Suffolk Drug and Alcohol Service

Our team includes recovery workers, support workers, peer mentors, volunteers, doctors, nurses and psychologists. There are lots of different people who can offer their support, knowledge and encouragement to help you achieve your recovery. We also work closely with our partners Iceni and Anglia Care Trust to offer a wide range of support for families in Ipswich and carers.

One of our team will support you to build a treatment plan based on your circumstances. To get the best of our treatment options you will need to commit to attending the sessions.

Adult Service

Suffolk Drug and Alcohol Service is offering support to adults, young people and families when and where they most need it. Our services are free.    

We understand that drugs and alcohol can affect many areas of your life. At Turning Point, we get to know you as a person, to understand exactly what you need to start your recovery and live a healthier life. There are many paths to a life free from drugs and alcohol and together we can find the path that's right for you. 

Dedicated youth service 

Suffolk Drug and Alcohol Service (SDAS) Foundations works with young people up to 21 or 25 if there are additional vulnerabilities. Offering them drug and alcohol support, education and advice in the community at a location that makes engaging in sessions easy.   

We also offer a service for those affected by someone else’s use, no matter their age.  

If there is an adult who is looking for support then there is dedicated support for them, giving them a bespoke support offer so they can learn new ways of looking at the situation and coping with its impact.  

If there is a child or young person affected by someone they loves use then we can offer them dedicated support through our young service.  

The person wanting support does not have to be living with the drug or alcohol user, the user does not have to be in treatment.  

We can offer support to family, extended family, friends and carers.  

We know it can be hard loving someone when you do not understand their choices – let us help.  

We see clients in any number of different locations, such as schools, housing providers, their GP or even their home.

What Turning Point youth services can offer: 

• Outreach service
• Comprehensive assessment
• Non-judgmental and confidential service 
• Individualised care plan – looking at all aspects of a young person’s life (school/work/relationships/family), and who else can support them to improve their lives 
• One to one weekly sessions with their named keyworker 
• Information, advice and guidance to help the young person make informed choices  
• Drug and Alcohol education  
• Support to look at their drug or alcohol and its impact
• Support to cut down, gain control or quit
• Support understand what other support there is out there for them so they can build their own legacy support plan 
• Group work sessions to help groups of friends understand drugs or alcohol more 
• Clinical interventions – substitute prescribing, Blood Born Virus testing and vaccination 
• Support for parents and care givers to learn more about drugs and alcohol  
• Specialist support for those who are affected by someone else’s drug or alcohol use – this can be a child, young person, young adult or an adult.  
• Drug awareness sessions for professionals 
• If a young person is using drugs or alcohol, wants to learn more about them, is at risk of using, has used in the past, wants to make more informed choices about their use, is affected by someone else’s use, wants to cut down or stop then we can support them.
• They need to know about the referral.
• The support is tailored to the young person’s needs as well as their presentation – if they do not really want to engage with us, or see no issue with their use then we will make sure that we make the intervention fit this ambivalence and support them to go away from the sessions with new knowledge and understanding.   The service for those affected by someone else’s use is specifically to support family through the complex, lonely and sometimes scary journey of someone else’s use. It gives loved ones a dedicated space for them and teaches useful tools and skills to help change the narrative between the user and their loved ones, which can in turn be impactful when it comes to change.
• We work in partnership with other support agencies to help young people build a community-based legacy support plan.  We never want to work with a young person on our own, we want to find ways to reconnect them to their communities and help them become more confident to thrive. Drug and alcohol use, poor mental health and external pressures can cause a young person to disconnect from their family, their friends and their community, we want to be part of supporting their reconnection. To bridge the lonely back into belonging   Many young people use drugs or alcohol to deal with their mental health issues, past trauma or emotional pain. This can be a barrier to engagement in Mental health support services. Our service can help – a referral to us can support a joint care plan looking at mental health interventions alongside drug education and reduction.   We are aware that use of drugs and alcohol is one of the noted risk factors for missing children, engagement in gangs; break down in family relations, as well as failing in education. 
• Let our service help your service to empower the young people to make positive, informed choices to do with their drug or alcohol use, to move past poor coping strategies and to thrive in all they do.  The foundation for lifelong change.   For more information, to discuss a case or look at how we can work together contact [email protected] or [email protected]   To make a referral – the secure email address is ECHUB@[email protected]

We have formed a unified partnership alongside trusted, integrated local partners Anglia Care Trust and Iceni.  Iceni and Turning Point have worked closely throughout the last 9 years supporting individuals and their families with their recovery journey. 

ACT are an exceptionally well-connected local organisation, which will add value to our partnership delivery.  Our model integrates outreach and housing support for people using our service.  

Iceni practitioners and Turning Point family and Young People’s workers will form an integrated Families and Young People’s Team with each agency bringing their strengths and unique skills to best meet the needs of families in Suffolk. 

 What can I expect from your service?

Our service provides bespoke one to one client lead care. We offer a full and comprehensive assessment which is a chance for the worker and the client to get to know each other. Then from there a Care Plan is created to meet the needs of the client. This is reviewed every 12 weeks to check on progress and to set new goals. The client will be offered regular appointments, usually weekly. We can work with a client as long as is necessary. We work closely with other organisations like Iceni and Suffolk Family Carers across the county to ensure the right support is there when you need it. 

We have group support sessions that can help you to understand the reasons behind your substance misuse and help you develop ways of managing the effect of it. 

Recovery is about you feeling more in control. We will help you to manage any stress or anxiety that you might have, and to develop a personal plan, set goals and celebrate achievements to support your emotional wellbeing. 

What age does your service support?

Our services are for adults and young people, offering individualised support to help them reach their goals. The youngest person we have worked with has been 10 years old, but we can work with any age if they are using drugs and alcohol. 

The young people's drug and alcohol service can work with people up to the age of 25 if there are additional needs or vulnerabilities – this will be on a case by case basis and we will support the client to access adult services if they don’t fit our criteria.   

If you are 25 and under looking for support, please see our Turning Point Dedicated Youth Service

How do we support carers including friends and family?

We work within an integrated partnership so that care givers and family members can get specialist support and a brilliant service. As mentioned, Iceni practitioners and Turning Point family and Young People’s workers will form an integrated Families and Young People’s Team with each agency bringing their strengths and unique skills to best meet the needs of families in Suffolk. 

If a parent/carer contacts us on behalf of a young person, but the young person may not acknowledge they have a problem or if your concerns do not meet our threshold for support, we will give you appropriate and individualised feedback, and signpost you towards parenting groups, Suffolk Family Carers - places where you can find support.

How are decisions made about who can use your services?

Our service is available to anyone using or has recently used drugs or has an addiction to alcohol. If the client is under 25 and using or has recently used drugs they can talk to us. There is no threshold, and every young person is offered an assessment. 

What is your confidentiality policy?

Our service is confidential therefore we do not share any information unless we have consent from the client. When working with young people we do not share any information with parents or carers unless we have consent from the young person. We also do not need parent’s consent to work with a young person. (We do encourage clients to involve family members and those close to them if this is beneficial to their care and recovery).

Young People Support

Our youth teams in Suffolk work with young people up to their 25th Birthday We work across the county seeing young people wherever it suits them – this means we can come to you to ensure you are getting the help and support you need. We offer a non-judgemental service and are here to support you – whatever the issue.

Family and Affected Others

We work within an integrated partnership so that care givers and family members can get specialist support and a brilliant service. As mentioned, Iceni practitioners and Turning Point family and Young People’s workers will form an integrated Families and Young People’s Team with each agency bringing their strengths and unique skills to best meet the needs of families in Suffolk.