HIT Trainer Profiles
Alain Allard
Alain Allard is co-director of Moves Into Consciousness. He is a fully licensed and practising psychotherapist with wide ranging experience of one to one work in different settings. He is also a Consultant Motivational Trainer experienced in working for Careers, Drugs and Alcohol Services, Police and Probation Services, the National Treatment Authority and the National Health Service.
He has been a student of Gabrielle Roth for 18 years and, for the last 12 years, has taught the 5Rhythms internationally in contexts ranging from National Dance Companies to I.T. professionals in multinational corporations. Alain’s interest in synthesizing psychotherapeutic and psychological maps is shared in his “Open Floor” work, devised by Dr Andrea Juhan. Alain is a Faculty Trainer for the 5RCTS and is accredited by Gabrielle Roth to teach the 5Rhythms at Waves, Heartbeat and Mirrors Level
Alain has five children ranging from late teens to early thirties. He lives with his partner, Sarah Pitchford, who is also a 5Rhythms teacher, in rural South East England.
Alan Matthews
Alan Matthews is a Trainer for HIT.
He has worked in the drugs field since 1984, and was involved in the establishment of the Mersey Regional Drug Training & Information Centre (now HIT), which pioneered drug-related harm reduction strategies. He is also the founding editor of The International Journal of Drug Policy.
Since 1992 he has worked as an independent researcher, consultant and trainer for a wide range of organisations, from Local Authorities to universities to voluntary community groups, dealing with young people and drug use.
Andrew Mackey
Andrew Mackey has worked in senior management for more than 25 years with experience in the public, private and voluntary sectors. He holds a Diploma in Company Direction and is a Chartered Director, accredited by the Institute of Directors. He currently works as an independent consultant, assessor and trainer. He has over 10 years' experience at board level in agencies providing local, regional and national services in the drugs and alcohol field.
Assorted Speakers
John Arthur (Crew, Edinburgh)
Nigel Brunsdon (injectingadvice.com)
Jolene Crawford (Transform Scotland)
Annette Dale-Perera (CNWL NHS Foundation Trust)
Prof. John Davies (Strathclyde University)
Paul Dillon (DARTA, Sydney)
Niamh Eastwood (Release)
Neil Hunt (University of Kent)
Jim McVeigh (Liverpool John Moores University)
Tam Miller (INPUD)
Prof. Alex Stevens (University of Kent)
Annemarie Ward (UKRF)
Clare Lawson
Clare Lawson is the Business Manager of a Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB). The role of an LSCB is to ensure that effective systems are in place within and across agencies to keep children safe. The LSCB remit is very broad but in brief includes:
- Reviewing information on all child deaths in a borough
- Conducting serious case reviews into particular cases where children have died or been seriously harmed
- Ensuring local staff are adequately trained in the wide range of topics relating to safeguarding children
Previous to this, Clare worked in a strategic role, enabling Children’s Trust arrangements to be embedded within voluntary sector agencies. A substantial element of this role was to support provider agencies working with children and young people, to develop and implement a robust internal safeguarding system, including policies and procedures, training plans, quality assurance mechanisms and improving staff competencies.
Clare has also co-ordinated Family Support services and prior to 2006 was a practising Midwife.
Danny Morris
Danny Morris holds a certificate of qualification in Social Work (CQSW, 1986), Certificate in Counselling (BAC, 1989) and Practitioners Diploma in NLP (1988). He has 19 years’ experience of working in the field of drug dependency, both in the statutory and voluntary sectors, where he has been a practitioner and manager.
He is an experienced freelance trainer and has, for over 14 years, been providing independent consultancy and training specialising in harm reduction approaches. This serves both statutory and voluntary organisations whose work brings them into contact with drug users to enable the delivery of more competent and effective interventions.
For the past 12 years Danny has been a dynamic Operational and Development Manager for an NHS Drug Treatment service providing a range of practical and therapeutic interventions for drug users with the aim of reducing all drug related harm.
He is committed to the development of progressive and evidence based services that enhance all aspects of drug treatment provision.
Danny is an Executive Committee member of the UK Harm Reduction Alliance.
