Thought leadership to practical action. The Whole Person Recovery Project.

In a recent blog I announced a change to one of our project names. The User-centred Drug Services Project became the Whole Person Recovery Project. This change was not a mere whim but a way to mark the forthcoming report from the project of the same name.

In a recent blog I announced a change to one of our project names. The User-centred Drug Services Project became the Whole Person Recovery Project. This change was not a mere whim but a way to mark the forthcoming report from the project of the same name.

Whole Person Recovery: a user-centred systems approach to problem drug use will be launched at a national event on the 24th November. It is the first major report from the Whole Person Recovery Project which is the RSA’s second major investigation into UK drug policy following the well reported Drugs – Facing Facts published in 2007.  It is an example of how we can turn thought leadership (RSA Commission on Illegal Drugs, Communities and Public Policy) into practical action (Whole Person Recovery Project).

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With Whole Person Recovery, the RSA set out to understand in a holistic way how problematic drug and alcohol users become trapped in cycles of addiction, what helps or hinders their journey to recovery, and how their recovery can be sustained.

Located in Bognor Regis and Crawley, Whole Person Recovery is a partnership between the RSA and the West Sussex Drug and Alcohol Action Team. The project has involved more than 200 former and current drug and alcohol users in the design and development of the services and institutions they require to better meet their needs and will continue to support a core group in taking forward the ideas in the final phase between now and March 2011.

The findings from the report make a case for initiatives and services that are more personalised and user centred, better balanced between psychosocial and medical interventions and better able to draw on a whole community response to the problems associated with problematic drug and alcohol use.

If you would like more information about the report or would like to attend the launch, please contact janet.hawken@rsa.org.uk or visit our webpage.