The Round Hill Society

Richmond House Pavilions Open Day

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Update:

The Brighton and Hove Recovery Service is still at Richmond House Richmond Road Brighton BN2 3RL, but it is now run by
Change Grow Live Tel: (01273) 731900.

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Pavilions Partnership  began delivering a new integrated service from 1st April 2015 following a bid process decided by Brighton & Hove Health & Well Being Board made up of  (i) their local clinical commissioning group and (ii) Brighton and Hove City Council.

The partnership was led by Cranstouns (a Surrey-based charity) also includes Oasis Project, Surrey and Borders NHS Trust, Equinox and YMCA Downslink

The members of Pavilions Partnership

• Cranstouns's vision is to beat alcohol and drug addiction; they work with both men and women.
• Brighton Oasis Project is aimed solely at women affected by substance and alcohol misuse, and has its own Facebook site.
• Surrey and Borders NHS Trust provides health and social care services for people of all ages with mental ill-health and learning disabilities in Surrey & North East Hampshire and drug & alcohol services in Surrey, Hounslow and Brighton.
• Equinox exists to provide support, care and recovery to people who are challenged by exclusion, marginalisation and a range of needs for special assistance such as mental health problems and substance misuse. Their own service users have coined the term “forgotten people” to describe the section of the population that they are providing support to. Support is given to thousands, each year, including a growing number of rough sleepers.
• YMCA Downslink is a registered charity, working across Sussex and Surrey, focusing on the needs of young people who find themselves on the fringes of society and need support. Their work covers accommodation, general advice, sexual exploitation, mental health, housing advice, young offenders, youth clubs, childcare, counselling, mentoring, alternative education and apprenticeship. 

Some of what Pavilions Partnership do

Team members who gave short presentations included:

1. Nicky - a nurse responsible for mindfulness sessions. She runs a very popular meditation drop-in every Monday at 12.15pm. She provided a short session on the open day allowing us to sample what she does.

2. Chris - responsible for (i) safeguarding, risk assessment and (ii) the training of volunteers of which there are 60 (20% previous service users and 80% others)

3. Leona - a social worker representing MASH which focuses on the safeguarding of children

4. Anne Marie -   clinical team leader whose duties include responsibility for safe storage of substitutes for opiates. St John’s Ambulance give training in the use of Prenoxad to stop people dying by reversing the effects of opiate overdose.

5. Alison - families’ & carers’ team FACS for people of 18 and above. The work includes

• Advice, Support & Information, on a range of issues
• Referrals to other services which can help both families, friends, carers and the substance misuser
• Support Groups for families, friends and carers of substance misusers
• Outreach Support through home visits
• Training for families, friends and carers around basic drug & alcohol awareness
• One-to-one support in a safe environment
• One-to-one Counselling for families, friends & carers
• Relationship Counselling.

There is a separate service for under-18s called "ru-ok?"

6. Matt - skills & life aspirations. Helps service users to recover their quality of life.

7. Tony - a volunteer and previous service user who now helps others to recover their life skills  

8. Scott - Equinox, including street outreach: getting to people in places like New Road and The Level as well as getting people from the city’s hostels into recovery.

9. Christine - focuses on antisocial behaviour arising from a mix of factors which may include homelessness, mental health issues as well as substance abuse. Part of her job is liaising with the community by attending the meetings of LATS and residents’ associations.

10. Pete - team leader for Pavilions involved in recovery plans and getting people into recovery in the first place. A lot of self-medication with alcohol (perhaps ordered from a supermarket delivery service) takes place behind closed doors where drinkers can sometimes be very isolated from the community. There is a fear-factor to overcome before they will seek help from Pavilions. Often drinkers will be from skilled backgrounds (former teachers, solicitors, etc). While moral support is needed, the important step is for service users to take ownership of their recovery.

11. Mike - service manager.

June 2016 Open Day at Richmond House

Pavilions Partnership opened their drug and alcohol recovery centre at Richmond House to the public  between 4pm and 7pm on Wednesday 15th June 2016.

The event was well supported. Participants included staff, peer mentors, volunteers, residents from Round Hill & further afield, as well as our city's Mayor.

Unfortunately, I did not stay for the last hour - the crucially important part of the meeting. This included several Recovery Shares - addresses by six people who agreed to describe their experience of Pavilions and what they have managed to achieve in their recoveries.

The event was rounded off perfectly by the Cascade Creative Recovery Choir singing "Stand By Me". Cascade Creative Recovery is a new, not-for-profit community centre and cafe open Tuesday to Saturday 10am – 8pm and Sunday 11am – 6pm based at 24 Baker Street, BN1 4JN.

The Round Hill Society aims to:

1. support Pavilions Partnership in their work, &
2. support any efforts to make our conservation area look more attractive.

Click here for illustrated report on last joint gardening session.