Dave Lampert
Dave Lampert has been involved in the Substance Misuse and Mental Health field here in the UK and in the United States for over 30 years.
He has been a practitioner and manager working in prescribing/structured day care and NHS drug and mental health services since 1984.
He has qualifications in Law Enforcement/Integrative Counselling/CBT/NHS Student Mentor and is currently a Dual Diagnosis Practitioner in an NHS Community Mental Health Team.
Dave’s practical experience includes the initial development of drug services in the Wirral. Dave’s current role includes managing clients with challenging behaviours and maladaptive coping strategies in mental health services.
Dave also has experience working part time as a Staff Nurse in Forensic Mental Health Services in the Merseyside area. This includes working in Acute in patient/Medium and High Secure services. The Forensic units work with a wide array of mental health problems from schizophrenia to personality disorder.
Dave was also the founding member of the Wirral Health Football Team (1993-2000) which engaged over 250 service users who had a diagnosis of addiction and mental health issues, enabling these clients to reintegrate back into their local community.
Dr. Russell Newcombe
Dr Russell Newcombe has been a specialist researcher, trainer and lecturer on drug use for 28 years, and helped to pioneer the harm-reduction movement in Merseyside from the mid-1980s. His main interests include trends in drug use and drug problems; the psychological and social effects of drugs; harm-reduction interventions; and the scientific evaluation of drug strategies and services. His drugs research posts include Research Associate on the Wirral Misuse of Drugs Research Project (Liverpool University, 1985-87); Director of the Drugs & HIV Monitoring Unit (Mersey Region Health Authority, 1988-1991); and Senior Researcher for Lifeline Publications & Research (Manchester, 2005-10).
Russell also has extensive experience of training and teaching on drugs issues, including being a trainer for North West regional health authorities and drug services from 1987 to 1994, and Joint Programme Leader of the MSc. in Drug Use& Addiction at Liverpool John Moore’s University from 1998 to 2005. He is also on the editorial board of two peer-reviewed academic journals - Drugs & Alcohol Today and Adiktologie – and is a peer-reviewer for the International Journal of Drug Policy and Addiction Research & Theory. His books include 'Living with Heroin' (co-author 1988), 'The Reduction of Drug-Related Harm' (co-editor 1992), and 'Tripology – Guide to Mind-Bending Drugs' (writer 2005). In addition to writing over 100 research reports, journal articles and online papers about drug use and drug services, he also contributes regularly to drug training events and conferences.
Since April 2010 Russell has been Director of 3D Research, an independent drugs research and training agency based in Liverpool. Over that period, he has been presented with three awards. In April 2010 he was presented with the National Rolleston Award for outstanding contributions to reducing drug-related harm in the UK by the International Harm Reduction Association (now Harm Reduction International). In July 2011 he was presented with the Bing Spear Award for work in the field of drug policy reform by the Drug Policy Review Group. Most recently, in November 2011 he was jointly awarded the EMCDDA (European Monitoring Centre for Drugs & Drug Addiction) Scientific Committee Award for papers of particular merit in understanding the European drugs problem – for the first peer-reviewed social scientific paper published on mephedrone use in 2010.
Recent publications:
Tripology: Guide to Mind-bending Drugs. Manchester: Lifeline Publications (2005)
Trends in the prevalence of illicit drug use in Britain. IN M. Simpson et al. (eds), “Drugs in Britain: Supply, Consumption and Control”. Basingstoke: Palgrave-MacMillan (2007)
Ketamine case study: the phenomenology of a ketamine experience. Addiction Research & Theory, 16, 209-15 (2008)
Tweaking, bombing, dabbing and stockpiling: the emergence of mephedrone and the perversity of prohibition. Drugs and Alcohol Today, 10/1, 14-21 (2010) [with F. Measham, K. Moore & Z. Welch]
For more detailed information: www.3dresearch.org.uk
Faye Macrory
Manchester Specialist Midwifery Service (MSMS) has operated since April 2001 and specialises in providing a service to women and their families where drug and alcohol use is problematic, where there are mental health issues and when domestic abuse/violence is identified. MSMS also supports and co-ordinates the care for HIV positive women identified through the antenatal HIV screening programme.
