In 2004 the Audit Commission concluded that there was an overemphasis on treating the addiction of drug users and insufficient focus on ‘providing the wider range of support needed to bring some order to drug users’ often chaotic lives’. (Audit Commission (2004) Drug Misuse 2004 – reducing the local impact). It concluded that ‘housing, social care and other services must provide users with follow on services which maintain progress made during treatment and ultimately help the individual to become employed, housed and more self sufficient. The Commission noted the high value drug users place on “follow-on help”, particularly with housing, employment, education and training and recommended that, by April 2005, all treatment service users should have a care plan that covers follow-on services.
‘Aftercare is not one simple discrete process. It should involve several important factors such as housing, support with benefits and financial management, and building relationships with families…..it should also include developing life skills and a social network which does not revolve around previous drug use ’. (Drainey S et al (2005) Aftercare Consultation 2005: the service user perspective, Addaction)
Housing is therefore part of a wider network of services which, together, should help to maximise the return from the personal and financial investment in treatment services. In fact, as treatment is largely provided in the community rather than in residential detox and rehabilitation services, stable housing needs to be seen as an essential ‘wrap-around’ service that needs to be in place throughout rather than just after treatment.
This section of the Toolkit provides guidance on how you can create a network of housing and treatment/wraparound services that will support treatment outcomes. To navigate through it click on the links in the box on the right hand side of the page.