We are very sad to announce the death of our Chief Executive, Maggie Telfer OBE, who died on 12 January, aged 63.
Maggie, along with a group of probation officers, founded BDP in 1986 in response to the lack of support for people who used drugs and alcohol in Bristol at that time. Maggie was instrumental in BDP’s early pioneering work in a highly charged city environment. Since then, BDP has led the way as a provider of Bristol’s services for the people, families and communities affected by drugs or alcohol. Her immense knowledge, experience, determination and foresight has led BDP to become a much-trusted service provider.
Maggie’s work was defined by her drive to challenge the inequality and stigma faced by some of the most vulnerable people in our society. The Charity has worked alongside local government, health, education, police and community agencies to reduce harm and help people fulfil their potential, leading to safer and healthier lives. As a result, Bristol is now widely recognised as being at the leading edge of tackling the issues surrounding drug and alcohol use.
From 2002 – 2004 Maggie was key to establishing the Omari Project in Kenya, the first sub-Saharan needle exchange and treatment programme. She remained passionate about services reaching the most marginalised.
In 2007, Maggie was awarded the OBE in recognition of her achievements. More recently, in 2018 she was nominated as one of the 100 Most Influential Women in the West. Maggie led BDP through the pandemic, maintaining services without interruption with her usual determination to provide the best service possible to those most in need. Her work has a local, national and international reputation, earning many accolades. She was much sought after as an expert speaker both around the UK and abroad.
BDP’s Chair of Trustees, John Long, said, “We are all devastated by the loss of a much-loved colleague. She has led the Charity from strength to strength, across five decades. Maggie’s leadership, compassion and indomitable spirit inspired all around her. Our sadness will be matched by the sorrow of many people and their families whose lives were improved and transformed by her work. The City of Bristol has lost one of its truest champions. Our thoughts are very much with Maggie’s family at this difficult time.”
We are very excited to be part of a partnership of organisations launching a city-wide harm reduction approach to drugs in the night-time economy.
The campaign brings stakeholders from across the night-time economy, such as licensing bodies, the police, drug services, venues and the public together to tackle the unintended harms of zero-tolerance policies and make Bristol’s nightlife safer for everyone who uses it.
This is the first campaign of this scope in the UK and we hope it will serve as a model to help introduce more pragmatic approaches to people’s safety in the night-time economy across the country.
As part of the campaign, there will be a set of posters printed and displayed across the city promoting harm reduction messaging to the public, a fold-out pamphlet to inform venue staff of what to do in a medical emergency, and a larger guide for venue owners, promoters and other licensed operators on how to embed harm reduction philosophies in nightlife spaces.
Booklet for training venue staff on dealing with drug-related emergencies
Sorcha Ryan, BDP’s Club and Festival Harm Reduction Lead, said
“BDP has been delivering harm reduction services in the night-time economy for many years, so we fully support this campaign and the city-wide shift towards safer nightlife that it represents.
“Zero-tolerance approaches to drug use in the night-time economy are ubiquitous in the UK. With drug and alcohol deaths rising year-on-year, this collaborative project is both needed and timely. We welcome the breadth of organisations involved in the project. To be effective, an approach like this needs complete buy-in from all parties operating in the night-time economy, including the police, licensing bodies and venues.
“We are particularly pleased to have contributed to the Harm Reduction Handbook element of the project, which is designed to provide guidance on managing drug use and drug-related emergencies for venues and their staff. Venues, and the people who work in them, often represent the first line of response in medical emergencies, so ensuring these individuals are confident to respond is vital for keeping people safer.
“The project presents a unique opportunity for Bristol to tackle some of the unintended consequences of a zero-tolerance approach, such as people feeling unable to access medical support in a drink/drug-related medical emergency due to fear of punishment. We hope this city-wide campaign will empower venues to prioritise the safety of their customers, encourage people who use the night-time economy to look out for each other and support people to make safer decisions about their use of alcohol and other drugs.”
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.