The development of the present service is a direct result of recognition of the multiple and complex needs of drug using families by both the statutory and voluntary sector. Service provision is firmly rooted in the sphere of public health and embraces all aspects of a vulnerable and socially excluded life-style. In providing an appropriate, accessible and person-focused service the potential for health gain for women and their families cannot be over-estimated. Those working with this client group have a duty of care to enable them to think beyond their immediate needs, to take and to ultimately ‘own’ responsibility for other areas of their lives adversely impacted upon by drug and alcohol use particularly where children are involved.
The MSMS Team
The Consultant Midwife post was developed through a multi-agency collaboration in response to the success of the Drug Liaison Midwife role (1995 – 2001). The Health Action Zone of Manchester, Salford and Trafford (MST HAZ) provided the start-up costs and one year’s salary. Central Manchester and Manchester Children’s University Hospitals NHS Trust (CMMC) now fund the post. As Consultant Midwife, Faye Macrory has responsibility for managing and strategically developing the service across the city. This involves collaboration across a wide range of health and social agencies in both the statutory and the voluntary sector in addressing the complex issues associated with mental health, domestic violence, sexual abuse, prostitution and HIV.
The team currently consists of five Specialist Midwives, two for drug and alcohol issues, two for HIV/sexual health and one for perinatal mental health. A Personal Secretary provides administrative support to the servcie. While the team are employed by Central Manchester and Manchester Children’s University Hospitals NHS Trust (CMFT) funding comes from a range of sources including Manchester Drug and Alcohol Strategy Team (DAST) and NHS Manchester.
The service has a city-wide remit and broad ranging responsibilities that include providing input to three maternity hospitals, four drug service bases, a sexual health project for sex workers (MASH), the regional in-patient detoxification unit and HMP Styal. They also provide a wide range of training to maternity and other services, including domestic violence, brief interventions in alcohol, and antenatal HIV testing.
Pregnancy provides a unique window of opportunity to improve the health of many drug using women, and Manchester Specialist Midwifery Service has a valuable role to play in assessing, promoting, and meeting those needs. Although the benefits of antenatal input cannot be questioned, there is a real potential for women to feel valued only when pregnant. This is particularly relevant to those most isolated and vulnerable and it is vital that the focus on pregnancy and the antenatal period extends seamlessly beyond and into childhood development. Changes in drug and alcohol treatment services are an investment in the health of the future, as well as present generations. Meaningful and effective interventions have the great potential to positively impact on parenting in the long-term, reduce the need for children to be placed in care, and help to break the present cyclical nature of drug use, poverty and despair. With well-established links to many related agencies, Manchester Specialist Midwifery Service is ideally placed to make a real difference to the lives of those they try to reach.
Additional information
In June 1997, Faye received an MBE for Services to Healthcare in Manchester, and in July 2003, was named Outstanding Achiever of the Year in the Health and Social Care Awards at the Department of Health. Additionally, in July 2004 the Service was awarded a Certificate of Commendation at The House of Commons by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Maternity for Innovative Practice in Maternity Services. Faye Macrory was also a finalist in both the Nursing Times Awards and the Greater Manchester NHS Awards in 2005. In 2006 she completed a Master’s Degree in Collaborative Health Care which focused upon the partnership between the NHS and Prison Healthcare and how MSMS could make a difference within HMP Styal.
Gary Sutton
Gary Sutton is currently Head of Drug Services at Release, a member of the Executive Committee of the Alliance and Traffasi’s lead trainer on crack cocaine.
A former Outreach Manager at Mainliners in London, he has worked for a range of private, statutory and voluntary services in the drug treatment field over the last twelve years.
Gary was a member of the NTA expert crack cocaine working group, and has trained and written extensively on a variety of drug and user involvement issues.
In addition to contributing to the current 'Orange Guidelines' 2007, Gary is now a member of the Expert Witness Institute and has a Post Graduate Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling. He is also currently a visiting lecturer to Addiction/Public Health MSc students.
Gill Bradbury
Gill is a Registered General Nurse specialising in the complex and challenging field of substance misuse - harm reduction and the treatment of dependency. Her widespread experience spans 22 years in community-based residential and prison settings; also including some international work.
