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Over the past year, our communities have continued to face significant challenges, including the rise of potent synthetic drugs and health threats that put vulnerable populations at greater risk. As we address these emerging issues, innovative approaches have become essential to making our communities safer and more resilient. At the ILLY Commissioner’s Forum 2024, our theme, “Innovation: Reducing Harm for Safer Communities,” will focus on advancing strategies that not only address today’s pressing problems but also build long-term solutions. This year’s forum will feature expert discussions, case studies, and best practices to inspire new thinking and collaboration. |
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Some of the key challenges we will tackle include:
We warmly invite you to be part of the discussion – and we hope that like us, you may learn something new and be inspired by the innovative approaches that are being taking within the sector. Let’s work together to reduce harm and build safer, healthier communities. Date: Thursday 7th November 10:30am to 12:30pm If you have any questions or would like to find out more, please get in touch with our Client Services Team and we’ll be happy to help:
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Guest SpeakersDarren Nicholas – Cranstoun – Drug Diversion and West Midlands Buvidal Pilot |
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Darren has over 20 years of experience in delivering criminal justice and substance use services. This has included frontline and leadership roles in the charity sector, Prison services, Probation services, and with the police. This has been in both community and residential services, including Independent Approved Premises. Darren joined Cranstoun in 2016 and for many years led one of our high performing integrated substance use services offering support and treatment to both adults and young people. Darren is passionate about supporting and empowering people to make positive changes in their lives. |
| Louise Hansford, Chris Heaps and Robert Fair – NHS Inclusion – Hep C U Later |
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| Louise, Chris and Rob will be discussing the NHS Provider Alliance’s ‘Hep C U Later’ program, aimed at eliminating Hep-C from their services for good. Their team has had great success in micro-elimination by using data to achieve this.
Louise: – Louise is a registered Public Health Practitioner and has worked in the field for 18 years. Since 2020, she has worked for NHS Addictions Providers Alliance on the Hep C U Later program. She works across 6 large NHS Trusts overseeing hepatitis C improvement strategies, data quality and innovation projects. Her career with hepatitis C began in 2012, when she set up the award-winning Hep C Hants P2P project (Peer to Peer) which has seen over 600 successfully treated. Louise defines herself as being in long term recovery and has been abstinent from crack, heroin and crime for 20 years. She is passionate about empowering people to make changes and tackling discrimination. Chris: – Chris Heaps is a Data Analyst with Hep C U Later and his experience of working as a data lead in drug services gives him detailed knowledge of how data processes work in practice. Chris developed the process for data validation of the Hepatitis C Dashboard data, helping to ensure reliable and robust reporting. Before joining Hep C U Later Chris worked as a Data Administrator for Inclusion Recovery Hampshire and is well versed in working with NDTMS data as well as the wider data which can be collected and analysed. Rob: – Rob Fair is a Data Analyst with Hep C U Later, he leads on developing dashboards for the Hep C U later team and has been in post from the beginning of the project in 2019. Rob created the Power BI dashboards used in micro-elimination of Hepatitis C across the Addition Providers Alliance. This involves the collection and processing of data from a number of different systems including Illy Carepath. Before joining Hep C U Later he worked for a substance misuse service doing data analytics. Rob has worked in the public and private sector as a systems developer and in recent years has specialised in data analytics. |
| Deborah Hussey and Nat Travis – Turning Point – Contaminated Drugs and Nitazines |
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| Deb and Nat will be discussing the impact of contaminated drugs, particularly the emergence of Nitazines, on our communities as well as the approaches that Turning Point have been using to tackle this challenge head on.
Deb: – Deb Hussey is Turning Point’s National Safer Lives Lead. She has worked in the drug and alcohol sector for over 12 years, starting out as a volunteer in a city centre drug service, and has spent all of her career in harm reduction focussed roles. In 2021 she came to Turning Point as a Harm Reduction manager, before moving into the Safer Lives role in 2022. As Safer Lives lead Deb supports Turning Point’s harm reduction strategy and has a focus on widening the availability of naloxone and developing interventions to reduce avoidable overdose deaths. Nat: – Nat is a dedicated professional who began her career in mental health services as a Healthcare Support Worker before discovering her passion for working in substance use. Nat is also a keen supporter of making treatment more accessible and appealing to women, and she currently sits on the Collective Voice Women in Treatment working group. Her dedication to the field of substance use and mental health services is evident in the passion and commitment she brings. |