"Service provided during pandemic"

My son who’s 23 has made several suicide attempts in 2020,  been sectioned twice, been diagnosed with psychosis and has a substance addiction.

We came to CGL with hopes.

During pandemic all drug workers only work 9-5, and all on zoom/phone.

Private drug counsellors have been seeing clients face to face day and evening since the summer in Manchester. It is a travesty that CGL haven't provided face to face contact for recovering addicts. I know you are following 'guidelines' but other organisations work creatively to find solutions. Over the summer face to face sessions could have been held outside for one to one and even small groups of allocated recovering addicts.  The shared experience is powerful- zoom isn't enough. Someone from the Early intervention for psychosis in Manchester told me that their guidelines recommended no face to face but what they found was that their clients ended up in hospital... so they started doing appointments face to face in socially distanced ways to help their very vulnerable clients. The clients that use CGL are equally at risk of overdoes, suicide, harm to self and others. Providing zoom or phone calls is NOT enough, particularly for first time users of the CGL service. People need human interaction, vulnerable individuals need to know someone cares about them. Personally I feel CGL has massively let down their client group and could have done so much more.

People, humans and especially vulnerable individuals need human interaction to know some one cares and to recover.