Gill has a broad scope of skills being a competent clinical and counselling practitioner, as well as a successful, well-regarded and pro-active manager with over 10 years in senior management roles. Equally, Gill has extensive experience of work within the HIV and sexual health sector; in that, a robust knowledge re: blood-borne viruses, sexually transmitted infections and TB - (co-infection, transmission, screening, diagnosis and treatment), and the related psycho-social interventions.
Gill has worked for many of the main UK providers: Addaction, Turning Point and Cranstoun Drug Services - (at Holloway Prison), plus Powys Drugs & Alcohol Centres and the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT). Since 1994, Gill has been instrumental in developing and leading new, innovative services. Since 2004, she has worked as an independent consultant and trainer, engaged in various work: crisis management and project development; service reviews, audits, policy and protocol design, fund-raising, feasibility studies, service user consultations, and a range of training; commissioned by different (multi-disciplinary/multi-agency) providers.
Gill is a current member of the Healthcare Inspectorate of Wales (HIW) Substance Misuse Peer Review Team and also, the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) Evaluation Team. During October 2010, she assisted in the evaluation of a MSF Prison TB Programme in the Kyrgyz Republic, having responsibility for the pre and post-release, medico-social components to address treatment uptake and adherence.
Gill has undertaken work for the Conference Consortium coordinating the medical and healthcare services for the International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA) Conferences, since 2009 in Bangkok, Liverpool and Beirut. Gill also provides technical advice and management support to Dristi Nepal, on a voluntary basis.
Gill is committed to evidence-based practice; responsive harm reduction initiatives; progressive prescribing treatment; excellent clinical governance, and universal access to HIV and viral hepatitis treatment; coupled with comprehensive care and integrated service delivery. She aims to challenge stigma and discrimination, whilst promoting diversity and respect, alongside the principles of equality of opportunity and individual empowerment.
Gill has a particular interest in global public health; blood-borne virus infection and co-morbidities; women's health, sexuality, gender-based violence and sexual exploitation; human trafficking; child abuse and mental health, plus other issues in relation to poverty and international development. As such, she has worked with many vulnerable people and "at risk" populations from diverse backgrounds and having different needs.
Gill is presently an International Advisory Board Member of Dristi Nepal. She is a general member of both INPUD and IHRA and an associate member of the Substance Misuse Skills Consortium (UK) and the Conference Consortium. Gill is a previous Director / Trustee of Transform Drug Policy Foundation (1999-2003) and the UK Harm Reduction Alliance (UKHRA, 2000-2004), and was also an active member of Action on Hepatitis C and the Nursing Council on Alcohol.
Ian Clements
Ian Clements qualified as a youth and community worker in the 1970s and has had a long career both working directly with young people and in strategic management positions. He has worked in the voluntary sector and in both local and central government. After many years of generic work with children and young people in youth services and schools, he specialised in substance misuse, developing one of the first young people’s and parents substance misuse services in the UK (Early Break). In 1999 he joined the Home Office as a regional drugs adviser based in the northwest.
In 2001 Ian became the Head of Young People’s policy, for the national drug strategy at the Home Office and was responsible for the oversight and policy direction of the substance misuse input into Every Child Matters. He also headed the performance management team for the Drugs Intervention Programme (DIP), before retiring from the home Office in 2006.
Ian is still involved in work in the community as a non- executive Director at NHS East Lancashire and as volunteer independent visitor with children and young people in care (Action for Children), and as a voluntary mentor at a secondary school in Bury.
Julian Cohen
Julian Cohen has worked as a drug education writer and trainer and as a counsellor and group leader for almost 25 years. He is the author of many drug education teaching and training packs, card games, pamphlets and books, many of which have been published by HIT, DrugScope and Healthwise. Julian has run training courses all over the UK and lectured and researched drug education in America, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and Romania.
Kieran Daly
Kieran Daly (RMN, RGN, BA (Hons)) has worked in the mental health field since 1986 within both acute and community mental health settings.
