About ARCH Bradford

Our mission is ‘to inspire

and empower recovery

from substance misuse’

  
Advice
Rehabilitation
Counselling
Health

WHO DO WE HELP?

• Are you over 18 years old
• Do you live in Bradford, Keighley or Shipley
• Do you have issues with drugs / alcohol (including Legal Highs)
• Are drugs / alcohol affecting your ability to work, relationships, sleep pattern and leading you to do things you wouldn't normally
• Are you feeling bad tempered / mood swings, anxious, emotional, low in mood and feel this may be due to drug / alcohol use
• Are you currently involved, have you previously been involved or are you at risk of getting involved in the Criminal Justice System
• Do you want help

WHAT DO WE DO?

ARCH offers advice, information, support and treatment to help you break the cycle of substance misuse and crime.

Support is offered on an individual basis and / or through an extensive group work programme.

You can access services right from the point of arrest, throughout a Prison sentence and in the community.

HOW DO WE DO IT?

You will be allocated a Case Manager who can support you to put together an agreed recovery plan which addresses your priorities and enables you to achieve your goals. This could be looking at accessing other services that might help you such as: Housing, Benefits, Health, Prescribing and Mutual Aid.

ARCH will do their best to support you because Recovery means more to us than being free of substances.

Groups on offer at ARCH:

• Breakfast Group
• Check in Group
• Check out Group
• MAAEZ (Introduction to 12 Steps)
• SMART Recovery
• Cannabis
• Music
• Mindfulness Based Relapse Prevention
• Lunch Group
• Well Being
• Core Group
• Life Skills
• Self Esteem & Confidence
• Women's Group
• Men's Group
• Transform Group

Groups are delivered at:

• ARCH Office in Shipley
• Fraternal House
• Unity & The Vault
• Together Women's Project (TWP)

Workers also available at:

• Keighley Probation
• Project 6
• Piccadilly Project
• Bradford Dayshelter

HOW TO CONTACT US:

 Call or Text: 07530088090 or Call 01274 809800
                          
 Speak to your worker, ask them to make a referral to us and we will contact you

 www.facebook.com/ARCHBradford/


  @ARCHBradford




 http://www.archfutures.com/

We are dedicated to enhancing the health

and wellbeing of people and communities.

 

We aim to do this through innovative,

high quality and effective services

that value the individual, transform

lives and build brighter futures.

  

Rebuilding family relationships

MG had been in an out of prison several times and had a history of non engagement.  She did not have stable accommodation and when she started working with ARCH Bradford, she was using large amounts of heroin and crack and committed offences to fund this.

 

Since engaging with ARCH, MG has attended all treatment appointments and provided negative drug tests.

MG has now been referred to Unity Recovery Centre due to her being abstinent.

 

 

She has expressed an interest in mentoring and has started attending a course to achieve this.

Her worker has supported MG to have contact with her 2 young children which was a positive experience for all involved.  She is now in regular contact with them.

Work has been done with MG to obtain stable accommodation and she has now moved into her own flat.   She was referred to the Vicars Relief Fund when she was granted money towards her bond.

MG has not offended since her release from prison.

She has been abstinent since being released from prison in August 2015 and has engaged with ARCH, Probation and Bridge. She has now been transferred to Unity after providing numerous negative tests and is looking into becoming a volunteer. She has had contact with her children and is rebuilding relationships with her family.

 

 

You have moved me into a palace!

A 62 year old male was released from custody to find himself homeless in Barnsley.  Barnsley council referred him to Bradford Cyrenians.

He had a past history of using heroin and crack, and was street drinking alcohol daily when he came to Bradford.  He was evicted from Cyrenians for anti-social behaviour and presenting intoxicated.

Bradford Cold weather provision placed him in InnChurches.
Housing Options then placed him in a B&B in Shipley but due to his drinking and antisocial behaviour he was evicted.

I picked him up on street outreach and made a referral to Hope Housing; he was accepted and moved into a property in November 2014.

