Healthwatch Dudley In Conversation with Alternatives

In Conversation

We listen to people's experiences of health and social care. We want to encourage healthy conversations between health and social care services and the local community to see how services can work better for the people they serve.

We wanted to showcase these conversations in our new podcast, Healthwatch Dudley in Conversation. In this first episode, we sat down with Stuart Bates from the NHS Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Tina and Dave from Alternat+ves, a charity that supports people whose loved ones have substance use disorder.

A gap in services

Tina and Dave talked about the challenges they faced when trying to access mental health support for their son when he was also struggling with substance use disorder. 

They identified issues with people caught between mental health and addiction support services. They shared how they felt at a loss with where to go and their frustration that commonly co-occurring conditions, like mental health issues and substance use, were not treated together.

Support for loved ones

Dave and Tina told us how they felt there was a lack of support for loved ones of people who are struggling with substance use. They decided to fill this gap by creating Alternat+ves to support other people who need support with their loved one's substance use. 

Stuart, who works for the ICB in an involvement role, talked about how he has drawn on his own experiences of a gambling addiction and now recognises the lack of acknowledgement and support for his loved ones at the time. Stuart reflected on how he wished he was made aware of the impact of addiction on families and the support that is out there. It is these experiences which have driven his interest in this area and the conversations which have come through the People's Panel that has sparked more discussion and awareness on this important topic.

Families as a resource

Tina and Dave share some of the techniques they teach people to help support a loved one with a substance use disorder. They explore how families can be seen as a valuable resource that could help support someone with addiction and, with training and support, could encourage their loved ones to enter recovery earlier. Stuart shared how there are barriers that could prevent services from working effectively with families of adults and recognised how services could look at working creatively to overcome these barriers.

Healthy conversations

Tina, Dave and Stuart talked about how meeting at a Dudley People's Panel had sparked conversations between their services. They talk about how forming connections between the community and NHS services can provide opportunities to improve the support offered to local people.