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Description
Poland lacks social reintegration programmes for people addicted to psychoactive substances. Reintegration of these people is limited to post-treatment support in inpatient rehabilitation centres. For socially excluded people in treatment, these programmes are not available, which affects the quality of substitution treatment or antiretroviral (ARV) therapy. We chose the Podlaskie Province as the site for the project activities for several reasons, including the small offer of assistance, low investment in treatment and the lack of many essential services. The Podlaskie Province is, above all, deprived of social reintegration and substitution treatment programmes (as one of two such provinces). Moreover, the level of substitution treatment in Poland is one of the lowest in Europe. In our country, only about 2,800 persons receive it (including 1,400 in Warsaw), while in the whole of Europe approx. 650,000 people. In order to receive substitution treatment, addicts from the Podlaskie Province have been migrating mainly to Warsaw for years, and there they find themselves in a homelessness crisis due to the lack of places in shelters. They also become victims of narcophobic discrimination. In this project, we offer integrated support to addicts: a shelter with 24-hour care, support from a therapist and lawyer, staying in a safe and corrective environment. We create appropriate facilities for the organisation of social economy activities. The services provided by the project are designed to assist the beneficiaries in the effective use of substitution treatment, antiretroviral therapy (ARV) or treatment for HCV infection. We combine our support services with recreational and educational activities, for which we use our camping base in Augustów, which was very popular with our clients during the summer months of 2021-2022.
Summary of project results
The aim of the project was to create a comprehensive assistance program for people addicted to psychoactive substances and socially excluded in the Podlaskie Province, including the first substitution treatment program and a specialist shelter in Podlaskie. The refugee crisis and the war in Ukraine partially thwarted our plans - problems on the real estate market, increasing rental prices, increasing renovation costs, disappearance of premises of interest to us from the market - so we implemented an emergency plan. The first step was to create a consultation point/counseling center, a facility around which planned services would be created in the near future. The ultimate combination of counseling, substitution treatment and a multi-level, structured social readaptation program will not only be an innovative solution in Podlaskie, but it is difficult to find a similar program on a national scale (we run a similar one in Warsaw). Our project is not supposed to be big, but we also want its success to have an impact on medical and social policy and new solutions in the field of helping addicted drug users, especially wherever potential implementers are already operating, with whom we have been cooperating for years. We will promote it systematically in our publications in the industry press and at industry conferences. We are currently preparing a publication on the threats of the opioid crisis, we are monitoring the epidemiological situation, collecting data from pharmacies, research centers, emergency services, police, and healthcare. The opioid crisis and the related increase in the number of people in the homeless crisis are a real threat. Activities such as ours are an adequate response to the current needs of Podlasie, but can be easily expanded if new circumstances resulting from the increasing demand for opioids require it. We hope that the structure created as a result of the project will also develop as an internship activity.
We opened a Consultation Point in Sokółka and fully prepared it for current and planned future activities: adaptation works were carried out, the necessary office/computer equipment and furniture were provided, the facility was secured, additional anti-burglary doors were installed, a partition wall was built to provide an additional room. Staff recruitment was carried out among local specialists (declarations of work in the event of obtaining financing for the activity were collected). We obtained all the consents and opinions of various institutions required by law - documents authorizing us to conduct the planned activities. During the period of increased temperatures, we organized educational and recreational stays at our base in Augustów. The beneficiaries of the stays are addicts (in the homeless crisis, participating in our social readaptation and treatment program), their families, our volunteers and activists (self-advocates). 42 people took advantage of the trips in the period from May 10, 2023 to October 15, 2023. During their stay, our participants abstained from alcohol and substances not prescribed by a doctor. Thanks to the project funds for institutional development, we also carried out renovation work and purchased the necessary equipment at the base in Augustów. As part of these funds, we created a new website for our organization. The website was created together with a database for community workers - a database cooperating with a phone application for creating daily reports. This is a very useful tool in outreach activities, previously unknown in Poland. In addition, we took part in a fundraising training conducted by a well-known company on the market, Promo Fund. We also learned how to prepare competition offers for medical activities under the supervision of an advisor. As a result of the training, the Jump 93 Association strategy for 2025-2027 was developed in the form of a comprehensive document and the Development Office was established.
The total number of recipients of our counseling is 64 people: 39 people addicted to psychoactive substances used legal counseling, 16 people used therapeutic assistance, 9 people using support for family members. 42 people used recreational and educational activities. The number of participants in promotional and training meetings is 37 people, Podlaskie specialists. Currently, the Consultation Point in Sokółka is a place of recruitment of local specialist staff who will replace our project team. This new assistance facility has obtained all the legally required consents necessary to conduct the planned activities: it was registered in the Voivodeship Office, obtained a positive opinion of the sanitary supervision, consent of the pharmaceutical supervision, a positive opinion of the Director of the National Center for Combating Addictions, consent of the Podlaskie Marshal. We assume that the project in the part concerning medical activities will be contracted by the National Health Fund. We have received a written assurance from the National Health Fund that in 2024 a competition for offers will be announced in the scopes we are interested in. The contract, in the longer term, will allow us to obtain the first funds for the establishment of the shelter. Ultimately, we want to finance it from KCPU and local government funds. The beneficiaries of legal, therapeutic, recreational and educational assistance are socially excluded people with drug and alcohol addiction problems and their families. When organizing professional assistance, we also took into account other factors that hinder the recovery and reintegration process, including lack of professional qualifications, disability, poverty, numerous diseases co-occurring with addiction, co-dependency. Podlasie was not a random choice. It is, alongside Podkarpacie, an area where many basic support safeguards for addicts and excluded people are lacking, such as substitution treatment, which is the most important tool in responding to a potential opioid crisis.