BDP is happy to report we have received funding from the National Lottery’s Community Fund to improve our allotment and to provide a place for people we work with to connect with the outdoors.
The money we have been awarded will fund the employment of an Allotment Coordinator to overhaul our allotment, refresh the space and run sessions with our service users. The allotment project will provide the people we work with new experiences, opportunities to connect with staff and peers, a chance to learn new skills and provide time away from their everyday lives.
“The well-being benefits of having hands in the soil, nurturing new growth and enjoying the fruits and vegetables of labour is so valuable. The allotment offers social connectivity as well as the fun and satisfaction of time spent outdoors.” Rachel Ayres, BDP Policy and Quality Development Lead
We extend enormous thanks to the National Lottery, without whom this project would not have been possible.
Remember there is still time to apply to be our Allotment Coordinator. The ideal candidate would be a keen horticulturist with experience in running groups or teaching. To find out more details and to apply, please click below:
Next Link Plus is a partnership of organisations that are working together to support people who have been affected by domestic violence. This partnership aims to broaden the scope of people supported by Next Link by having specialist link workers across different organisations. The organisations include Victim Support, 1625 Independent People, Off The Record, Nilaari, Signhealth, St Mungo’s, and ourselves.
At BDP we will be recruiting a female worker whose role will be working with individuals affected by domestic abuse who need support to make changes around their drug and/or alcohol use. This includes working within Next Link safe houses as well as other outreach into the communities around Bristol. This role will also provide drug and alcohol training and support to the other organisations in the partnership.
We welcome this partnership approach as it recognises the complicated and multifaceted nature of experiencing something like domestic violence. It also acknowledges the extra support needed by those who might find it the hardest to access support, those using drugs, those with housing needs and people who struggle with their mental health.
“We are delighted to be a partner with Next Link in this new Bristol service. As ever, our partnerships are built on our ability to make 1+1 add to at least 3 and this is one that really achieves that.” Maggie Telfer, BDP CEO
Over the next week, Next Link will be introducing all of the partner organisations and going into more detail about the project on their social media accounts. To keep up with all the updates, please follow them on:
This year, BDP’s Club & Festival Harm Reduction service, The Drop, has gone from strength to strength. Last weekend we packed up our outreach materials and headed to Eastville Park for Tokyo World Festival. This was the last festival in our packed summer schedule, and it was a good one. Over the weekend, the team engaged over 700 attendees with advice and information about drug and/or alcohol use.
The Drop was established to reduce the harm that people who take drugs in a party setting face. Taking drugs has inherent risks, but through education and equipment, we can go some way to mitigate these risks and enable people to be safer if they chose to use drugs. An excellent example of this is informing people about the risks of mixing certain substances and knowing best practices for taking particular drugs. As well as information, we also hand out resources to reduce harm, including equipment to make nasal insufflation (snorting) less damaging to the soft tissues in the nose, water bottles, condoms and informational handouts with our details in case people feel they’d benefit from further support.
We caught up with Sorcha Ryan, our Club & Festival Harm Reduction Lead, for the low-down from the weekend.
BDP: It’s been a bumper year for you and The Drop. How many events have you been to this year?
Sorcha: Yep, it’s been a busy one. We’ve been at 22 so far and spoken to over 2000 people. Some highlights were Rave on Avon, Pride, LSTD, Groove Armada, Hospitality on the Harbour, Valley Fest, Forwards & Tokyo World. Plus, we’ve got more events coming up, including numerous freshers’ events and club nights.
BDP: How was Tokyo World this past weekend?
Sorcha: Tokyo World was one of our most successful events of the year. We spoke to over 700 attendees over the weekend and had really positive engagement from members of the medical and security teams.
BDP: What was the thing the people you spoke to wanted to know the most?
Sorcha: Most people want to know about different drug combinations, what effects to expect and whether those combinations are likely to cause an adverse reaction. They’re really useful questions because we know that people often take a wider range of drugs at festivals.
BDP: What was the response from the people you spoke to about The Drop being present?
Sorcha: People are overwhelmingly positive about us being at festivals and other events. People recognise that drugs are always present (no matter how strict the searches are at the gate) and that the best way to reduce harm is to educate people on safer use. When we speak to older attendees, they often comment on how they wish services like The Drop had been around when they were younger so they could’ve avoided learning about dosage and drug combinations through trial and error!
BDP: So, have you got plans for the winter and festival season next year?
Sorcha: Now festival season is over, we’ll move from festival fields to nightclubs for winter. We’ve already got events booked in at Motion and Loco Klub and hope to start attending events at some of the newer venues in Bristol. This is always a busy part of the year for us because as well as being at events, we have outreach sessions at both universities’ freshers events to engage with new students. We hope our festival season for 2023 will be bigger and better than ever and to run more talks at events like the one we did on harm reduction in the night-time economy at Forwards Festival at the start of September.
