DIP Simple Steps to Success
Three years on, the Government’s Drug Interventions Programme (DIP) has proved effective in creating the opportunity to get drug-using offenders into treatment and keep them there. The partnership forged between the criminal justice system, treatment agencies and service providers has been a critical factor in challenging criminal behaviour related to substance misuse, whilst offering those involved a route towards a better future.
In DIP intensive areas, such as Leeds and some London boroughs,the ‘test on arrest’and ‘required assessment’ components of the Tough Choices legislation mean that anyone testing positive for a Class A drug is compelled by law to be assessed by a drug worker. This has given CRI many more opportunities to engage with people and motivate them to take up treatment options,including those required to do so by bail restrictions,and for the first time drug workers are directly involved in the case dispersal process.
We welcomed this legislation as a valuable spur to closer working with colleagues in the police,probation,crown prosecution service and courts,with great potential to promote engagement with the most complex and hard to reach groups – those who have so far been resistant to change.
New challenges
To be effective,the increasingly coercive nature of the relationship between service users and service providers must be reflected in an increase in the treatment options available,and the challenge for us is to sustain the involvement of reluctant participants in the rehabilitative process.
This is not always straightforward. DIP implementation methods are inconsistent,with differing levels of integration and partnership across the country.In some areas teams are co-located providing a one-stop shop for service users.Whereas in other parts of the country people have to link up with multiple agencies to get their needs met. Some areas have rapid access to prescribing;others do not. So the pressure is on to provide high quality case management that keeps people in treatment throughout their care pathway with fewer opportunities for them to slip through the net.We are convinced that this must include vitally important after care,in the form of housing, education,employment and training,following the successful completion of drug treatment programmes.
Passion and commitment
CRI has become a major provider of DIP services across the country because of the successful approach that it has developed:motivating people to change and encouraging them to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the implementation of the DIP strategy. We employ passionate and committed staff,prepared to fight all the way to give service users the opportunities they need to make positive changes in their lives.
