Following Shropshire Council being awarded £1.4 million following a successful bid for funding to support rough sleepers and those at risk of rough sleeping via the Rough Sleepers Drug and Alcohol Treatment Grant provided by the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) commissioned partners have worked together to establish the RESET project.

The project will support the county in meeting the intended outcomes of the national drug strategy by helping to reduce drug-related deaths, reducing alcohol-related hospital admissions and increasing the number of successful individuals in treatment.

RESET is a multi-agency team (MDT) that provides holistic wrap-around support and drug and alcohol treatment for rough sleepers and those at risk of rough sleeping across the county.  Partners of the project are Shropshire Council, Shropshire Recovery Partnership, the Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust (MPFT), Shropshire Domestic Abuse Service (SDAS), The Shrewsbury Ark and Intuitive Thinking Skills.

The RESET Project design and implementation has required close working between partners and key stakeholders to ensure that a robust service is available to those in need of support. RESET have been operational as a team since February and have been able to provide wrap around support to those engaged with the project.

The project has the resource of a harm reduction outreach van that will ensure that the project has a county wide focus and will serve as a tool to connect potential service users with a wide range of support from across the RESET partnership.

The following case study provide an overview of the partnership work that has been undertaken by the RESET project.

Case Study 1: RL's RESET TREATMENT AND RECOVERY JOURNEY.

RL is a 35-year-old male who struggles with opiate, crack cocaine and alcohol addiction. He injects daily into the groin, which puts him at risk of overdose with continued use of illicit substances. He is also at risk of blood-borne viruses with injecting, sepsis and endocarditis due to self-neglect of physical health. RL has engaged with services in the past but has struggled to maintain consistent engagement.

Since RESET engaged with RL he has been prescribed a supervised Methadone treatment of 60ml daily at the pharmacy.  He has begun to regularly engage with the wider RESET team and medical reviews where he is looking to titrate further.

RL is known to self-neglect his physical health and has missed hospital appointments in the past. He sleeps on the streets with his brother or occasionally sofa surfs. RL can access the Ark where the wider RESET team can engage regularly.

The main effort is to provide ongoing support, through specifically the Recovery Worker, ITS and housing on his long-term recovery plan. The focus remains on detox/rehab and mental health treatment.

RL has made significant progress since RESET started to engage with him.  Whilst there is a long path of treatment ahead, the RESET model of trust building, extensive, detailed and co-ordinated wrap-around care plans and regular engagement has allowed RL to take ownership of his life and his treatment.