Success Story – On-Boarding Forward Trust ‘Medway Service’

ILLY Systems empowers our partners to provide support to vulnerable adults and young people impacted by drug and alcohol misuse.

In March 2023, we were excited to welcome the RIVER Service in Medway – delivered in partnership by Forward Trust and Open Road – into the ILLY Community.
Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, with a population of around 280,000 – of which over 80% of the population is above 18.

The RIVER Service Medway is a community-based treatment and recovery service, looking to address a number of challenges across the area – not just around drug / alcohol use, but also around tackling homelessness, rough sleeping and the continuation of care for prison leavers.

The service is available to anyone over the age of 18 who require support around their own or others’ substance use, with packages of care tailored to individual support needs being delivered by specialist recovery workers. This comprehensive approach combines preventative and protective measures, with workers co-located within partner agencies to engage people earlier, as well as delivering outreach services to identify individuals that may be difficult or resistant to engage.  

How does the RIVER Service Medway help?

Forward Trust’s RIVER (Responsive, Inspirational, Visible, Empowering, and Recovery Oriented) service is dedicated to assisting individuals impacted by drug and alcohol use through a range of interventions, including:

  • One-to-one support
  • Group Programmes
  • Needle Exchange services
  • Peer Support
  • Family Support
  • Outreach

Through close partnership working with Open Road, the RIVER service is able to offer a comprehensive package of Recovery support – this same model has proved successful in other areas too – such as Southend, you can read more about this service here. 

We recently met with Svajune Ulinskiene (Service manager – RIVER Forward Trust), Pedro Rodriguez (East Kent and Southend Data Control Manager) and Colin Chatwin (Senior Admin –  Forward Trust) who kindly contributed their perspectives on the project, please see video above.

Would you like to find out more?

It is through collaborative working, and the sharing of data and information, that we can help build an approach that can improve our communities and evolve the way we work with vulnerable clients. 

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:

+44 (0)20 4566 5727
clientservices@illycorp.com