Racing Welfare

Getting Support

After considering which approach is most likely to succeed, the next step is to explore the 2 main areas of support:

Professional Treatment Services

Self-help Groups

People can call Racing Welfare's Head Office on 01638 560 763, for help and advice with any aspect of addiction or exploring help and treatment.

Asking for help can be hard, but no-one needs to be alone with their problem...there is support available!

Professional Services

UK professional treatment services are grouped into 4 Tiers. Each tier offers a greater level of support than the previous one, with Tier 4 offering the most comprehensive level of service:

Tier 4

The 4th tier is residential based addiction treatment, where clients leave their own community and stay in accommodation connected with the service during their treatment.
Examples: Residential Rehab Centres
Interventions: Prescribing and detox, structured residential programmes, counselling, group therapy, aftercare, support on returning to the community
Duration: Daily / 6 to 26 weeks
Approaches: Total Abstinence / Harm Reduction

Tier 3

The 3rd level of services is community based addiction treatment, where clients stay in their own community and accomodation during their treatment.
Examples: Community Treatment Services, Abstinent-based Community Rehab Centres
Interventions: Prescribing and detox, structured day programmes, counselling, group therapy, aftercare
Duration: Daily / 6 to 12 weeks.
Approaches: Total Abstinence / Harm Reduction

Tier 2

This 2nd level of services is open-access basic addiction services.
Examples: Drug and Alcohol Services, Drop-in Services, Community Drug and Alcohol Teams
Interventions: Assessment, information, advice, harm reduction: referral to higher tier services
Duration: Weekly or monthly appointments / mid term
Approaches: Total Abstinence / Harm Reduction / Safer Using

Tier 1

The 1st level of services is made up mainly of general healthcare services that are not specialist drugs services.
Examples: GP's, Hospital A&E Departments, Pharmacies, Social Care Agencies
Interventions: Assessment, information, advice, harm reduction: referral to higher tier services
Duration: Individual appointments / short term
Approaches: Total Abstinence / Harm Reduction / Safer Using

Finding Services and Informtion

Contacting a professional treatment service for help or information can feel quite daunting, but they are there to help in whatever way they can.

FRANK: To find professional treatment services across the UK, and for straight forward information about substances, call or go online to 'talk to frank'.

www.talktofrank.com
Helpline 0800 77 66 00
7 days / week 24hrs / day

Contacting services: Having identified a treatment service, simply give them a call.

What to expect initially: Treatment services are not there to judge, only to assess people's needs and to offer the most appropriate support. They will aim to arrange an assessment as soon as possible. Assessments can be scheduled for a matter of days, but demand on the service may mean it could be a week or so.

What to expect next: From then on treatment services will work with individuals to meet their treatment needs.

Self-Help Groups

Self-help groups are formed and run by men and women who share their experience, strength and hope, to help others to recover from addictive behaviours.
Examples: Alcoholics, Gamblers, Narcotics and Overeaters Anonymous
Interventions: Contact, information, helplines, online support
Duration: 11/2 hour meetings, weekly, long term
Approaches: Total Abstinence

Contacting self-help groups for help or information can also feel quite uncomfortable, but everyone attending a self-help group will know how it can feel.

Self-help groups are run by people who have addressed and continue to address their own addictions, which is often referred to as being 'in recovery'. The success of self-help groups lies in the support that comes through identifying with others with the same or similar experiences.

The most common form of self-help is '12-Step', run and attended by people living free from addiction. Success lies in the support and identification from others in the same situation.

What to expect: 12-step self-help meetings are held accross the UK on a weekly basis and follow a format established all over the world. There are a number of key elements that make the 12-step programme the most sucessful approach for people who want to stop their addictive behaviour totally:

The only requirement for attendance is a desire to stop addictive behaviours

No meeting attendance records are kept, anonymity is one of the most important values

Viewing addiction as an illness helps people come to terms with their addiction, and

recover from it

The 12-step approach encourages continuous abstinence as the best foundation for recovery

In meetings people are free to share their experience, strength and hope without interuption

12-step programmes are non-religious, but encourage individuals to explore personal

spiritual values

There are no fees for attendance, most people contribute small sums to cover the costs

of meetings

Stopping addictive behaviours is challenging, so people are encouraged to keep coming back

The 12 Steps: The core of the 12-step programme is a series of 12-steps. These steps offer a simple and structured way of learning how to manage life without depending on the use of addictive behaviours. In very basic terms the principle of each of the steps could be explained as follows:

Step 1	acknowledges that uncontrollable addictive behaviour can lead to damaging results
Step 2	recognises 12-step programmes offer a proven solution to addictive behaviours
Step 3	suggests a commitment to exploring that solution
Step 4	explores how life has been approached by the individual
Step 5	reviews those findings with help from someone who has experience of the 12-steps
Step 6	identifies from that review, behaviours that don't work well
Step 7	aims to stop the further use of those behaviours
Step 8	acknowledges the people who have been harmed by those behaviours
Step 9	encourages making ammends to those people where appropriate
Step 10	regularly checks how life is approached, promptly addressing problems as they occur
Step 11	considers how a sense of spirit can empower an approach to life
Step 12	continues to practice these principles, sharing experience with others considering recovery

The Best Odds

'Recovery' can be seen as adopting new and affective behaviours to manage life's feelings. It's challenging, but absolutely possible.

