhere that was staffed by others going through the same as them, they would be able to be safe, gain experience in the field they want to work in, go on training courses and conferences etc, this would be an opportunity they would relish and grab with both hands which most of our old and current volunteers have done so.
A recent aftercare review was carried out by Oxfordshire DAAT, OUT’s volunteer scheme was included in this review. The results of the review clearly showed that OUT gave it’s old and current volunteers a good service, prevented relapse, helped with a reduction in drug use and criminal activity along with building self esteem and self confidence. OUT’s volunteer scheme has always been under funded, until April 2006, we funded this project by the OUT service Manager going out across the UK speaking about user involvement at conferences, stakeholder days and other forums to produce revenue to spend on volunteer bus fares, training, lunches and general finances needed to allow this project to continue. In April 06, OUT received a small amount of cash to help towards volunteer training, lunches and travel, but, there is still not enough funding to carry this project on fully this year or beyond. OUT will continue to raise funds any which way we can, one of our plans is to take part in the ‘3 Peaks Challenge’ which will see OUT staff, volunteers and local DIP team staff climbing the 3 highest peaks in Wales, Scotland and England to raise some cash for this project. We also plan to submit bids to certain charitable trusts to try to expand this service to produce revenue to fund this project for the next few years.
OUT would not be OUT without our team of volunteers who are always up for anything we throw their way from admin to talking for the 1st time at conferences, local meetings and forums and they enjoy every minute of it. This section of our website is devoted to them and set up by them and this whole website is built by one of them, Steve Thomas. OUT would like to thank it’s team of volunteers, past and present, for all their hard work, enthusiasm and for taking this opportunity and grabbing it with both hands, everyone knows that opportunities come along very rarely in life and we encourage all our volunteers to make the most of them when they do arise. Thanks guys, you are fantastic and we value your time, commitment and experience that help OUT and you as individuals to grow.
How does the OUT Volunteer Project work?
The volunteer project is run by OUT’s Project Support Worker, Tom Reeve. Tom takes referrals from all over the treatment system here in Oxford. The volunteers have a vast amount of experience of drug use and come from many different backgrounds. First thing the volunteers do is fill out a training needs analysis for general skills such as computing, public speaking, group work etc. Once Tom has a group of 5-6 volunteers, they begin their training stage of the programme. As OUT are involved in so many projects and has many arms to the organisation, they receive training on many subjects, some of those are:
Once the training period is over, the volunteers begin to take part in OUT activities, these activities enable them to learn a lot of new skills and gain experience in many different forms, such as:
These volunteers will also use the results of their training needs analysis to locate training outside of OUT that will help them gain skills. Mostly, these skills are computer skills and other general skills needed for the workplace. These courses are paid for by OUT and we encourage our volunteers to take part in as much or as little activities as possible, ensuring that the fine line between busy and overloaded is not crossed. Although in the main, OUT volunteers are always asking ‘what more is there for me to get involved in?’
Many of our volunteers like to have their ‘own’ projects to work on which they can own and feel like they have something to show for their time and effort.
Cash payments for ‘user involvement’ has always been a hot topic among the drug treatment sector staff, some have strong views on tokens as a form of payment, some believe users should not be paid at all for their time and effort. At OUT we believe that offering a person cash to come and volunteer every day does not produce a very cohesive team. So, this is how we operate:
Volunteers will be paid if they carry out facilitation of a peer education workshop, these will be divided up between the team, or if they take part in the occasional research project that comes our way, they will give interviews etc and receive payment for these. What we give in return is that a volunteer will never be out of pocket, ever, should always have their travel and expenses paid, up front, and will be given opportunities to make a fresh start with their lives and receive free in and out house training on all subjects to ensure they are ready to go for a paid job as soon as possible, bearing in mind some volunteers have severe housing issues, preventing them from moving into education or work, this is a big hurdle OUT faces with it’s volunteers.
OUT is proud of it’s volunteers commitment to OUT taking into account the non payment for everyday activities issue. We are also proud that other government, voluntary and statutory services/agencies have adopted OUT’s payment policy.
Once a volunteer has been with us for a while and are ready to move onto paid work or employment, we encourage them to put in as many applications as possible, even if they do not get short listed or gain the position, it is all good practice and experience. OUT believes that if it was not for poor housing situations, more of our volunteers would have moved on quicker to paid employment or full time education. The reason this issues hinders them is: If a person has been lucky enough to move into supported housing, they pay rent out of their benefits and supporting people pay a large sum to the housing provider for ‘support costs’, many of the residents do not need this high level of support and many of them report the level of support as being very low and of low standard, but, if they were to find work and come off benefits, they would have to pay the full rent and full support costs, whish would be far higher than the amount of money they would earn, the chances of moving onto a property where support costs are not paid, such as Council or Housing Association are slim to nil. OUT has seen this happen over and over again, where an ex user has moved on to full time or part time work and been saddled with support costs leaving them with 20-30 a week left to live on, making them less well off than on benefits. I applaud these people for showing the commitment to change and living in this situation, we find it deplorable that these people are living in this way and this is a big factor we have to consider when encouraging volunteers to look for work. All our present volunteers face this issue.
So, OUT volunteers are integral to OUT and its activities and we are very grateful for their time, effort and experience. They are ‘experts by experience’ and should be treated as such; they help on a daily basis to ensure that the treatment system in Oxfordshire runs smoothly and it is thanks to them and their peer networks that OUT can highlight bad treatment experiences and get them addressed as soon as possible, ensuring that the treatment system in Oxfordshire is the best it can be.
The volunteers have put together some information below this text that you may find inspirational, funny and it may give you an insight into how our volunteers experiences shape OUT and will stand them in good stead for full time work in the drugs field.
Thank you all guys, you are class!!!!
Links to other services
Website produced by Steve Thomas
Contact details- aspidistra52@yahoo.co.uk
Mobile - 07981393144