Social Work Intervention In The United Kingdom

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A Perspective on the Drug Abuse Situation, Policies and Social Work Intervention in the United Kingdom Abusing drugs can apply to legal or illegal substances and they can be taken in a wide variety of ways to get them into the blood stream. It refers to a situation whereby most of the person’s life is taken over by the need to obtain and consume drugs. It is better call a person drug dependent, where dependency is a compulsion to keep taking drugs. Dependency can be physical, psychological or both. In the former case, the heavy use of drugs like alcohol, heroin or tranquillisers changes the body chemistry so that the withdrawal of the drug causes symptoms that can be very severe and requires more of the drug or supportive withdrawal under…show more content…
In the 1960s and 1970s attempts to understand social deviance made links with the culture of the individual. Often linked to social class and conformity to a different set of cultural norms and values that than the mainstream. This could result in tension and individuals feeling cut off from society. (Downs and Rock, 2003). Drugs can be a normal practice within a sub culture where there is a rejection of the usual rules of the society. This can have a two fold effect. Firstly, it can lead to more punitive policies to counteract this but secondly, it implies that for a large number of people drug use is normal (Blackman, 2004). Recent researches have shown that recreational use of drugs is not necessarily a short term activity or experiment linked to peers, but is an activity that endures. Further more young adults start the habit without using during their adolescence and others who had stopped decided to restart when older (Parker et al., 1998) The normalization of drug use has huge implications for social work profession. Certainly drugs will be encountered by professions in their practice and simplistic response of ‘just stop or else’ will not do. Drugs are a reality and social work practice needs to catch up to embrace this added complexity in its work with clients (Anthony,…show more content…
These apply to all types of substance misusers. Tier 1 is for services that are available for a wide range of clients and are not necessarily solely for drug and alcohol treatment. Tier 1 services are offered by a number of different professionals including social workers, teachers, probation officers, housing, homeless persons units, medical services etc., Such professionals need to be sufficiently trained and supported to work with drug (and alcohol) misusers who, as a group, are often marginalized from and find difficulty in, assessing general health and social care services (NTA, Models of Care, 2002). Tier 2 is for alcohol and drug services that have low threshold to access and it includes self-referrals. These services include information and advice, needle exchange and general support that does not form part of the care plan. Tier 3 services are reserved for drug and alcohol misusers in structured programmes. It includes psychotherapeutic interventions such as cognitive 4 behavioural interventions, motivational interviewing, structured counseling, community detoxification or day care. Tier 4 services are divided into 4a and 4b. Tier 4a is residential drug and alcohol misuse specific services that are aimed at individuals with high level of need. This level is accessed via tiers 2 and 3 and requires strong commitment by the client. Services include inpatient
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