The policy at the property was for clients to leave at 8.30am and not return until 5.30pm. During this time he started to drink daily, commit shop theft and smoke legal highs.  He was also being financially abused.  His life was spiralling out of control; his physical and mental health were a major concern.

We attended at the Piccadilly project but he did not want to engage. Together we worked put a payday plan to protect him from being financially abused on pay days and to prioritise his needs according to where he wanted to be in the future.  Payday would often lead to being admitted to A & E, regularly discharging himself before he was seen or given appropriate treatment.

He was diagnosed with Hepatitis C and the hospital wanted him to start treatment.  He also had epilepsy, was diabetic, had undergone a triple heart bypass, suffered from high blood pressure and had recently experienced a mini stoke.

I moved him to Cyrenians and worked along side his keyworker.  He continued with the payday plan which was successful - this was measurable by less 999 calls, ambulance call outs and A & E attendances.  He was still being financially and physically abused however, and this resulted in him being admitted to hospital with fractured ribs and pneumonia.

The payday plan helped him to form a routine of paying two weekly top-up's to Cyrenians and two weeks in advance at Unity Café for breakfast and dinners.  This was a safe place for him; he started to eat regular meals and it encouraged him to remain alcohol free and attend The Vault Café groups.

The dilemma was finding appropriate supported accommodation for an elderly and physically poorly man where he could continue his sobriety.  I spoke to the manager at Peel Park House - a new housing project.  I took him for a viewing and assessment, he was accepted and moved in four weeks later. 

He now has a small contained fully-fitted and furnished new flat, with 24 hour support, financial support and alcohol support on site.  At the point of closing my client he had been alcohol free for the past 6 weeks, was not offending, is maintaining his property and buying items for his home on paydays.  Although his health was still a concern he stated he felt safe and able to address his issues now.

His words to me were "you have moved me into a palace".

 

Moira Mbye (ARCH Alcohol Outreach Worker)

 

 

ARCH Open Day

Our Mission:
"To Inspire and Empower Recovery from Substance Misuse"
Our Vision:
To change for the better, the lives of people affected by substance misuse. To contribute to creating a better, integrated, safer community. To be leading the way in delivering innovative, comprehensive and effective treatment services. To be an organisation in which everyone is committed to our philosophy and values and is enabled to attain their maximum potential.

 

 



You are cordially invited to come along and find out who we are and what we do. Please come and share a buffet lunch, have a look at our premises and have a chat with staff and service users.

At

Shipley Town Hall

On

Friday 17th April 2015 from 11:00am to 2:00pm

Please contact our main reception on 01274 809800 to let us know if you can attend
or if you have any questions

 

Transforming My Future

 

I'm part of the mentor programme for ARCH in Bradford and have been since 12^th of January 2015. I want to tell you a bit of my history and what lead me to working here now, so here is my story.



My struggles began when I was in my early teens, I’m not sure why, but I seemed to be on self destruct mode from about the age of 12. It began with rebellion and being awful at home, not doing anything I was asked and disappearing whenever I liked, soon after that I began drinking with my friends on a weekend and smoking cannabis. This continued until I was around 15 at which point I became pregnant, this caused my mental state to deteriorate further and after my daughter was born I developed post natal depression.

I managed to hold it together for a while, I had my own house, car and job. I was taking responsibility for my daughter, but I was not dealing with the depression and I continued to smoke cannabis and go out partying on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday every week. It was at this time I was introduced to other “party” drugs and I began to use those occasionally too.

Because I wasn’t dealing with the depression it continued to get worse, then a chance encounter on my way home from the pub one day, with a guy who said he worked in a rehab. He changed my life for ever.

The man infact didn't work in a rehab; he was actually a service user.  Unfortunately suffering with depression, low self esteem and no confidence I was an easy target for him.  When I began taking heroin I did not know what it was. I didn’t really have any understanding of it, I couldn’t understand

why this man I'd met could't stop taking it for me. That was my downfall, I tried it to see what was so good about it. I had some savings at that time, so as long as I was using he could too, looking back it sounds crazy that I would be so stupid .  As soon as the money was gone he was gone and I was left with an addiction with no idea how to stop it.