There are no musts, the Racing Industry simply offers support, information, and proven approaches. Embracing the following suggestions is likely to increase the odds of anyone successfully addressing their addiction.

Ask for help: Reaching a sound outcome alone is unlikely
Keep an open mind: Initial suggestions can feel uneasy
Explore all of the options: Don't rule out any support
Be realistic about which approach to take: Be honest
Detox: There can be health risks, seek medical advice
Take action: Be prepared to go to any lengths
Learn from other's recovery: This has unequalled value
Make recovery a life priority: Instead of addiction
Talk: Behind most addictions are unaddressed issues
Everyone deserves to live addiction free: Everyone!

Thinking about taking positive action can feel overwhelming, but addictive behaviour can be destructive. If it's clear that this is the case, exploring recovery can be a life changing option.

The Longer Term View

The most successful way to find and keep recovery is with regular ongoing support. Racing's 2 main charities are working together to provide ongoing support for anyone in the industry with addiction issues. Call or go online for help and advice with any aspect of addiction:

Racing Welfare
01638 56 07 63
www.racingwelfare.co.uk
Supports all of racing's people
who may be in need, through
accident, illness, age or misfortune. Injured Jockeys Fund
01638 66 22 46
www.ijf.org.uk
Assists jockeys (their spouses, or dependants) who have suffered through injury, or are unable to ride.

'If you or someone you know is suffering from any form of addiction, Racing can help. Asking for help can be hard, but no one needs to be alone with their problem'.

Stable Groom of 30 years, now in recovery from addiction.

National Numbers & Websites

National phonelines and websites offer someone to talk to in confidence and information about addiction and local support across the UK. Call or go online:

Alanon
Offers understanding, strength and hope to anyone whose life is, or has been, affected by someone else's drinking.
0207 4030 888 7 days/week 10am - 10pm
www.al-anonuk.org.uk

Alcoholics Anonymous
Men and women who share their experience, strength and hope to help others to recover from alcoholism.
0845 7697 555 7 days/week 24hrs/day
www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk

Beat [Beating Eating Disorders]
Provides information and support for all aspects of eating disorders.
0845 634 14 14 mon/fri 10.30am - 8.30pm sat 1pm - 4:30pm
www.b-eat.co.uk

Families Anonymous
Relatives and friends of people involved in the abuse of substances, or with related behavioural problems
0845 1200 660 mon/fri 1pm - 4pm/6pm - 10pm sat/sun 2pm - 10 pm
www.famanon.org.uk

Gamanon
Supports the friends and families of those who have been affected by a gambling problem
08700 50 88 80 7 days/week 24hrs/day
www.gamanon.org.uk

Gamblers Anonymous
Men and women who join together to do something about their own gambling problem and to help others
0207 384 30 40 7 days/week 24hrs/day
www.gamblersanonymous.org.uk

Gambling Therapy
Online forum, buddy system, advice, group therapy, counselling for those affected by compulsive gambling
07624 806 159 [text only] Text response within 24hrs
Online 24hrs/day
www.gamblingtherapy.org

GamCare
Provides information, advice, support and counselling to anyone affected by problem gambling
0845 6000 133 7 days/week 8am - 2am
www.gamcare.org.uk

Gordon Moody Association
Specialist provider of a free 9 month residential treatment programme for severe gambling addicts
01384 241 292 mon/fri 9am - 5pm
www.gordonhouse.org.uk

Injured Jockeys Fund
Assists jockeys (their spouses, or dependants) who have suffered through injury and are unable to ride
01638 66 22 46 mon/fri 9am - 5pm
www.ijf.org.uk

Narcotics Anonymous
Men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem, meeting to help each other stay clean
0300 999 1212 7 days/week 24hrs/day
www.ukna.org

National Association of Stable Staff
NASS is the independent certificated trade union representing UK stable staff
01283 211 522 mon/fri 9am - 5pm
www.naoss.co.uk

National Drinkline
Confidential helpline with the option of listening to recorded information about alcohol, or talking to an adviser
0800 917 82 82 7 days/week 24hrs/day

Overeaters Anonymous
A supportive fellowship of individuals, recovering from varied compulsive eating behaviours
07000 784 985 5 days/week 9am - 5pm
www.oagb.org.uk

The Racing Partnership
Key groups and organisations from the UK Thoroughbred Racing and Breeding Industry, working to develop supportive responses to addiction in Racing
01638 56 07 63 mon/fri 9am - 5pm
www.newmarketracingpartnership.co.uk

Racing Welfare
Supports all of racing's people who may be in need, through accident, illness, age or misfortune
01638 56 07 63 mon/fri 9am - 5pm
0800 6300 443 7 days/week 24hrs/day
www.racingwelfare.co.uk

Refuge
Emotional support, practical information, and referral to refuges for women and children experiencing domestic violence
0808 2000 247 7 days/week 24hrs/day
www.refuge.org.uk

Samaritans
Supports people experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those which could lead to suicide
08457 90 90 90 7 days/week 24hrs/day
www.samaritans.org

Womens Aid
The key national charity working to end domestic violence against women and children
0808 2000 247 7 days/week 24hrs/day
www.womensaid.org.uk