'Profiling' of Wrexham's drug users shows early signs of success says council

The Leader has reported several times over recent months on concerns arising from the impact of new psychoactive substances (NPS) such as Mamba and Spice on Wrexham.

But work to ‘profile’ people who have drug problems in the town centre may be showing some early signs of success, Wrexham Council has said.

Steve Campbell, Wrexham Council’s NPS taskforce co-ordinator, said: “All it really means is that we’ve got to know each individual, so we know what kind of help they’ll need if they decide to accept help.

“It could be that one person will need help with accommodation, another will need help with their mental health and so on.

“And we’ll continually monitor them, so we know how their circumstances are changing from week-to-week.

“It means we can hit the ground running and offer them tailored support the minute they choose to accept it.

“Every minute counts during those initial moments when someone chooses to accept help.”

Another part of the council’s approach comes after an event held six months ago which brought together organisations involved in tackling substance misuse and homelessness in the town.

Mr Campbell said: “The thing we all recognised was that it was unrealistic, in some cases, to send people all over the place for different types of support.

“If someone struggling with drug addiction asks for help, and you tell them they need to go to one place to get help with one thing, and then to a different place for something else, there’s often issues with ensuring that person is able to access the various sources of support available to them.

“Some people are unable to keep appointments and turn up in the right place at the right time, so you lose the chance to engage them. It became apparent that we needed to try and create some kind of one-stop shop facility.”

The ‘shop’ was set up at a suitable location in the town centre, operating on a one-day-a-week basis to begin with and because of the profiling being done, professionals on site know what support to offer a person.

A ‘rapid-referral’ system means they get that support fast so if they need to go into detox or rehab that happens quickly.

On the question of whether the work is making a difference, Mr Campbell added: “It’s early days and nobody is counting their chickens. But we’ve had some encouraging results.

“The people we’re trying to engage with are comfortable turning up at the one stop shop, and some are now in detox and rehab programmes.

“That’s really positive, and something that wouldn’t have happened before.

“Because we have all the different support workers on hand – ready to help with addiction, health issues, mental health, finding somewhere to live, benefits and so on – it means we can offer help the moment people decide they want it.

“That’s important. Any delay and an hour later they could be back under the influence of drugs and no longer interested in getting help.”

A council spokesman added: “Effective co-ordination between the different agencies involved – including Wrexham Council, the police, local health services and support charities – is also proving really important.

“Wrexham’s approach has attracted interest from other town and cities, keen to see what they can learn from our experiences.”

Cllr Hugh Jones, Wrexham Council’s lead member for communities, partnerships, public protection and community safety, said: “We’re doing something that’s really simple in principal – we’re making it as easy as possible for people to get the tailored support they need, in one place, as soon as they decide they want it.

“But it’s innovative in that it isn’t really being done in most towns and cities.

“So other places with the same issues are interested in seeing what kind of results we get in Wrexham.

“There’s no easy answer, but if we can help more people get the support and opportunities they need to move away from drugs, and the chaotic lifestyle that goes with them, that will go a long way in helping us manage this difficult problem.”