The History of Turning Point – the landmarks
Turning Point, originally named Helping Hand, was founded by Barry Richards in 1964 with the opening of the Camberwell Alcohol Project. Further London alcohol services followed and then in 1969, Helping Hand began its first work with drug users at Suffolk House, also in London.
In 1972, with three alcohol and two drug projects in the London area, Helping Hand made its first move to another part of the country and opened the alcohol service, Richards House, in Manchester. By 1985, the organisation which had been re-named Turning Point, was running 16 alcohol and five drug services around the country. That year saw major developments with the introduction of mental health services, beginning with two services, one in the East Midlands and one in the North West.
As expansion in substance misuse and mental health continued, Turning Point developed even further in the early nineties by setting up learning disability services - the first were in Wiltshire in 1991. Turning Point’s first prison based project at HMP Pentonville was opened in 1997 and marked the beginning of extensive work within the criminal justice system.
The organisation moved into Wales in 2000 with a DTTO (drug treatment and testing order) project, later followed by learning disability services. In 2001, Turning Point became the largest provider of the new progress2work employment schemes, opening 12 services country wide.
In its 40 years, Turning Point has grown from a pioneering alcohol project in South East London to become the UK’s leading social care organisation, working in the areas of substance misuse, mental health and learning disability.
We have gone from supporting a handful of street drinkers in 1964 to making contact with over 100,000 people in the last year. Our approach of focussing on people, not problems, has been a common thread across the decades and has enabled us to expand successfully into new areas. Increasingly, we are able to share learning between our different areas of expertise to provide connected care that meets a range of needs, providing better and more effective support for the individual.
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