Categories: uncategorized
Date: 17 May 2007 18:15:14
Working with drug and alcohol users is such hard work sometimes. The clients themselves are generally nice people who have really rubbish lives at times and find themselves in utterly unmanageable situations. I get to see people when they are at their most vulnerable, having admitted that they are out of control and (usually) asking for help. Admittedly you also get those who have no intention of cleaning up and are there to keep the courts/probation officer/family member happy, but you can spot them a mile off and know that they will rarely make it through.
However, whilst I love the client work there are few things that I find more distressing and irritating than that amount of paperwork The National Treatment Agency are foisting on us. The amount of statistics they expect us to collect is utterly unreasonable and they seem to have little or no idea about the impact that this has on our ability to do our jobs. Don't get me wrong, I know we have to have decent statistics to prove our worth, but the amount they want seems ridiculous. My impression of the NTA is that it comprises of a bunch of people who have never been near a drug treatment agency in their life and wouldn't know what to say to a drug user if they sat in front of them.
My working life is no longer about working therapeutically with clients, promoting change, working with their ambivalence, liaising with other professionals and supporting, encouraging and challenging individuals. It is about filling in stupid bits of paper to keep a bunch of suits happy.
I don't need to prove to the NTA that I am good at my job. I know I am. The outcomes of my clients speak for themselves. The new jobs they have. The fact they can hold down a tenancy. The change from injecting illicit drugs to being stable on a treatment programme. The college courses that individuals undertake which would have been impossible whilst they were in the throes of illicit drug use. The improvement in their family relationships. The trust that they have in me as their key-worker which is shown by their willingness to talk about childhood abuse and mistreatment. The babies that are born dependent who grow up to be thriving, happy and beautiful children. The fact that some clients become free from dependency to all drugs. All of these things speak far more to me about success than knowing exactly how long it takes to get someone into treatment or the length of time they engage for.
It seems to me that the only people who need to prove themselves to the NTA is the NTA themselves.