ZOOM Webinar

Why don't they just stop using drugs then?

Responding to substance use in a trauma and ACE informed way.

This webinar will look at how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and other potential causes of trauma can affect an individual's relationship with alcohol and other drugs. It is relevant for staff and volunteers with specific roles to support substance users as well as youth workers, mental health, criminal justice, housing, homelessness, social care and other workers.

Tue, November 3rd, 2020 | 2:00pm – 4:00pm

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What they say

...""Thank you very much, Andrew, for this very educational webinar! If it’s happening again, I’ll definitely get more of the staff here to join in."

..."really good course. Has made me think about my practice and how I can improve it in the future. Thanks so much."

...there was nothing in the course that wasn't useful. It was an excellent course

...I enjoyed everything about the course

...great for newer staff or organisations that do not already work in a trauma informed way

Course description

For some people, their drug use will spiral out of control - leading to homelessness, periods in jail, estrangement from family and friends, and chronic ill health.

So why don't they just stop? Why can't they enjoy the occasional drink, the odd line, smoke a joint or two like other people? What makes them different from the so-called recreational drug and alcohol users?

This substance misuse and trauma webinar, last broadcast on July 4th, 2020, and viewed by over 40 attendees, will look at how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and other potential causes of trauma can affect an individual's relationship with alcohol and other drugs.

The webinar will enable commissioners; managers and practitioners who support young people and adults with substance-related problems to consider the importance; relevance and key elements of trauma and ACE informed approaches.

The course is relevant for staff and volunteers with specific roles to support substance users as well as youth workers, mental health, criminal justice, housing, homelessness, social care and other workers.

Course objectives

To improve knowledge about the nature and extent of ACEs.
To understand how trauma can have profound adverse effects on behaviours, emotions and lifelong opportunities.
To understand how the supportive relationships and environments that services provide can reverse the harm from ACEs and other causes of trauma.
To understand the key components of a trauma and ACE informed approach.
To consider why the coronavirus pandemic provides a further impetus to work in a trauma-informed way.

A little pre-course viewing

Targeted at the public and professionals, the ACEs animation was the first of it's kind in the UK (2017). The video shows the impact of ACEs across the life course and what can be done to prevent and mitigate harm. Andrew Bennett along with Ian Molyneux, Mark Bellis and Helen Lowey produced the video on behalf of Public Health Wales and Blackburn with Darwen Local Authority.

Your tutor - Andrew Bennett

Hello, my name is Andrew, I am a public health practitioner, and I will be your tutor for this webinar.

During the last five years, I have developed trauma and ACE informed approaches in North Wales and other parts of the UK and Ireland. From 2018 to 2020, I supported the National ACE Approach to Policing Vulnerability Programme in Wales. I have produced and co-wrote the ACEs animation on behalf of Public Health Wales and Blackburn with Darwen Council.

A former youth worker and drug worker and manager, I established one of the first syringe exchange programmes in the mid-1980s in the UK. I was the Managing Director at HIT, a national agency providing a range of drugs and other public health interventions, from 1994 to 2006. During this time HIT became an internationally respected advocate and provider of consumer-based harm reduction approaches to drug and other health-related behaviours.

In order to help and support individuals with seemingly intractable and intergenerational drug-related problems, it is imperative that services adopt trauma and ACE informed approaches.