This year’s International Women’s Day gives us a chance to reflect on women’s experience within our services and in the larger world of drug and alcohol treatment services in general.
This comes at a time when drug deaths among people who identify as women are on the rise. In 2022 (the most recent data available), deaths from drug poisonings were the highest since records began in 1993. However, between 2021 and 2022, the rate of males dying from drug poisoning went down slightly, whilst the rate for females continued to rise. Over the past decade this figure has risen by almost 80 per cent – yet the numbers of women seeking treatment across the UK has stayed largely the same. Any death is tragic, but we feel that this underlines the importance of making sure drug and alcohol services best serve the needs of the female population.
Women experience additional complexities from drug and alcohol use and find it harder to access support. In this blog, we are going to explore this and talk about what BDP is doing to mitigate them. So, what are some of the things that make accessing support harder for people who identify as female?
Male-dominated spaces
According to the statistics, drug use within the male population is much higher. This is reflected in the distribution of males and females who access support for their drug and alcohol use. However, it has been suggested that the number of women who use drugs and alcohol may be higher than the official statistics. The reasons for this are complicated, but check out this article from Ian Hamilton and Niamh Eastwood for more information -https://theconversation.com/women-also-use-drugs-not-that-you-can-tell-from-drug-policy-87957.
Due to the proliferation of men in services, women can feel intimidated from engaging in a male-dominated space. This has been shown through research and anecdotal feedback from women who use our services. At BDP, we have been working to create more and more female-specific services. Every Wednesday morning, we run a female-specific social group called Women’s Morning. This group gives women a space to meet up in a safe space, away from their usual social or family situations and have access to our female-specific support workers along with the benefits of peer support. The group is open access, so there is no need to book or make any commitment to turn up or leave at a certain time. This group has proven to be incredibly popular. Our goals with the group are to ensure all women seeking support in Bristol are aware of the group and to increase capacity as demand increases.
Mothers who use drugs
A large proportion of women who use our services are mothers. Motherhood can raise potential sticking points for people to access drug and alcohol treatment through no fault of their own.
All people who use drugs face some sort of stigma, but mothers who use drugs experience greatly raised levels of this. This stigma is a barrier for them to access services for numerous reasons. Some of these reasons range from being physically unable to attend due to childcare responsibilities up to being scared of being open about their needs surrounding their drug use as they are scared of the repercussions this could have with the custody of their children, among others. It is the responsibility of drug services to put measures in place to make sure their services meet these needs.
Our Women’s Morning service has free access to a creche service that takes care of their children while they engage with the group. This might not sound radical, but childcare is a big barrier to some mothers attending services, whether it be for financial or availability reasons. This was found to be an invaluable part of the service when running evaluation sessions with the attendees.
Experiences of domestic and sexual violence
Experiences of domestic and sexual violence present additional complexities for women who are seeking support for their drug and alcohol use. Entering spaces with lots of males, some of whom could be perpetrators and engaging with services that aren’t set up to take this trauma into account can be extremely distressing and can cause people to disengage from services.
At BDP, we have specific roles designed to work to work towards mitigating these issues. One such role operates solely within women-only safehouses and other female-specific housing provisions in the city. We also have a worker who works with Next Link, a domestic violence charity, to handle cross referrals from our service users into their service and vice versa, and we also host a BDP staff member with One25’s outreach service as they engage with women who sex work in the city.
Whilst this is all great progress, we are committed to constantly evaluating our services and getting feedback from the people we support to ensure we are aware of all unseen needs and that every member of our city gets the support they need and deserve.
Anna Smith, our CEO, says, “BDP recognises that women can be doubly stigmatised for their drug and alcohol use, particularly as mothers. Having worked in the women’s sector for over a decade, I am acutely aware that we need to hear the voices of women to learn from them and from what we see, which creates barriers and improves our response. I am committed to BDP providing safe, trauma-informed spaces; to offer services in a way which breaks down these barriers. We want to work together with other specialist services in the city to make it easier for women to get support.”
Want to attend our Women’s Morning?
Women’s Morning runs weekly from 11am-1pm on Wednesdays. The group is open access meaning anyone can turn up on the day – no appointment needed. If you wish to use the free crèche service, we do, however, request that you get in contact beforehand so we can organise with our external crèche worker.
On Saturday, 25th November, we had the pleasure of joining the 2023 edition of Bristol’s Trans Pride March. The day was a celebration of “the diversity of transgender, non-binary, intersex and gender non-conforming individuals, and actively encouraging awareness, openness and interaction”.
Ten members of the BDP joined the march equipped with a PRISM (Our LGBTQ+ support service) banner that was hand-painted by people who use the service. Josh Weinstock, one of our team who manages PRISM, said, “It was such a lovely & positive day. It was rousing to be part of an expression of freedom and unity like that and to raise awareness of how people from that community are disproportionately affected by harm through drug and alcohol use.”
After the march was over, the celebrations continued at the afterparty hosted at Strange Brew in the city centre. Our PRISM outreach team were at the night providing harm reduction advice and promoting access to our services.
What is PRISM?