Kieran now manages an adult mental health team and has a special interest in dual diagnosis, acting as a resource for a large mental health trust, local authority Health and Social Care Directorate and community drug teams.
Lesley de Meza
Lesley de Meza is a leading practitioner, trainer and writer known internationally for her PSHE education work. She worked as part of a QCA project team on Personal and Social Development curriculum materials and case studies.
She has worked with a range of organisations including: DAATs, DfCSF, DoH, Home Office, Integrated Youth Support Services, LAs, Metropolitan Police, NICE, PCTs, QCA, schools, TPU and universities.
Lesley serves as an ‘Education Practitioner’ member of the Public Health Interventions Advisory Committee (PHIAC), which is part of the National Institute for Health & Clinical Excellence (NICE). She is an Associate Trainer for the National Children's Bureau and Brook and also a Trustee for JAT (Jewish Action and Training for Sexual Health).
Martin Chandler
Martin Chandler has managed the Inter Agency Drug Misuse Database at the Centre for Public Health in Liverpool John Moore’s University (UK) since July 2004. He is responsible for administering the database as well as designing and implementing new monitoring systems and original, collaborative research based on data held within these systems.
He has presented at both national and international conferences on a range of issues around injecting drug use, especially the use of Performance and Image Enhancing Drugs. Martin is also involved in training for frontline needle exchange staff and provides consultancy on data collection and performance monitoring systems for local treatment and harm reduction services.
He provides training around anabolic steroid use to health professionals with a focus on service provision for this client group. Prior to joining the Centre for Public Health Martin held research positions with the Royal Free Hospital in London and the Centre for Investigative Psychology at Liverpool University as well as teaching positions in an East London College of Further Education and Birkbeck College, University of London. Martin’s educational background is in Psychology, with a special emphasis on Forensic Psychology. Martin currently holds an MSc, a BSc and a PGCE.
Mike Howard
Mike Howard worked in the Mental Health field from 1988-1993, progressing from Nursing assistant to Staff Nurse. During this time he worked in acute admissions and elderly assessment. Mike then left general Mental Health services to pursue his interest in the field of alcohol and substance misuse, as both a practitioner and trainer. He developed a strong reputation as a practitioner in West Wales from 1993-2000.
Mike’s skills as a trainer/facilitator began to be more in demand, and he changed to this role in 2000, combined with work around brief interventions and behaviour change.
Mike also spent four years as chair of Alcohol Action Wales (1999-2003), helping keep the profile of alcohol "on the agenda". Mike is also one of a limited number of Motivational Interviewing trainers in the UK. Mike became part of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) having trained as an MI trainer in 2003. Mike has delivered training to a number of statutory and voluntary organisations in the UK, both as an employee and an independent consultant.
Nigel Brunsdon
Nigel Brunsdon has over a decade of experience of working within needle and syringe programmes both as a practitioner and a manager. He has been running the popular harm reduction website, Injecting Advice.com, since the start of 2007. He is passionate about harm reduction approaches to substance use.
Nigel is responsible for running the social media aspects of the National Needle Exchange Forum, and an active member of the UK Harm Reduction Alliance. He also spends far too much of his time on Twitter.
Paul Dillon
Paul Dillon has been working in the area of drug education for the past 25 years. For the past 16 years he has worked at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, Sydney where his key role was to disseminate research findings to policy makers, drug and alcohol workers and the general public.
Through his own business, Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia (DARTA), he has been contracted by many agencies and organisations across the country to give regular updates on current drug trends within the community. He has also worked with many school communities to ensure that they have access to good quality information and best practice drug education.
In recent years, he has worked extensively with a range of sporting organisations including the Australian Cricketers Association, the Rugby Union Players Association and the Football Federation of Australia to provide training workshops to elite athletes on a range of alcohol and other drug issues.
He has just completed a book 'Teenagers, Alcohol and Drugs' which was released nationally in February 2009. With a broad knowledge of a range of content areas, Paul regularly provides media comment and is regarded as a key social commentator in Australia, appearing on a wide range of television programs including Sunrise, TODAY and the 7PM Project discussing topical issues. Paul also had a regular spot on a national radio program on Triple J for seven years where he dealt with current youth drug issues.
