The Round Hill Society

Tackling Substance Abuse

from The Round Hill Reporter June 2015

- a New Use for Richmond House

Starting in September 2015 – A public meeting coming sooner

In mid-March a few residents heard that there was a new plan in the air for Richmond House. A planning application notice was attached to the building and a total of three households in Round Hill received letters from the planning department. We have to assume that this level of publicity is the legal minimum the Council is required to meet – but the fact that two of the addresses were vacant at the time of notification did not help the flow of information outwards.

Fortunately the Council and the private company which delivers this bit of our Health Service proved more forthcoming when your committee approached them for a meeting, which took place on 26th March. Cranstoun – the lead charity in the partnership – came to the meeting with written answers to a list of concerns expressed by residents. It is true to say that, prior to the meeting, many of us were strongly opposed to the idea of a drug treatment service in the middle of Round Hill. It is also true that by the end of the meeting all of us felt much better towards the concept, and optimistic that we could forge a good working relationship with Cranstoun.

In summary, the services to be offered at Richmond House will be for individuals who have chosen to try to kick their habit. This suggests that they want to re-enter normal society and will therefore be avoiding the least socially normalised section of the drug and alcohol abusing community. This should ensure minimum intoxicated behaviour. Some clients will be attending activities because a court has required it, this is the group which may behave badly. There must be a ‘return to court’ sanction for use in any such unacceptable cases.

On numbers of users and times of use Cranstoun told us that they will run small group sessions primarily between 10am and 4pm Monday to Friday, and 10 to 1pm on Saturday. It is unlikely that group sessions will extend beyond 6pm. There will be 1-to-1 sessions on 2 evenings per week up to 8.30pm for working clients. There will be set hours when the centre offers ‘open access’ to clients, but intoxicated clients will not be admitted (and it is assumed they will not approach whilst in that state). Cranstoun do not expect more than 8 to 12 clients to use the drop-in service at any one time. In addition no drugs or needles will be distributed from Richmond House. The times, numbers and other details in this paragraph are all qualified by the term ‘initially’. We hope to create a liaison group to monitor performance, and pursue issues.

Wendy Taylor of Cranstoun is planning a public meeting for residents; details should be on an enclosed leaflet. The Round Hill Society is keen to support a liaison group to monitor progress.