Introduction
At the start of 2007, DASL has continued to extend its services
in a planned and steady way in the light of service gaps, customer
choice and government priorities. Whilst we have an expanding
geographical area of provision, with treatment services in 6 London
boroughs and prevention services operating across London, it is
very important that we balance this growth with both consolidation
and with our desire to stay rooted within our core mission to
provide services to underserved and hard to reach communities.
During 2006, the trustees took time to review our Mission Statement,
and felt it important to emphasise this and include specific reference
to the different communities which have always been at the heart
of DASL’s work.
“Drug & Alcohol Service for London exists to respond
to the needs of and educate the growing number of people experiencing
alcohol and drug problems within different communities whilst
aiming to reduce the impact of alcohol and drug misuse and its
consequences.”
2006-7: Planned Expansion
I am pleased to report that we have had considerable successes
this year in winning new contracts in Redbridge. However, this
is not in itself a measure of our success. We only tender for
new services where we know we can do a good job; where we know
we have the staff with expertise and experience to do what we
say we will do and where we feel we can really add something to
what is offered to drug and alcohol services in that area. We
want, above all, an honest and direct relationship with the commissioners
who purchase our services so that we can all work together in
the interest of service users. Of course, we have clear outcomes
and measures of success for clients - quality of treatment, length
of time in treatment, changes in presenting behaviour etc but
we also want DASL to be known for its ability to work collaboratively,
reliably and responsively in a world of changing needs and changing
demands on health and criminal justice services.
Valuable Resources
As a medium sized charity, DASL competes within a vibrant and
expanding social care field for staff and resources. As the trend
towards increasing professionalism, greater choices for employees,
more professional mobility and a growing focus on the use of volunteers,
the cost of attracting and retaining staff, especially trained
and skilled staff, is rising. For DASL, prioritising staff recruitment,
induction and training is essential to being able to deliver competent
and professional services. DASL retains its strong training culture
and provides staff with the opportunities for both internal and
external and accredited training programmes with the flexibility
to suit the diversity of the staff it attracts.
Our clients
Our clients range from those who use our services because they
are worried about their (probably) increasing use of alcohol or
drugs or someone close to them is worried for them, to those who
really would rather not be coming through our doors at all but
do because a professional within the criminal justice system has
told them to and if they don’t, then there are consequences
for them. Providing services which meet needs at both ends of
this spectrum means that asking clients what they want and receiving
regular feedback from them as to whether or not we provided it,
is key to DASL’s service development. DASL intends to involve
service users in a way that is meaningful and not tokenistic,
so we ask for opinions on what we are able to change and not about
what we can’t and then we use this information constructively
to influence future service delivery.
At DASL we are excited but not complacent about the future. If
you would like to know more about any of our services or if you
are interested in joining us, then do get in touch.
Sue Kenten
Chief Executive
Funders
Many thanks
to all our funders:
• Abbey Charitable Trust
• Association of London Government
• Awards for All
• Childrens Fund (Newham)
• City of London DAT
• Comic Relief
• Goldsmiths Company
• Jack Petchey Foundation
• Lloyds TSB Foundation
• London Borough of Bexley
• London Borough of Greenwich
• London Borough of Newham
• London Borough of Redbridge
• London Borough of Tower Hamlets
• London East Connexions
• Newham PCT
• Oxleas NHS Trust
• Tower Hamlets PCT
• Tudor Trust
• Walthamstow, Leyton, Leytonstone PCT
Registered
Charity No.299535
l Limited Company No.2266598
