Open Hands – Coventry
Why?
The number of alcohol-related deaths in the UK 1991 was 4,144 and rose to 8,386 in 2005. In Coventry, a small number of recovering alcoholics wanted to respond to the growing need that they saw in their area. Graham Caldicott, who works at
Open Hands, explains that a small proportion of alcoholics in the area are referred to an NHS unit in Warwick. However the stay at the unit is only for an average of two weeks and there were no residential rehabilitation facilities in the local area, meaning that when discharged most of them returned to their old environments and many started drinking again.
The group of men, with links to the Anglican and Catholic church, saw the need around them and, as Graham explains ‘Their inspiration stemmed from the fact that they had all managed to rebuild sober and responsible lives using the twelve-step recovery programme’ He goes on to say ‘One can say that the project was God inspired and they felt a need to pass on the gift of sobriety they had received’
How?
The project provides residential accommodation for six men at any one time, for a period of up to one year. Open Hands has a three-man project management team, and in addition to this each resident has the support of a mentor who visits the house weekly.
The project receives referrals from three local agencies; the Community Alcohol Service, the Salvation Army, and the Anchor Centre, and aims to help recovering alcoholics to live sober and contented lives. The way in which they seek to achieve this is, as Graham puts it ‘Instead of returning to their previous drinking environments after de-tox, they come to live in a safe, stable and homely place, which is a ‘dry’ environment.’
Outcomes
Graham says that the Mustard grant from the Church Urban Fund ‘"kick started" the project and enabled it to develop quite rapidly’. It enabled consultation with potential clients, as well as contact with other agencies working in the local area, to think about the need as well as methods of referral.
The five residents currently in the house have been living there for four months, and have all remained sober and ‘have demonstrated a commitment to long-term recovery’ Graham sums it up like this ‘We as staff have been privileged to witness a radical transformation of their lives, from ‘hopeless’ alcoholics to clean and sober citizens who are becoming increasingly empowered to live freely and released from dependency on alcohol.’
Next Steps
The Community Alcohol Service, one of the local agencies who refer people to
Open Hands,
has indicated that there are more clients that could be referred than places in the house. In light of this the project has several exciting goals for the future, including plans to open a house for women, a ‘wet’ house for those who are not yet sober, and also some form of sheltered accommodation as the next step for residents leaving the house.