 

My addiction lead me to some very dark places, within the first few months I had been hospitalised because of breathing problems and I had lost my job.  I had to sign my daughter over to my parents to prevent social services getting involved. I lost my house and car. I lost everything. This made my depression even worse and I was now consumed with guilt about my daughter. The only way I could forget was to use, so that's what I did.

I was in active addiction for almost ten years and through out that time I experienced a lot of different issues. I experienced homelessness, I lived in derelict flats and once in a car that I owned at the time, I used many of the different services that were on offer. I had lost all my friends and because of the guilt I felt,  I stayed away from my family most of the time as I had convinced myself that my daughter was better off without me in her life.  The only people I had in my life now were other users so that’s who I surrounded myself with.  There were many times when I had no one and nothing, no where to live, no food to eat. That just served as a reminder of how I had failed and led me further into addiction. By now I was smoking crack most days as well as taking heroin, sometimes cannabis too and benzodiazepine, anything to make me forget how bad I felt.

Then in 2005 I found out that I was pregnant. By the time I found out I was almost five months pregnant, I knew it wasn’t my baby’s fault I was an addict and through bridge I gained a place at a residential rehab in Oldham. I moved there when I was 26 weeks pregnant.  During my time in there I did some group work and addressed some of my issues, I reduced my methadone and thankfully when my second daughter was born she was fine. 

When my daughter was born I had to move out of rehab. I had only been there 12 weeks. Nowhere near long enough to resolve all of the issues I had bottled up for so long. I moved back in with my parents but before long temptation got the better of me and I began using again. My parents threw me out and I moved in with a girl I met at the rehab, who had also relapsed. That lasted a couple of

weeks, I was still torn, trying to do what was best for my daughter but also satisfying my cravings, again this just made me feel more of a failure and more guilty.  Thankfully at this time I got a place in supported housing project for young mums, which was staffed. This gave me a chance to put a bit of distance between me and my “friends” as I knew my tenancy would be terminated if they suspected me of using . 

With the help of the staff at my housing I was able to begin doing a college course; this again was a great distraction and allowed me to make some new friends who at the time were a great distraction from using. I was still living in two worlds though doing college, looking after my daughter, maintaining my tenancy, but there were still times when I would use, mainly when I got paid.

This went on for the next year or so, I managed to successfully complete an access to higher education course and the first year of a Psychology degree whilst maintaining my two separate lives. At this time though, my new friends were taking a lot of cocaine and smoking weed and I would join in with this.

Although I had stopped using heroine and crack I was now using other drugs with my new friends. On top of this, the relationship I had began had turned very nasty, very quickly. I was physically and verbally abused for 2 and a half years and was made to feel like it was all my fault and just worthless in general. I was still on subutex and so was my partner.  After two and a half years I had a breakdown because of the mental stress the relationship was causing me, it was a really difficult position to be in. I was in a relationship with a man I loved, he said he loved me too but then he would physically and emotionally attack me for no reason. It got to a point where I was considering using heroine as an option for dealing with all this stress. I knew I had to get out, but I was very frightened about what would happen if I left him.

As a result of my breakdown I was referred to the community mental health team. I was suffering from anxiety, panic attacks and depression.  They referred me onto a course called stresspac which is a course run by the community mental health team that helps you to recognise what is causing you stress and also how to deal with it.  I had also had my name down on a waiting list for counselling from the together women project. I had been waiting for a few months and then I got a call whilst I was on the stesspac course, I began my counselling sessions the next week. I expected to go there and have loads of unresolved issues from when I was using. What actually happened was that I went there and with the help of my councillor I was able to see that the life I was living was not the life that I wanted to live, I wanted to change my life, I had been ready to change my life for a while and counselling opened my eyes to what I needed to do to make this happen.  I knew that walking away would mean having to walk away from everyone I knew but I was willing to do that.

