CEO Blog/Vlog

The Luckiest

We live in deeply uncertain times. As the Black Lives Matter movement rails against racial injustice and the pandemic threatens to set women’s progress back decades, the lives of young people too have been turned upside down by unparalleled isolation and disruption. This collective pause has allowed many people to... read more →

Safer Injection Facilities | The Case for the Peer-Led Model

In an effort to reduce the record number of drug-related deaths in the UK, there have been repeated calls for the introduction of supervised injection facilities (SIFs), but are we any closer to actualising them? Kaleidoscope CEO Martin Blakebrough makes the case for establishing a peer-led SIF in Wales, considering... read more →

29th June 2020
alishaarthur
Uncategorised

Unfamiliar Ground : Kaleidoscope and COVID-19

A crisis such as this forces pressing issues to the foreground, issues that governments have long avoided taking sufficient measures to solve. Our under-funded health surface, often cruel welfare system and unacceptable numbers of street homeless are now frighteningly visible to all. But, as the country faces a shutdown unparalleled... read more →

24th March 2020
alishaarthur
COVID-19

Wales’ most vulnerable drinkers at risk from Minimum Unit Pricing

Increased awareness of MUP and improved access to treatment services essential as legislation disproportionately affects low income drinkers. Under Welsh Government plans, minimum unit pricing (MUP) of alcohol will come into effect on 2 March 2020, and while the new rules might positively impact certain groups, Wales’ most chaotic drinkers... read more →

18th February 2020
alishaarthur
Alcohol, Legislation

Why drug deaths in Wales are a National Emergency

Wales is facing a public health emergency as drug related deaths rise to alarming levels. In this blog I examine how in spite of government support of current initiatives and largely unaffected drug treatment budgets in Wales, drug related deaths continue to rise unabated. It is my view that access... read more →

Martin Addresses Welsh Government Review (Part 2)

To what extent are integrated mental health and substance misuse services accessible and how can such services be delivered more effectively to address the specific needs of rough sleepers in particular? On 13 November I wrote a paper for and addressed the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee at the National Assembly... read more →

22nd November 2019
kaleidoscope
Uncategorised

Martin Addresses Welsh Government Review (Part 1)

What services are available for rough sleepers who have co-occurring substance misuse and mental health problems across Wales? On 13 November I wrote a paper for and addressed the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee at the National Assembly for Wales as it is currently undertaking follow-up work on its inquiry into rough sleeping It is... read more →

14th November 2019
kaleidoscope
Uncategorised

The End of Residential Care (unless you have loads of money)

The list of residential services that take people from statutory services are closing at an alarming rate, and those that survive are clearly at significant risk. Last year came the shock news that in nearby Bristol, Chandos House was to close: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/17/closing-residential-rehab-increases-suffering-addicts-chandos-house This year we saw the excellent Broadreach Service sadly... read more →

The Hate U Give

The novel by Angie Thomas is a powerful expression of a black teenagers life caught between privilege and deprivation. It is an expose of racism but also it is very much about how society fails the very people it should protect. The death of a young black man by a... read more →

CEO Blog – March 2019

CEO Blog, Street Drugs; Is the Dragon Still Smoking? “Is Cocaine worse than Alcohol?” was a question I asked at South Wales Police Headquarters after an expert from Public Health stated she was horrified after going to a Nightclub with her son and saw so many young people taking cocaine.... read more →

29th March 2019
leahskinner
Uncategorised

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