Reasons for STARS’ Success

The evaluation demonstrated a number of factors that are key to the success of STARS, and lead to significant outcomes for clients.

Quality accommodation and relocation

Genesis and the STARS team aims to provide clients with a reasonable quality of accommodation. The Intensive Support accommodation is combined with the offer of relocation across the county. This is targeted to those substance using offenders least likely to be able to source any sort of stable accommodation through any other route.

Wrap around support and a person centred approach

However, the STARS team offer much more than just a roof over clients’ head. The Intensive Support clients, and to a lesser extent some of the Advice & Advocacy clients, receive comprehensive wraparound support. The key elements of this identified by clients included ‘having someone to talk to’ who is available at any time of day or night. The support is tailored to meet the needs and recovery plan of each client, through a person centred approach. Support can include directly providing volunteering opportunities, or negotiating them elsewhere, accompanying to appointments, signposting to a range of different services, and involving them in group activities and expeditions. STARS focus is clearly on recovery in the complete sense of the word, which is a luxury rarely afforded to partner services in the treatment and offender management fields, who are target and numbers driven. This means that their mission is to empower clients, as without that they will not be able to move on and sustain their recovery.

Experts by experience

Genesis has built the STARS team with care, recruiting staff who have a thorough understanding of the experience of their target

Case Study

Pip

Pip had a mental breakdown three years ago. He has a history of mental health issues, including escalating agoraphobia which was exacerbated by his abuse of prescription drugs. Pip was afraid to leave the house, was unable to deal with his financial and practical problems and lacked selfesteem.

Pip met the STARS Advice and Advocacy worker at his local treatment service to help him in his recovery, sort out his benefits and rebuild his self-esteem. Pip is now free from drugs, and has improved dramatically. He is a Recovery Champion at his treatment service and jointly runs the service user group there. He is very positive about the support provided by STARS, and the impact that it has had on his recovery:

‘Any time I needed support, I could contact the STARS worker; she kept in regular contact by phone, email or face to face. I have someone to talk to and help me though any forms or official stuff I have to deal with. They don’t give me false promises or fob me off. She tells me what to do, even if it is outside my comfort zone and support me to do it… It is just what I needed.’

‘I have much more self-confidence now. I can make eye contact with you which I couldn’t have done a year ago. I don’t have to hide beneath a hat. I feel safe and secure and have been clean for over eight months now. Last week I recorded a promotional video for a local treatment service – I would not ever have believed I could do that. I go out of the house and socialise like a normal person now.’

group. STARS is a diverse team, including recovered users, exoffenders, ex-police officers and treatment workers, as well as staff with housing and benefits specialisms. They share a strong personal commitment and passion for the work and support one another well. This gives the team credibility with the client group and with partners, and enables trust to be developed quickly, encouraging honesty and making it difficult for clients to ‘blag’ them or avoid addressing issues.

Building resilience

Lapse and relapse is an inevitable part of the recovery journey for STARS’ clients but they do not give up on them easily. There were many examples where they had responded supportively to lapses and taken people back into accommodation, even after full relapses and incidents of reoffending.

The STARS team’s adaptability extends to keeping in touch with those clients who have moved out of their accommodation and into their own tenancies and the wider community. Whilst the level of support necessarily reduces, the team recognise that recovery is a long and not necessarily steady process which has been estimated to take up to five years9, so light-touch links are maintained and clients are clear that they can call the team if and when they need support. Clients are supported with moving into their new homes, budgeting, ongoing benefits support and knowing there is someone to talk to.

Partnership working

There were numerous positive testaments to Genesis and STARS’ commitment to and excellent practice in multi-agency working. They commit considerable time and energy to working closely with partners, frequently acting as the catalyst for bringing agencies together to achieve positive outcomes for their clients. In this way the STARS team and their clients both benefit from and enrich the local recovery communities in Suffolk.

“He has definitely turned a corner – he is a changed person in his manner – he has pride in himself and he cares about other people and himself now. He talks sense instead of lies… He has made his flat lovely all on his own and keeps it clean and is proud of it. I have never seen him like this before.” [Mother of client]

White, W. (2007) Addiction recovery: Its definition and conceptual boundaries, in Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, Vol 33, No. 3, October 2007