On the 18^th of January 2012 I ended the relationship I was in. That was really scary, I didn't know how he would react, I had thrown him out loads of times before and it had resulted in various violent incidents and the police being called on many occasions. This time he just went, looking back I think he thought I would let him back in the next couple of days, as I had before.  That day I moved

in with my parents, by this time my relationship with them had improved a lot and they were really supportive of what I was doing. I never went back to my house again, only to pack up my things. I stayed with my parents for 2 months. During this time I went to see my worker at bridge and told her that I was now ready to do a serious reduction plan. We discussed it and a plan was made which would see me be clean of medication by the next January.

At this time I was still being hounded by my ex I had changed my phone number, address, email address, my daughters number, and he was still trying to access me through my parents and by turning up at my old house. I decided that I needed to move away for my own safety and the safety of the children.

At this time this was the best thing I did, I moved to the east coast where my sister lived with her husband and son, so I still had family support.  I managed to get a job in a warehouse, initially part time which quickly led to a full time trainee manager position. I loved it, I was able through work to slowly build my confidence and it was the best decision I ever made.
 

It was not all easy though, at the same time as I was going through the court process with my ex partner, working full time, my eldest daughter had stayed in Bradford when I left as she had only been at high school for four months and she did not want to change schools. My middle daughter really struggled with the move and was having trouble dealing with the things she had seen and the emotional abuse that she had suffered. I also had a one year old son to look after, it was a struggle at times, but I never once thought of using. I had made my decision. I was making our lives better for all of us and I loved being there for my children and the feeling that working and successfully running a home and paying my bills gave me.

We stayed there for 12 months, during which time I came off of subutex and for the first time in ten years was totally clean.  I maintained my home and job and loved being independent. I also managed to pay off some of the debts I had.  Due to my daughter needing additional support I moved back to Bradford to be near to my parents.

That was almost two years ago, as soon as I moved back my eldest daughter moved back in with me, I have since managed to pay off the rest of my debts and continued to move forward in my recovery. I continued to work as a gardener and cleaner as I liked the feeling that working and being independent gave me.

In summer of 2014 I applied for a job with ARCH. I was not successful in my application and I made a total mess of my interview. But I was so scared, that it was an achievement for me to come to the interview. I received good feedback and the day after I rang unity. I spoke to Tony who told me to go down the next day. When I got there he said that the nvq level 2 was starting that day, and if I wanted I could start, so I did.

I completed that course with the intention of volunteering at unity to gain some experience working in this area. On the day of my graduation at unity I found out that I had an interview at ARCH for the position of mentor.

I had a rough idea of how the interview would be so was able to keep my anxiety in check this time, and I got the job,  this was in December last year, a great Christmas present for me !

I started my job on the 12^th of January and am thoroughly enjoying it. I’m learning lots too. I have also started the level 3 nvq in health and social care at foster college. 

For me I just keep learning and developing every day, and try to be the best I can be. It’s taken a lot of work, but it has been more than worth it. I hope that reading this you realise that you can be who you want to be too; it is in your power to make the changes.

One Day At A Time

 There are two days in every week about which I should not worry,
two days which should be kept from fear and apprehension. One of
these days is yesterday, with its mistakes and cares, its faults and
blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond
our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday.
We cannot undo a single act we performed. We cannot erase a single
word we said. Yesterday is gone beyond recall.

Do I still worry about what happened yesterday?

The other day we should not worry about is tomorrow, with its
possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and perhaps its
poor performance. Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control.
Tomorrow's sun will rise, either in splendour or behind a mask of
clouds, but it will rise! Until it does, we have no stake in tomorrow,
for it is as yet unborn.

Do I still worry too much about tomorrow?

This leaves only one day - today. Anyone can fight the battles of just
one day. It is only when you and I add the burden of those two awful
eternities, yesterday and tomorrow, that we break down. It is not the
experience of the day that drives us mad. It is the remorse or
bitterness for something that happened yesterday or the dread of
what tomorrow may bring. Let us therefore do our best to live but
onc day at a time.

Am I living one day at a time?