Making An Impact. Thank you to... Each one of the children, young people and families, using the Under18 Service who have worked so hard to

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1 Thank you to... Each one of the children, young people and families, using the Under18 Service who have worked so hard to change their lives. All the members of the public who generously gave their time, money and energy to support the Matthew Project cause. Colleagues from agencies too numerous to mention, working in partnership with us across the county to support young people. Our Trustees, Patrons and supporters from all walks of life. Making An Impact This booklet is made by Matthew Project, March 2015 Registered Office: Nedeham House, 22 St. Stephens Road, Norwich, NR1 3QU Limited Company No Registered Charity No

2 Matthew Project Suffolk Bringing it up to date The Matthew Project Suffolk is a team of specialist drug and alcohol workers providing a range of interventions for young people up to 25 years. Including Outreach, Criminal justice, medical and nursing. Commissioned this is the story of The Matthew Project Suffolk... The Outreach Team are based in Ipswich, Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds and are currently supporting 75 young people. The Criminal Justice Team are also based in Ipswich, Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds and are currently supporting 39 young people. Matthew Project Suffolk Team Away Day 2014 Looking to the future... The Matthew Project s contract has come to an end the service is being handed over to Turning Point. The new service will be an integrated one supporting people of any age with issues around drug or alcohol use theirs or someone else s. The Matthew project will still have a presence in Suffolk offering Universal e d u c a t i o n s e s s i o n s f o r m o re information please contact Anita Gagen anita.gagen@matthewproject.org. 1 10

3 Working for Matthew Project Targeted and Specialist Work 26 paid staff have worked for the Under18 Service as Counsellors, Social Workers, Youth Workers, Substance Misuse Workers, Nurses, Administrators and Managers. Since 2010 we have worked with 594 young people needing targeted support and 687 young people requiring specialist care planned support. Of these 42 were affected by someone else s substance misuse We have helped... Matthew Project Staff say... I have worked with the Matthew Project for the last year and have really enjoyed the opportunity to work creatively and flexibly with young people to help them meet their needs 65% of all specialist clients were closed successfully. We gave 92 vaccinations to prevent Hepatitis B in young people. My employment with the Matthew Project has challenged me at times to work beyond my comfort zone, in a supported and fun way, increasing my self-confidence. It has been a privilege to be part of such a dynamic and innovative team who have supported so many young people and their families across Suffolk It s been a pleasure to be a part of such an innovative and dynamic team who have supported so many young people across our county" The substances most commonly used by young people accessing specialist substance misuse treatment with the Under18 Service are cannabis, alcohol, ecstasy and ketamine. 9 2

4 Universal Work Highlights Across the county the team have offered specific and bespoke sessions to schools, colleges, alternative education providers, housing projects, Youth Offending teams, youth clubs and hobby clubs. Helping to support young people to learn more about drug and alcohol so they are able to make more informed choices. The team have been supported in the last year by the Youth Team which has meant that we have been able to reach an even wider audience We have worked with... Colleges: West Suffolk, Ryes, Otley, St Joseph, Newmarket High Schools: Stowmarket, Stowupland, St Andrew, Thurston, Farlingaye, Woodbridge, Ormiston Endeavour, Other: Mill Meadow PRU, YMCA Ipswich & Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk Young Carers, Nacro Lowestoft, The Base, Thurston College, DreamWorks Lowestoft, Crucial Crew Stratford St Andrew, Nacro Ipswich, Woodman Place, RAF Honington, Orwell Clinic, Tomorrows People Lowestoft, Community4rce Ipswich and Sudbury Police Cadets Comments from young people: It was a fun session I learnt more about legal highs as I didn t know a lot About how different drugs can affect your body, how alcohol can affect your judgement In , we ran an Online and Paper Survey with Suffolk County Council & Public Health Suffolk to examine young people s attitudes to drugs and alcohol, their use of drugs and alcohol and our service. 110 young people responded. 13% had tried cannabis. 1.6% had tried heroin, a class A drug. The Recovery Festival was put on by East Coast Recovery to promote and celebrate the work of drug and alcohol services within Suffolk. The Matthew Project put on a display stall and took resources such as the drugs box and beer goggles. It was brilliant, fun, awareness raising day and a chance to challenge some preconceptions of substance misuse. It was a great networking opportunity too. Moving Parents and Children Together (M-PACT) M-PACT supports children/young people aged 8-17 who are experiencing the effects of parental substance misuse within the family. The programme offers a 'Whole Family Approach', working with parents and children from up to eight families at any one time in different group combinations. The programme was made up of 10 sessions, including an individual family assessment, eight consecutive weekly core sessions of 2.5 hours and a family review session. The programme was a multi agency collaboration run by experienced professionals working with young people and parents to reduce the harmful impact that parental substance misuse and addiction has on family life. 3 8

5 Other professionals say... Outcomes I found the Matthew Project staff to be highly competent, extremely professional and very welcoming and willing to work with other agencies. I felt assured that they were well trained, and well versed in some of the more difficult aspects of community work Over the past four years I have been working in education within Suffolk. On many occasions I have turned to the Matthew Project for additional support with young people. Personally I have always found the staff to be very supportive of the Young People they work with and they deliver a high quality service Community Education Worker Recovery Worker, Bury Chart showing number of young people leaving treatment successfully Since 2011 the Under18 Team have completed 764 TOPs (Treatment Outcomes Profile) forms and 399 YPOR (Young People s Outcome Record) forms to demonstrate the outcomes young people achieve with the help of our service. The work that was undertaken by Matthew Project with a young person I am working with has significantly improved their wellbeing. The young person engaged well with the service and as a result of this made significant changes which have impacted the family in a positive way. Social Worker Making a difference- outcomes of our targeted and universal sessions A Young person said My worker taught me a lot, I now know everything I could possibly need to about drugs and alcohol. Thanks to my worker I have reduced my alcohol use considerably and have developed new ways to cope with stress and anxiety. 7 4

6 Some Projects... Service user involvement The Fresh pack Multi agency venture which aims to reduce the extent to which young people, engage in risk taking behaviours, including early and unprotected sex, smoking and use of drugs alcohol and tobacco. I learnt that legal highs are dangerous Boyhood2Manhood Promotes a positive safe place for young men to voice their beliefs and opinions and to challenge and be challenged by facilitators and peers. The group offers an environment where young people can feel a sense of belonging and take ownership of the subjects discussed. It works on both static and dynamic factors in the young people s lives, challenging both entrenched views and peer led beliefs such as sexism, homophobia, racism, reliance on alcohol and drugs, sexual health, relationships, societal and personal attitudes towards violence. I learnt that chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted disease Under18 is a young people s service and young people have always been involved in designing, planning and improving the service. Young People have made an invaluable contribution to:- Recruitment of staff Contract reviews Promotional material design National Takeover Day Website development Trustee meetings Service user groups Naomi Selim, Service Manager said, This is the third year in which The Matthew Project has participated in National Takeover Day and we are very excited to have had a range of young people taking over this year. Young people were in charge of organisation, design, and production of a new resource, aimed at those who are affected by the substance misuse of someone else. The contribution of these young people has been fantastic and will enable us to improve our support to this group. One young person involved said I had a great day and learnt that I can be more confident in speaking in front of people about my ideas I have learnt a lot about what The Matthew Project does and cheers for asking me to come! 5 6