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Care Opinion

My alcoholism and other mental problems

Posted By potgam

"My alcoholism and other mental problems"

About: Inclusion Isle of Wight

(as a service user),

You asked me about my opinion of the service so I will be candid.

The service has helped me great deal with my alcohol problem and other mental problems. However, I feel that things could be better at the beginning.

It doesn't appear very professional to the new-comer and maybe people will leave straight away because of this.

For the first six months (yes, six months) I felt lost and was not getting anywhere, and get the impression that others feel the same way.

I did not know what services are available to me and how to use those that I was aware of.

It might be wise to have a introductory handbook which outlines what the place is about and what to expect from the service so people are not confused; people like myself with no friends or family would value this.

The handbook could outline who is who, what a key worker is for example (it took me months to understand). Why things are done like they are; what internal services are available, ACTS, RITS etc, what they are and how to approach them.

What services are available externally, VOS, rehab, detox etc and how to find out if the person may need them.

I believe that such a booklet would be invaluable to a person just starting out as it would help form a framework and give insight into what's available.

I would be happy to liaise in creating this if you like.

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Responses

Response from Tony Burkitt, Volunteer coordinator, Isle of Wight community hub, Inclusion 3 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Tony Burkitt
Volunteer coordinator, Isle of Wight community hub,
Inclusion

All things volunteering and service user involvement!

Submitted on 09/03/2021 at 15:50
Published on Care Opinion at 16:17

picture of Tony Burkitt

Dear potgam

I would like to start by thanking you for taking the time to give us feedback about our service. This is really constructive and has helped us to identify something we were unaware of. This is one of the many benefits of our ever important Care Opinion facility.

We have absorbed your feedback and have discussed this with our service user representatives, who are the voice of our service users on a local, regional, and national level. They regularly attend meetings to discuss our services and elevate issues such as this, giving voice to our service users here on the Isle of Wight, and beyond.

They have been involved in many projects which have resulted in changes, moulding the service here on the island to best serve the needs of you, our service users. They also hold a weekly ‘Feedback Friday’ group where people can let us know how their treatment is going and raise any relevant issues. I believe that you are now attending this meeting and are involved with making your feedback and constructive ideas a reality, which will benefit many others across our services. Thank you.

We not only appreciate your feedback but also appreciate your continued support in making change happen, and highlighting things which we may have missed.

We look forward to seeing how this develops and indeed look forward to the end results.

Thanks again for your input, continued support, and we wish you good luck with your continued recovery journey.

The service is what it is because of those, like you, who care.

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Response from Tony Burkitt, Volunteer coordinator, Isle of Wight community hub, Inclusion 2 years ago
We have made a change
Tony Burkitt
Volunteer coordinator, Isle of Wight community hub,
Inclusion

All things volunteering and service user involvement!

Submitted on 22/07/2021 at 11:44
Published on Care Opinion at 13:56

picture of Tony Burkitt

Following on from potgams Care Opinion post, potgam has supported our service user representatives in feeding back in more detail what he felt would benefit others by being in a leaflet that people could access when attending our Hubs.

He has worked with our service user representatives from across the country and also management in a number of meetings where this has been discussed ensuring we get it right with the right content. We are now at the stage where we have an almost completed welcome to inclusion leaflet which will be printed out and distributed to our community services in the near future.

I would like to thank you potgam for taking the time to leave us this feedback as it really is going to make a difference to others who will be accessing our services in the future. I'm also aware that you are currently on the service user representative training that we are delivering with the plan of joining our passionate service user reps and representing our service users on a local, regional and national level.

Many thanks.

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