Volunteer Substance Misuse Practitioners

These cover a range of client facing roles, be it work in a DIP (criminal justice) service, or group work in a day programme. You would start by shadowing members of staff with the aim that you move to more involved work with clients. Such roles can be a great way to start a career in the drug and alcohol field. Currently a group of volunteers are undertaking a QCF (formerly NVQ L3) diploma in Health and Social Care that is linked to their placement.

Induction Training for Volunteer Drug and Alcohol Practitioners:

Completion of this course is a pre-requisite for those wanting to be a volunteer drug and alcohol practitioner who do not have sufficent prior experience of working/volunteering with vulnerable people. The course usually runs for about 35 hours, one day during the working week, for consecutive weeks. The course runs in Central London in the Spring and Autumn. We also run periodic courses in Hertfordshire, Essex & Bedfordshire, as a rule these take place annually.

The course comprises a skills component and a topic based workshop. The skills element focuses on interpersonal skills and approaches that are important for client work. Workshop topics include: Recovery; Boundaries; Drug Awareness; Key Working; Safeguarding; Mental Health; Diversity, etc. The course is facilitated by a range of WDP staff, and tends to emphasise experiential learning.