A Day in the Life…of a Substance Misuse Outreach Worker for the Youth Team.

Posted on | July 7, 2010 | No Comments

A snapshot of a ‘typical’ day in the life, working with young people who misuse drugs and alcohol…

First thing, I go to see a 15 year old boy at his school. He was open and excited about discussing his previous weekend’s activities, but my necessary ‘harm reduction’ chat highlighted several individual circumstances over the course of his weekend which could be quite dangerous and that he was ill prepared for. For instance telling his Mum that he was staying with a mate, but playing second fiddle to a mate’s female interest and consequently sleeping outside of the tent in the wet, drunk.I was pleased that he’d taken note of previous sexual health sessions, but disappointed that I couldn’t provide him with any condoms on school grounds. I made a note to improve his access to condoms.The session ended with an inspection of his feet as he’d lost his shoes running from the police and his feet had been wet ‘for days’. We then discussed the subject of visiting a doctor, should he feel anything was wrong. Increasing his risk assessment skills is always worth visiting and as he is a young adolescent whose cognitive abilities limit his forward thinking and consequential understanding and he’s just discovered sex, drugs and how to sneak out of his bedroom window.

New clients can often be ambivalent or scared to see me but I always find first encounters the most interesting. Having any tentative ‘gut feelings’ thrown about, reminds you not to turn first impressions into assumptions or judgements; the kid dragged in coercively by his older sister may actually stick it out and make positive changes whereas perhaps the ‘totally committed’ self-referral is not seen or heard from again…keeps me on my toes! A string of new referrals means responding afresh to what they bring; the variety of drugs, including the ‘legal highs’ (everything except only tobacco); talking about harm reduction in case they don’t return; figuring out if the referral is appropriate and the extent of the ‘problem’ use ( is it just because they’ve been caught? Is the use for pleasure or escape? );What haven’t they told me yet and are they being consistent in their story? (and what might it mean if they are not?); Have they understood correctly all that I’ve said to reduce harm? (Eating weed is an option but reducing harm to lungs doesn’t make it ‘safe’, and certainly not ‘healthy’!!). All this and engaging in a friendly and safe manner, taking notes, keeping the momentum so I don’t bore them, getting caught up in a ‘Skins’ sidetrack issue and keeping an eye out for child protection issues. The gel cards help relieve the pressure of eye contact and loosens the tongue and no matter what age, levels of ambivalence or degrees of ‘hardness’, the lolly at the end to say well done for actually getting here, for walking through the door, always puts a smile on their faces.

One client turned up stoned and got more horizontal as the session progressed. It was only once I returned to the room having escorted him out that I realised how powerful the smell was in the room and how stoned he’d probably been. I asked him not to be so freshly stoned when I texted him the morning reminder for the next session. Such a distinctive role in a small town is not without its consequences, my dad was rather surprised one evening as we were waiting in the chippy queue to hear me greeted as ‘that druggy lady’!