Thanks for your time Sorcha. If you want to stay up to date with what the drop is up to, follow them on Instagram via @TheDrop_BDP.
Today is International Overdose Awareness Day 2022. A day set up to raise awareness of deaths following an overdose and to remember those we have lost as a result. We believe all deaths resulting from an overdose are preventable, and we work every day to reduce the harms caused by drugs to the people in our community.
Last year we focussed on naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. This year we want to talk about one of the most powerful tools for reducing the risk of an opioid overdose, Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST).
What is Opioid Substitution Therapy?
Opioid Substitution Therapy is where medication is prescribed to people who use opioids. This replaces their dependency on illicit drugs with the prescribed medication. The amount of the prescribed medication is then slowly reduced over time with the goal that one day the patient will no longer need the medication. The two most common medications are methadone and buprenorphine(suboxone).
Being on OST halves the risk of fatal overdose.
Why is this important?
Being on OST halves the risk of fatal overdose. And not only that, but people on OST are 3 to 4 times more likely to stay in treatment if on methadone compared to no OST. As being engaged with treatment services also reduces the risk of an opioid overdose, this further reduces the risks they face. OST also decreases the need for people to inject illicit drugs, dramatically reducing the rate of blood-borne virus infections and soft tissue injuries.
Other than physical health, OST removes the burden of needing to fund and acquire illicit drugs to make sure the person doesn’t go into withdrawal. This removes a great deal of pressure from the individual and also reduces the chances of the person entering the criminal justice system.
What we do?
At BDP, we have a whole team of staff dedicated to working with individuals who need OST. Our treatment team work within GP surgeries as dedicated drug and alcohol workers who take patients who present with issues around their drug and alcohol use. This lowers the demand on GPs and means that individuals get expert support. Our treatment team workers are in charge of prescribing OST for individuals who need it. Currently, we work out of 42 GP surgeries across bristol and are working to support nearly 1800 people.
OST is one of the single most powerful tools for reducing the risk of overdose, and we are proud to be able to provide this for the people of Bristol.
If you would like to know more about your options regarding OST please speak to your GP, who can refer you to our treatment team or contact us directly. Our full list of contact details can be found here or simply call 0117 987 6000.
We have a busy week of events coming up this week. Check out what we are up to below:
Wednesday 31st August – International Overdose Awareness Day
International Overdose Awareness Day is a yearly campaign to raise awareness of overdose, which is one of the world’s worst public health crises. Every year people and organisations around the world run events and spread the message about the tragedy of death from a drug overdose and that drug overdoses are preventable.
Join us on Brunswick Square 11am – 2pm where we will have a stall to engage our local community around overdose, provide information about the work we do and signpost people to our free naloxone training sessions.
Wednesday 31st August – Incentivised safer injecting workshop
We will be running an incentivised safer injecting training session for any injecting drug users who want to attend. The session will go over our range of injecting equipment available from our needle exchange, injecting best practices and using naloxone.
Thursday 1st September – Recovery Festival 2022
We will be at this year’s Recovery festival at the Trinity Centre in Old Market from 11am – 4pm. Our CEO, Maggie Telfer, will be doing a brief talk on the day and Rising Voices Recovery Choir will be performing on their own and as part of the movement and spoken word workshop performance, where they will be singing a specially written song for the event.
We will also be at the Recovery Festival after party at The Attic Bar on Stokes Croft from 7:30pm. The event is hosted by Bristol Sober Spaces(BSS), an organisation close to our heart. BSS put on events for those who want to socialise and listen to music without being surrounded by alcohol/drugs and those who are ‘sober curious’.
This weekend is the first year of Forwards Festival; a brand new event for the Bristol festival circuit. We are very excited that we will be hosting a panel discussion on the Forwards Information Stage titled ‘Harm reduction – A pragmatic approach to drugs in the nighttime economy. We will be joined by panellists from The Loop, Bristol City Council and Secret Garden Party.
The panel will be running from 5:15pm – 6:15pm on Saturday 3rd, so if you are attending Forwards, be sure to come along.
Our club and festival harm reduction service, The Drop, will also be there engaging attendees and handing our harm reduction materials all weekend so say hey if you see them onsite!
Left to right: Chris, Zoe, Rowan, Laura and Sophie
Creative Communities have been back on the radio this weekend chatting with Laura Rawlings on BBC Radio Bristol. Sophie, our Creative Communities manager, was joined by group members Chris, Zoe and Rowan. The team spoke to Laura about what the Creative Communities groups mean to them and had a discussion about some of the tunes that they regularly play. Big thanks to Laura and the BBC Radio Bristol team for giving us this opportunity.
Rising Voices Recovery Choir will be playing at this year’s Recovery Festival. The event is completely free and is taking place on Thursday 1st September 11am-4pm at The Trinity Centre. https://www.therecoveryfestival.co.uk/
Want to hear more of Creative Communities on the radio?
