Your RESET newsletter needs you!
We proudly present the December bulletin of the RESET Newsletter, issue number 2, which we hope you enjoy and find useful. We found creating it hugely satisfying and enjoyable in many ways and loved most of it. We also found it a lot of work and very time consuming as we are a very small unit. In fact, mostly there are just two of us doing everything so we would welcome anyone interested in views, news, ideas, comments, complaints and anything else you wish to add. As always at RESET, inclusion is the key, so we need people to participate and get involved if it’s going to do what it sets out to, which is to provide a space for conversations that need to be had and a vehicle for communication and change. We need roving reporters, feature writers and fact finders of all ages and types. Send in any artwork, favourite recipes, personal stories and any other contributions you like. It doesn’t matter if you can’t spell or have no experience or your English is not perfect, if you want to come and see what you can do to add to the process you are very welcome and will be much appreciated. Reset is a multicultural community and we would love to reflect that in our workforce. As well as being fun, it’s an experience that might be a stepping stone to the future. We would like you to be part of something new. If you are interested, please email us at [email protected] or ask your keyworker to put you in touch.
Please share this information within your networks.
Charles and Sarah
To everyone at RESET and Change Grow Live
We wish you all a healthy, happy and successfully sober Christmas!
If you need extra support over the holidays you can find a list of helplines open during the festive period on our website, as well as other useful advice and support about recovery.
Virtual Christmas Celebration with RESET
Join us on Thursday 17th December 11am – 1pm.
Our celebration will be held on Microsoft Teams. You can access the meeting link by emailing Alan Briggs (BRIC Team Leader) on [email protected].
11:00 – Welcome and introductions
11:15 – Special greeting
11:20 – Celebrating recovery
12:20 – Guest performance
12:45 – RESET Christmas message
12:55 – Closing comments
Change Grow Live RESET updates
End of year summary
Working to a 5 year plan, Change Grow Live treated 1949 people in the last year, of whom 365 are still in recovery. 18% left treatment with a job. Accommodation is improving.
New Building Update
Service users will be able to look around the new building (The Alma, 41 Spelman Street, London, E1 5LQ) and come up with suggestions. Hopefully building, planning and work should be completed by the end of the year. Aiming to be in occupation for January 2021. Whitechapel will become the centre for treatment while the new building will be given over to recovery. Suggestions and enquiries from service users essential and welcome. Contact Alan Briggs.
Latest coronavirus info
While we are pleased to hear that there is now a vaccine for coronavirus, we want to remind everyone to please continue to wash your hands regularly, wear a mask and keep a good social distance. Find out more about our local area and what this means for you on the Tower Hamlets local council website.
Mutual Aid Group - Christmas message from Gary
So everyone, our Mutual Aid group (held every Friday at 11am) has been running for many years now. It gives service users experience around 12 step recovery. We have speakers from Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous sharing experiences, strength and hope, and busting some of the myths around 12 step recovery, thereby giving service users another option in their choice of recovery capital. They can, in their own time, make informed decisions about their support needs.
We will be running Christmas Mutual Aid – members sharing their difficulties over this period and the impact of COVID-19 within recovery.
Wishing everyone a Happy Christmas and a safe one.
Regards,
Gary Broadway, Recovery Worker
Alfie’s Christmas Eve Risotto
Roasted tomatoes and mushroom risotto with asparagus, mixed nuts, and parmesan. An easy delicious wholesome meal to feed the family that should keep them going until the feast.
See the full recipe hereTransmission from the Mothership
A message from Rachel Palethorpe, Head of Reset Recovery & Treatment Support Services
“What a challenging year this has been! COVID-19 has been a brand new experience for us all and I know we have all had to adapt and respond in different and creative ways and I am sure I am not alone in saying, at times, it has been very scary indeed. We have seen a huge increase in demand for services within addiction, including a need to review how we do things, like groupwork, prescribing and work with our pharmacy colleagues to reach as many people as we can. While we by no means have got everything spot on, we have learnt a lot and are continuing to learn together. We at RESET Treatment and Recovery want to thank all our service users, partners and the community for your resilience and outright bravery in facing this extraordinary time with us. We also want to extend our deepest sympathies to anyone who has lost a loved one through COVID 19 – we think of you often and we wish you all a peaceful and safe holidays and look forward to taking on the year 2021 together with renewed vigour and passion for helping and supporting all those affected by substance misuse in Tower Hamlet.”
Black Lives Matter – Maame Gyimah
"Staff and Volunteers have been engaging in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Forum (now the Race Equality Forum) following the tragic death of George Floyd in USA this year and the outrage that followed. In the UK we heaved sighs of relief and said 'glad we're not as bad as America'. Is that so?
Some facts from the United Kingdom to think on… young black men are nine times more likely to go to jail than white ones and more likely to be stopped, searched and arrested without reason and for exercising their right not to be. Black pregnant women are five times more likely to die in childbirth than white women due to the myth that 'black women feel less pain’ so symptoms of complications are ignored. Black males in psychosis are more likely to be sectioned or left unsupported by mental health agencies. In society black people have felt we need to do more to achieve a level playing field - to do more to be successful, to do more to 'fit in’. In the workplace microaggressions have been rife with black people being labelled as 'aggressive' or 'passive aggressive' when they have been assertive.
The forum has been a space where staff have been able to share experiences within the organisation, in everyday life and work with service users. I will encourage service users to have a space where you might be able to share your own experiences of race and we can begin to foster a better experience at RESET for all.
I urge us all as humans to look within and understand where some of our biases are coming from; are they myth or fact? What things can be unlearned or addressed? Most importantly look at the way we treat each other.”
Maame Gyimah, Designated Safeguarding Lead