AMA I work with prisoners who have substance and alcohol misuse issues

[liftingprincess]

I work in a cat b prison supporting men with substance and alcohol issues who are in custody either sentenced or on remand.

I will not say where I work or describe individual stories.

I agree completely with it.
until there is support in place for someone to have the basics in the community aka housing, access to decent healthcare and a stable base then we can not expect more people to not reoffend or use

It almost feels deliberate (work in mental health)

Do you feel safe doing your job? Are there times when you feel threatened or in danger?

When you start feeling totally safe that’s when complacency kicks in which is dangerous. We do not go into cells, we throughly risk assess prior to meeting someone. They may be risk to female which means my male colleagues would take on their caseload.
i go by feelings- if the atmosphere feels off on the landing I leave it no question.. we let the officers know where we are, we update our location on the radio. If I feel someone is becoming elevated or unhappy I’ll politely end the session. I am friendly say hi and never show fear. I’m not scared to call someone out if being inappropriate. As we are not uniformed we are less likely to have trouble.
I do get sexual remarks but it doesn’t bother me.
there has been occasions where it’s get a bit dicey but I sense it and leave.. we have panic buttons on radio and on landings/room
i do not lend anything even a pen- that’s how manipulation begins.

Absolutely
we also see people with significant mental health issues who need to be in a hospital not prison

Are you a forensic psychologist? If not what is your job title?

What is your role to achieve?

I feel that mental health ubderstanding and awareness within the judiciary is incredibly poor - but even with that in mind, mental health services are all part of the revolving door. Until we as a society recognise just how important Maslow, Rat Park, Bowlby etc are for stability and wellbeing we will continue to have these problems

No I am not a psychologist
I am a substance misuse practitioner
what we hope to achieve is for people to understand their substance use and begin the journey on recovery. To give them skills and knowledge to promote recovery and prevent relapse through individual and group interventions whilst in Prison.

Do you believe what they tell you?.My alcoholic ex is serving 10 years for some very nasty crimes - but I can imagine what he is saying, and his woe is me stories ; that I fell for in the first place...

Do you feel sorry for them?

Do you think they should be allowed to see their children?

TIA!

Sorry, another...
Do you believe that sone one who has been an addict for 25+ years can actually achieve long-term sobriety?

There’s a scale called COWS which is an opiate withdrawal scale & this helps evaluate the physical symptoms of withdrawal which indicates dosage.

I take what they tell me at face value and don’t comment very much. My role is to look at their substance and alcohol use nothing further and to work with them on that.

Yes I do provided the right support is in place BUT I always say this to them- I can give you the tools but recovery is on you, you have to want it and work at it

Thank you, that's interesting.

I’m a social worker who has worked in community based substance misuse treatment for about 28 years.

IMHO sobriety does happen but it is rare.

Have you met prisoners who enter clean but start to use drugs inside? If so is there any way this could be prevented?

So you think prison should be like an in-house therapy stint?

Can prisoners with a very heavy cannabis addiction be helped with medication?

If not, is it a question of cold turkey?

Or do they usually turn to another readily available drug like spice or something else?

Have you ever taken illegal drugs yourself?

Thank you all for the questions. I’ll wrap it up here hopefully some of you have found it interesting