PRISM is our service designed to meet the needs of people within the LGBTQ+. We identified the great need for these services in Bristol as we have a very diverse population, and LGBTQ+ people experience greater levels of harm from drug and/or alcohol use than the general population. PRISM provides a weekly drop-in, bookable appointments and a range of other harm reduction services such as access to clean injecting equipment and contraception.
On Tuesday, 5th of December, our allotment coordinator, Maddy, will be running a free wreath-making workshop from our allotment in St Wherburgs. Last year’s workshop was a great success, and we are delighted to be able to run this event again. The workshop will run from 12-3pm and we will provide all of the materials along with hot mulled apple juice and mince pies for refreshments.
The workshop is open for anyone who uses our services, and there is no need to book; just rock up on the day. You can either meet us at the allotment at 11:50am on Hopetown Road(By the City Farm), Bristol, BS2 9YL or at BDP at 11:20am where we will be walking over together as a group.
If you have any questions or can’t find the allotment, please contact Maddy on 07792320097.
As we roll into the colder months, A Celebration of Life 2023 is just around the corner. A Celebration of Life is our annual event to remember and celebrate those lost to drugs and alcohol. We cordially invite anyone affected by the loss of someone close to them through drugs or alcohol to come along and share an evening reflecting and celebrating the lives of those who have left us too soon.
There will be performances from the Gasworks Singers alongside Rising Voices, BDP’s recovery choir, words of remembrance from our hosting panel and the chance for people to contribute their own words or songs of remembrance for those they have lost.
The event is on Saturday, 25th November and will be held at St James’ Priory as it has been in previous years. Doors will open at 15:30, with the event starting at 16:00 and lasting for an hour. Refreshments and hot mince pies in the Priory’s cafe will be served afterwards.
We are looking for people who might be moved to share something as part of the programme. This could be anything from a poem, a short story, an anecdote you feel is pertinent, or simply a photograph of your loved one to include in the memorial presentation. If this sounds like something you would be interested in, please email George Herbert at George.Herbert@bdp.org.uk.
Tickets are completely free and available from Eventbrite – https://CelebrationofLife2023.eventbrite.co.uk or via the checkout below. Alternatively, you’re very welcome to show up on the day. Don’t worry about printing off your ticket, as we will have a list of names on the night.
Following the sad and untimely passing of Maggie Telfer OBE, we have had a very important role to fill in our organisation. Maggie set BDP up 37 years ago and has been at the helm ever since. She was a massive character, and her work was trailblazing and passionate. After a lengthy screening and interview process, we are happy to introduce Anna Smith, BDP’s new CEO.
BDP: So welcome Anna
Anna: Thanks! I am excited and pleased to be joining an organisation with such a rich history and a great reputation in the city and beyond. I have known BDP for many years from my work in different organisations around the city whose work has overlapped with BDP, and I look forward to building on the work done previously as we move forward.
BDP: You’ve now had some time to find your feet at BDP; how have you been finding it?
Anna: I’ve had a brilliant welcome from everyone here, and it’s been fantastic to see the dedication and commitment of all the staff to the people who use our services and to working towards our goals as an organisation. As part of my induction, I have been invited to many of the groups and services we run and have been meeting up with our key partner organisations too.
Myself and Ben Judd, our new Director of Business Development, have hit the ground running with lots of stuff to keep us busy. In my first week, we had a very dangerous batch of heroin circulating in Bristol. It was incredible to see the response from staff and our partner agencies to put measures in place to keep people safe in a dynamic and complex emergency. It helped me see first-hand how vital our work is in not only reducing harm but saving lives.
With our senior team being rounded out by Lydia Plant’s promotion to Director of Operations, we have our eyes set on the horizon, putting in vital work to prepare BDP for the upcoming commissioning process that is coming up.
As with starting with any job, there has been a lot to take on, but I’m excited to get cracking.
BDP: So, what’s your background, and how will this be an asset to BDP moving forward?
Anna: I’ve been working in public/social services in Bristol and South Gloucestershire for 15 years now, so I know the sector’s landscape very well and have strong connections to Bristol across various organisations and governing bodies. This is my fourth CEO position, with most spread across organisations working to support vulnerable women. My first CEO position was at Survive in South Glos before moving to Advance in London and then back to Bristol to lead One25. Like BDP, all of these services put the needs of the people they support at the of what they do. Most recently, I have been Programme Director at Changing Futures in Bristol, an organisation dedicated to evaluating services and promoting linked-up, contemporary approaches to the support services sector and promoting a ‘system change’ approach.
BDP: It’s been a big period of change at BDP. What’s your outlook for the next phase in our history?
Anna: It certainly has, but change also allows positive growth and evolution. I knew and respected Maggie as someone who worked in the sector with her. One25 and BDP had very strong links, which led to our paths crossing a lot. Like many others, I massively respected her work, and she leaves big leopard print boots to fill! However, I am very much looking forward to building on her legacy and leading BDP into its next phase. We’re in a great position. With our fantastic and dedicated team, we are well on our way to making an even greater impact for the people we support.
