Editorial: Drugs but no rock ‘n’ roll

Of the so-called specialisms in social work which actually cut across all client groups, alcohol and substance misuse is one of particular impact and a problem shared internationally. A recent news item in the UK focused on the high and increasing rate of drug-related deaths and the human stories behind them; parents questioning where they went wrong with their child’s upbringing, helpless in the face of serious addiction, unable to help but unable to turn their back; men and women, living on the streets, vulnerable, wanting a better life each morning while knowing that nothing else will matter later in the day but getting their next fix; scared and lonely young runaways, seeking to obliterate what they have been subjected to in the past and what they have to do in the present to survive. The routes by which each addict encounters social and criminal justice services are various but relentlessly circular and bring with them further human costs. Drug addiction features as a significant factor in mental health breakdown and self-harm, in the repeated removal of children from their birth mother, in theft, sometimes involving assault against older people in their own homes, in the break-up of family units and destroying of close relationships, not to mention the complicated grief caused to those who experience the double blow of loss of the person to drugs in life and again in death (Guy and Holloway, 2007). Social work is so often involved in dealing with the problems caused as a result of addiction and there probably isn’t a social worker around who has not encountered substance misuse somewhere on their caseload. Yet social work research into addiction and specialist practice interventions has a relatively low profile. One approach – motivational interviewing – seeks to tackle the core of the problem of addiction, but as Watson (2011) has pointed out, it is a method with which social work has barely engaged, despite the profession’s commitment to facilitating change. Yet, as one man commented (Channel 4 News 19 February 2018) finding some other reason to get up in the morning, was what finally enabled him to become drug-free after decades of addiction.

from The British Journal of Social Work Current Issue http://ift.tt/2pqmCwi
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