The Drug and Alcohol Action Team have been working in all nine Neighbourhood Renewal areas from 2005-2008 to identify and tackle any concerns residents have about drug or alcohol problems in their local area. Stage 1: Audit
: CAD carry out an audit of 200 residents, asking them how
much of a problem they feel drugs and alcohol are in their area, how this
affects them, and possible solutions. Once the data is complied into a
report, this is used as a starting point and the results are presented to local
community groups made up of residents and practitioners. At this stage we
discuss whether the group feels the issues raised are a true representation
of those experienced in the area. The local Police Officers, together with
other service providers working in the area, are also asked to comment on
the findings of the report to ensure that the audit has not missed any
underlying drug and alcohol issues.
Stage 2: Action Planning & Promising approaches:
This provides a summary of all known successful evidence based solutions. CAD, in
partnership with the local community, identifies which may work most
effectively to produce an action plan for the area.
Stage 3: Liaising with the community
: A two-way feedback process
between CAD and the community will ensure that the type of intervention
suggested is suitable and satisfactory to people in the local community.
Stage 4: Commissioning:
Once the community is happy with the planned
intervention, project specifications will be drawn up and projects will be
commissioned to address local needs in neighbourhoods. At this stage it is important to try and get a couple of actions that can happen reasonably quickly to ensure the continued support from the local community.
Stage 5: Ongoing support:
The Neighbourhood Liaison Officer will maintain ongoing but declining contact with the neighbourhood to support esidents through the start-up and running of commissioned projects
ensuring work is sustained in the longer-term. After 12-18 months CAD
carry out a second audit to measure the impact that the work has had on
resident’s perceptions and to identify any new emerging issues.
Who we spoke to A total of 200 residents were consulted. The table below shows the
percentages of people spoken to according to gender, age and ethnicity.