Pip Mason
Pip Mason is a trained nurse and counsellor and has worked in the addictions field since 1975 in day centres, rehabilitation centres, prisons and primary care.
She is a member of the international Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers and co-author of Health Behaviour Change: a Guide for Practitioners.
Ronno Griffiths & Zetta Bear
Ronno Griffiths (CQSW) has worked in the areas of sexual abuse, substance use, HIV and associated fields since the mid-1970s. She managed a street-level drug service in South London for ten years before running a drugs training unit in Cheshire, and has worked as a senior researcher in Public Health. Since 1989 she has had an independent training and consultancy practice, offering training, supervision, evaluation, research and policy and practice development within national frameworks.
Zetta Bear is a psychotherapist in private practice and a freelance trainer. She is trained in psychodynamic and transpersonal counselling, therapy and group work. Her background is in voluntary sector accommodation, counselling and mental health services. She has a special interest in the effects of early trauma.
Tony Birt
Tony is a freelance trainer in the drug and alcohol field. Specialising in harm reduction, he has experience of developing and delivering training for a wide range of organisations including local authorities, voluntary sector services and community groups. Past roles include National Advocate, Public Governor of a Mental Health Foundation Trust and Training Officer for a national user-led organisation. He also works with the RCGP/SMU helping to deliver their national training programme, particularly within secure environments.
Tony is a regular public speaker delivering a range of presentations and interactive workshops including exploring the service user experience and maintaining a recovery focus within harm reduction. Tony places great value in motivational speaking as a means of calling for and stimulating change whilst inspiring hope.
Tony O'Connor
Tony O’Connor has been involved in the personal development field for over 25 years. His current professional status began in the mid 80’s with an interest in holistic health, and studies in the martial arts of Kung Fu and Tai Chi. His studies expanded to encompass Holistic Massage, Chi Gong, Meditation and more recently Yoga.
Shortly after this Tony began his studies in the therapeutic arts and has been developing his knowledge, practice and skills ever since. He continues to develop himself both personally and professionally today, and is always involved in some form of study, research, or learning. Though his expertise is not limited to the field of addiction, it is an area that he has been involved in since the late 80’s and he is very passionate about supporting people in overcoming what he believes is one of the greatest challenges anyone can face.
Tony has worked mostly in 3rd sector/not for profit organisations and has experience of many different working environments, including; residential rehabilitation, residential detox, community drug services, outreach, criminal justice and working with young homeless people.
Tony has been a trainer and therapeutic group facilitator for over 16 years, and has specialised his training, workshops and group sessions in the area of relapse prevention, self awareness, creative problem solving, stress management, and therapeutic interventions to help people in recovery to manage their feelings at times of crisis.
Tony is qualified in EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), Therapeutic Counselling, CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy), TA (Transactional Analysis), NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), Stress Management/Work-Life Balance and Holistic Massage. He continues to develop professionally each year, and has attended many other training and professional development courses/workshops.
Val Goff
Val Goff gained the Advanced Certificate in the Management of Substance Misuse 9 years ago and has over 11 years experience working in the substance misuse/addictions field, mainly within the Criminal Justice System. She is a qualified Mental Health First Aid Instructor and a Youth Mental Health First Aid Instructor. Val delivers these two-day, certificated courses on a freelance basis for the NHS and various other organisations.
Val’s interest in mental health was sparked soon after starting work in the drug and alcohol field when trying to establish if drug/alcohol misuse had come about in an individual because of a mental health issue or the other way around. This led to an interest in dual diagnosis and developed into a passion for wanting to help people recognise the signs of emotional and mental ill health issues, empower them to feel confident to help and prevent the issues from becoming unmanageable. With early intervention, young people in particular, can be protected from risk of harm and developing a dependency on drugs/alcohol.
Val also has a private practice in holistic therapies. She is a fully qualified Reiki Master/Teacher and also specialises in training drug/alcohol workers in using Reiki with addictions. Val is a long term member of the Reiki Healers and Teachers Society. Auricular Acupuncture, Indian Head Massage and Emotional Freedom Technique add to the repertoire of therapies Val is able to offer to her clients.