Humankind’s Director of Pharmacy, Roz Gittins, has been awarded a prestigious grant to enable her to carry out research aimed at helping people with mental illness.

Roz will be exploring the misuse of Over the Counter (OTC) and Prescription Only Medication (POM) by people who are accessing Humankind’s specialist substance misuse services.

The Pharmacy Research UK (PRUK) and the College of Mental Health Pharmacy (CMHP) Research Award is for work which will benefit people with mental illness.

Roz’s research forms part of her doctorate in psychiatric pharmacy practice.

She said: “The application process was rigorous and I was surprised, humbled and thrilled in equal measure with the outcome.

“I’m delighted to have the support of Humankind to implement the research.”

She explained that Humankind had received informal feedback from patients and commissioners, that patients who misuse OTC and POMs had differing treatment needs.

In addition, with growing media attention, commissioners and the general public were demonstrating an active and increased interest in the misuse of OTC and POMs.

However, she said, it was difficult to further improve services because of the current limited literature on which to base any recommendations for developments.

POM and OTC misuse was a current ‘hot topic’, Roz said. The prescribing of medication which might be addictive had increased in recent years. In addition, drug use continued to be a leading cause of premature death in the UK and individuals with co-morbid mental health diagnoses were at further increased risk, as well as experiencing a greater prevalence of health issues.

Despite all this, there remained little published work which has been conducted within specialist substance misuse services.

Roz said: “We need to have a much better understanding of the misuse of Over the Counter and Prescription Only Medication by people who access our services so we can further refine our therapeutic offer.”

And she added: “I’m incredibly thankful to CMHP-PRUK for enabling this research to become a reality.”

We are delighted to announce that the innovative Devon-based alcohol and drug charity EDP will be joining Humankind on 1st April 2020. EDP will form a subsidiary within Humankind, a national organisation which takes an innovative approach to addressing health and social inequalities. Combined, we will employ over 1,500 staff who are committed to pursuing their vision for people of all ages to be safe, building ambitions for the future and reaching towards their full potential.

Paul Townsley, Chief Executive of Humankind said today: “Humankind and EDP have worked collaboratively for several years and have recognised that we will have a greater impact for our service users by bringing together our learning, development and our resources. Our impact on our service users and their communities will be our prime measure of success.

Together, we will bring the strengths of an organisation which is embedded in the South West community, delivering high calibre services, with an organisation which has a national footprint and influence.”

Penny Blackmore, Chief Executive of EDP, said: “EDP puts its service users at the heart of every decision, ensuring that all organisational developments offer better impact, increased opportunities and strengthened outcomes for those who access our services. Joining Humankind offers unrivalled opportunities to innovate our service design and delivery for the benefit of everyone accessing our support.

We are proud of the many partnerships that we have developed and the culture of collaborative working that addresses the individual needs of each person engaged with our support and we are very much looking forward to developing and strengthening this new approach to addressing health and social inequalities as part of Humankind”.

EDP Drug & Alcohol Services (EDP) is a charity working primarily in the South West, providing services across Devon and Dorset, in the community and within prisons. It offers a number of dynamic and innovative initiatives which work alongside people to improve their wellbeing, social connections and employability. EDP is passionate about supporting individuals who face complex issues, including substance misuse, mental ill health, and other harmful, addictive and offending behaviour, to improve their lives. The fundamental belief underpinning its work is that, given the right support and resources, people can and do make remarkable changes.

Humankind has been awarded a major new contract to provide drug and alcohol recovery services to people across Staffordshire, in the West Midlands.

The organisation will head a partnership with BAC O’Connor and The Basement Recovery Project in a service commissioned by Staffordshire County Council that launches on April 1^st, this year.

Operations Director, Emily Todd said: ““We are really excited to begin work in Staffordshire on the new drug and alcohol service for adults and young people.

“Geographically, this is a new area for us. We are looking forward to working with our partner organisations, our staff, other stakeholders and our service users to deliver a service that supports people in Staffordshire to achieve their goals.”

The new Staffordshire Treatment and Recovery Service (STARS) includes harm reduction, care coordination, clinical interventions and recovery and aftercare. It will run for five years, with an option to extend. It will have bases across the county, including Stafford, Newcastle-Under-Lyme and Burton.

Evan Chiswell, Executive Director for Business Development and Innovation at Humankind, said: “Being awarded the contract to deliver services across Staffordshire is a fantastic achievement for Humankind.

“Organisationally, this contract will bring Humankind and our services into the West Midlands for the first time and allows us to bring our innovative models to support young people and adults to a new area.”

Evan added: “Through hard work and commitment from colleagues across the organisation, I am proud that Staffordshire commissioners felt that Humankind’s model and approach will make significant improvements to the region’s most vulnerable people, and broader communities.”