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Foreword by Chief Executive
ALCOHOL AND DRUGS
This year has sadly been another year of bad news for us all. A
year throughout the Agency which has been greatly affected by substance
misuse. More people have died - people we all knew from various
areas throughout the agencies, and more recently some younger people.
Our thoughts go out to the families and to the ones that have lost
their lives because of substance misuse. Drug abuse must be tackled
and we must work together to educate people who use drugs. We must
educate our children on the dangers of experimenting with these
substances. But what about alcohol? The total annual Government
tax revenue from alcohol sales in 1999 was £11.5 Billion.
This contrasts with just over £1 million spent on alcohol
prevention and treatment - compared to £91.45 million on drugs.
The drinks trade spends £227 million to advertise its products.
Alcohol Concern reports that an estimated 920,000 children are living
in a home where one or both parents misuse alcohol. More than one
in thirteen people in Britain are addicted to alcohol.
Ladies and gentlemen, all who read this report, please find out
the state of our nation and Britain's true alcohol bill. Tap into
Alcohol Concern's website and let's all start talking about it.
Maybe then we can tackle the drug problem…
This year has once again been very innovative and has witnessed
many changes. WGCADA is expanding with the times, but sadly this
problem with alcohol and drug abuse is growing much faster than
any of the agencies. Sallie who is our PA, and only been with us
a short time, reported that we have had 33 new members of staff
since the beginning of 2003, and as I write this report interviews
for more new posts are being prepared for WGCADA in four of our
centres. Since our AGM in September 2003 the staff have been working
hard to prepare for WGCADA's 25th Anniversary 1979 - 2004. Many
functions have been arranged.
The first celebration was the church service held at the beginning
of the year. Many people attended and enjoyed the service and it
was certainly momentous cutting the cake and meeting new and old
friends of WGCADA. The Lord Mayor of Swansea and Deputy Lord Mayor
of Neath Port Talbot; AM's from various counties, our partners and
joint commissioners, staff and clients all had a good time. A Big
thanks to St James' Church, our neighbours and Dr Duncan Walker,
the Minister. What a great way to start the year 2004. The next
function was held in March on St David's Day. Our thanks to the
Lord Mayor; City and County of Swansea who granted us the Lord Mayors
Parlour at the Mansion House for the evening. Again, a very enjoyable
evening with friends, staff and clients. Also present were the leader
of the local council and his partner and our special guest Finola
Glacken who entertained us with some beautiful songs. The Auction
of Promises raised £700 on the night. Thanks to everybody
who attended and once again to our Joint Commissioners who see for
themselves that WGCADA helps people to engage life without alcohol
and drugs. Some of our clients attend the functions for the first
time in their life without drink or drugs.
The main celebration for our 25th Anniversary will be a social
evening held at the Aberavon Beach Hotel in Port Talbot on 13th
November and to finish the year's celebrations St James' Church
has offered WGCADA another service that will be held on the 12th
December at 6pm. Everybody is welcome, so please come along. Also
invitations have been sent out for a conference which will be held
in Port Talbot on Thursday 16th September. In spite of the work
that everybody has put into the success of this year's 25th Celebrations
you will see from the report that it has not affected our responsibility
to our clients and funders.
As I stated in the beginning of my report WGCADA is expanding.
We welcome the new partnerships with the LHB's in Neath Port Talbot
and Bridgend. There are two new projects, RAP (Rapid Access Point)
in Bridgend and SMART (Substance Misuse Assessment and Referral
Team) in Neath and Port Talbot. Both these services will enable
fast tracking for clients. Another new partnership venture for WGCADA
is the Home Detox Project in Swansea, working alongside CDAT and
Swansea Drugs Project.
There is a full time Detox Worker with WGCADA and also one with
Swansea Drugs Project. Between the three agencies they will be able
to complement each other and thus meet the complex needs of the
clients. More will be said about the RAP and SMART from our Managers
report.
The new building - No 15 in Neath, where our Harm Reduction and
Criminal Justice work alongside CDAT and the SMART Project, is working
at full capacity. Consequently we have had to create extra space
for a Needle Exchange room, a new toilet and a small extension for
a waiting area enabling the use of more counselling rooms upstairs.
The attic rooms have been converted into an activities room for
computers, cookery classes and a training venue. All of this achieved
in a short space of time as a result of working together with our
local partners and funders and being able to prove to the Assembly
that clients do react positively entering a clean and tidy place.
