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Inclusion offered me a lifeline in my bleakest time

Posted By bravorw97

"Inclusion offered me a lifeline in my bleakest time"

About: Inclusion Recovery Hampshire

(as a service user),

When I first used Inclusion I was drinking very heavily & smoking lots of weed. My life was (& had been for a long time) stuck in a rut & I could see no way out, I'd come out of a long term relationship, was back living at mum's and feel like a failure. 

I started out doing recovery workshops & through these & fantastic support through my recovery worker I gradually built up to a point where I stopped drinking - however as far as I was concerned I never intended stopping smoking weed as I couldn't see it was doing me any harm.

I then also started volunteering for Inclusion & gained  the support of a fantastic volunteer coordinator, I did lots of amazing training in many different areas which built my confidence - I loved volunteering & all it brought me & the chance to help clients & give something back.

My volunteer coordinator organised & helped in respect of transport issues I faced as I then lived in a remote village with very limited public transport. 

I was also hugely encouraged by a staff member who ran groups to see how 'stuck' I was in my current living / life situation & to make a move to somewhere with more life & recovery opportunities - this led me to relocating around 3 months ago, stop smoking weed, embrace life & recovery & I cannot describe how great this has been. I also had counselling during my last 3 months at Inclusion which was invaluable in helping me with the transition to where I live now & to being substance free.

Inclusion offered me a lifeline in my bleakest time, helped build me up & to see the possibilities & opportunities outside of my comfort zone & readied me for the next exciting stage of my life & recovery .

I feel it is a shame that there is not more available to Ringwood/Fordingbridge based clients - when I first joined there were things 5 days a week...

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Responses

Response from Gary Hutchings, Service Manager, Isle of Wight, Inclusion 5 years ago
Gary Hutchings
Service Manager, Isle of Wight,
Inclusion

Submitted on 11/10/2018 at 15:58
Published on Care Opinion on 12/10/2018 at 12:26

picture of Gary Hutchings

Thank you so much for your feedback bravorw97. It's sounds as if you have had a really positive experience with the New Forest Inclusion team and have used the opportunity to aim towards recovery to the full.

I am particularly encouraged to hear that you are taking the time to inspire others via our Volunteer Programme across Hampshire as visible recovery in our services is contagious and beyond this our volunteer training programme has given over 50 previous service users the opportunity to develop their skills in support/recovery working and achieve paid employment with us and our partner organisations. As you have mentioned we will remove barriers wherever we can to enable people to take part and share their experiences.

In terms of our Ringwood services you are right in saying things have changed in the past year or so. As we have set resources for the New Forest recovery service provision we are always reviewing the way we deliver the services to meet the need the best we can in each area. We no longer have a full time base in Ringwood and we offer a service on a 'satellite clinic' basis on a Wednesday afternoon and all day on a Thursday. We have recently moved to Ringwood Health Clinic which is a wonderful environment and this has enabled us to expand our treatment offer. We are about to schedule yoga sessions during the week for our service users and have set up a recovery through nature group programme in the New Forest.

The reason we do not have a full time base in Ringwood is that we also cover Totton and New Milton hubs and we need to set out the resources and clinical/recovery workers to the places they are needed. There are three times more service users in Totton than Ringwood and twice as many in New Milton, so naturally we have expanded the opening times across those two venues. We do of course review this regularly and if the need changes or the resources increase in the future we will adapt again. If you have any further ideas on how we could better provide the service to Ringwood and other areas then please send me an e-mail on gary.hutchings@mpft.nhs.uk or give the service a ring on 0300 124 0103 option 6 and speak to one of the team. You can also speak with your volunteer co-ordinator to find out when our next Service User forum is taking place so we can listen to your ideas.

Thanks again for your feedback.

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