As most people know every year I appeal for funding for 12-step
abstinence workers. I'm glad to say that we have secured funding
for one full time post in Neath and Port Talbot for this work. In
Swansea we have had to employ on a temporary basis a part time abstinence
worker out of some of our reserves. I leave it to you once again
to judge that WGCADA has fulfilled its contracts and service level
agreements, as you will see from the Managers and Area Managers
reports from Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Swansea and SPARC. I stated
last year the future priorities and can confidently report that
we have achieved all of them. We have implemented new posts and
projects such as Local Health Board Partnerships (Neath Port Talbot
and Bridgend), Abstinence Workers, a Detox Project and are improving
our IT systems. A conference on Abstinence and Harm Reduction in
London was attended by staff for training. Training for staff and
volunteers continues and we have secured funding for DOMINO in Swansea
and Neath Port Talbot. Thanks to all three SMATS for supporting
this project.
We presented the DOMINO Project in a conference some years ago
in Leeds. There were representatives from other countries - Japan,
India, and Finland who wanted representatives from the DOMINO Project
to visit them. They too could see how it links into all areas of
the treatment menu on offer at WGCADA. I have mentioned this invitation
before verbally, but this is the first time for me express it formally.
DOMINO is also celebrating this year having won two more awards
(which makes three in total. - marvellous!)
The first award was presented on April 28th from the Safer Swansea
Partnership and in May 2004 they were presented with an AFAL Award
(Awards for Food Action Locally) and will receive £2000, a
celebratory fruit bowl and a certificate for investment into the
healthy eating initiative.
We are establishing the Bridgend Agency and continue developing
various areas as appropriate. The growth of the company does not
come without its problems. Management and staff are working hard
in preparing and completing new policies, contracts and management
restructuring. All of this is to comply with DANOS requirements.
WGCADA has now taken on professional legal guidance and support
to compile and portfolio this work. The management and admin staff
who have worked on this - I am really grateful to you all - thank
you.
Board members. This year we welcome four new Trustees, representatives
from our Joint Commissioners and a new Treasurer. Sadly we say goodbye
to Tony Edwards and thank him for his contribution and support to
WGCADA.
FUTURE
I feel after reading this report it is obvious to me that we really
need to concentrate and consolidate the new and exciting projects
that we are working on. We need to prioritise what what our intentions
are regarding funding applications. We have one dedicated Family
Worker in Swansea; one Family and Young Persons Worker in Neath
and Port Talbot. We need to expand WGCADA's Pre-Treatment Programmes
and also need a Young Person's Worker for our younger clients, not
just the younger user group, but the hidden thousands of them who
are affected by anothers, drinking.
However, there is a limit to the space we have to accommodate workers.
I feel WGCADA has proved that we have used capital monies wisely,
in particular in acquiring the two new buildings in Neath. The savings
on rent have enabled us to plough money back into services but WGCADA
would also like the assembly to make available capital money on
top of the revenue funding that is available. To end this report
I would like to thank everybody who has helped, supported, funded
and all our voluntary workers and WGCADA's staff.
Thank you
And thank you Alan Douglas for having the vision 25 years ago.
Introduction
West Glamorgan Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Ltd. Company Number
4206135 - Charity Number 1087685 operates an Advice and Treatment
Service from its premises in Swansea,
Neath (2), Port
Talbot, Bridgend, HMP
Swansea and Carat Workers in five Welsh Prisons. The Centre was
founded in 1979 as the Alcohol Advice Centre.
The object of the Centre of WGCADA as defined in its Constitution,
is to promote the Diagnosis, Treatment, Prevention and Rehabilitation
of Alcohol/Drug (Substance Abuse) with all the incidental services
relating thereto within the area of South and East Wales.
Organisation and Management
WGCADA is run by the Board of Directors/Trustees
who meet every six weeks. The Trustees have delegated to the Chief
Executive the day-to-day management of the Company, top follow consistently
in accordance with the policies appropriate for the Company. On
a daily basis the work of the Project is completed by paid staff
and experienced trained volunteers who are overseen by the relevant
Project Managers.
The Report
This year, once again, sees a change in the format of the report.
We have attempted to portray WGCADA from two different viewpoints
- namely ourselves and from the clients' perspective - in order
to show exactly what WGCADA offers in this our 25th anniversary
year. The body of the report remains basically the same in that
we show statistics regarding each Agency and includes items from
the Chief Executive, Chairman, and Managers of the Agencies/Projects.
We have also included a report from the DOMINO
Project this year in order to show a better overall view of
what they offer. The histories of the Agencies have been removed
and we have replaced it with a general overview of all the services
offered within WGCADA, as we feel we all operate under one umbrella
and not as separate agencies.
In other words we are always looking to improve, and hopefully
next years report will be different again in that it will tell you
more about us.
Individual Reports:
Senior Counsellors Report: Swansea
Area Project Managers Report Neath
and Port Talbot 2003 - 2004
List of funders
League of Friends Annual Report
Case Studies and Personal Stories
AGM statistics (Print friendly Adobe
PDF version)
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