Image from Kenteegardin

Key Facts

  • Holding organisation: Florennes City
  • Status: Municipality
  • Financing: Indirect/ Public subsidy through the PCS (local cohesion plan) functioning budget
  • People involved in the project: 1 full time volunteer + PCS Florennes coordinators (2 FTE persons)
  • Creation Date: 2010
  • Contact Persons: Dominique FASTREZ/ Quentin LORENT
  • Main project links: www.pcs.florennes.be/permanence/point-contact-alcool-drogues

The idea

The Addiction Contact Point is a physical answering service for any inhabitant who would like to know more about his/her or a relative’s problem with alcohol/ tobacco/drug. The service is original in the sense that it is being hosted within the town administration building but animated by a retired volunteer who used to work in the field. In that, it facilitates the icebreaking and the confidence of the service’s users who do not feel in a patient-doctor relationship.

The local context

According to IWEPS, 8,4% of the Walloon population over 15 consumed alcohol in excess every week (over 22 glasses for men/ 15 glasses for women) in 2008. This phenomenon has substantially risen in 10 years (5,7% in 1997) and is preoccupying for the Youngest (weekly hyperalcoholisation for 12% of the 15-24 Belgian in 2008).

The starting point

Following the analysis of the territory made by the Walloon Statistics Agency IWEPS in line with the PCS process (local cohesion plan) to which Florennes committed, mobilization to fight addiction (drugs and alcohol) came as one priority for the well being of the local inhabitants. At the same period a retired citizen, Dominique Fastrez came spontaneously to the administration explaining his motivation to share his long expertise as risk prevention agent/ street worker and help inhabitants in need for advice/ listening. In addition, there was no addiction information service in the Philippeville district. Only one association “Le Répit” was operating in this field but was losing public and institutional visibility. In partnership with the PCS coordinator, they started working on a way to fulfil this need. 1/ Institutional support: in order to ensure the initiative’s legitimacy, the Florennes Municipality first elaborated a Volunteering Convention to Dominique Frastrez (covering the service’s running costs and travel expenses) and provided a place for the future service 2/ Mapping: map the different actors related to addiction prevention on the territory (doctors/ associations/ projects): few were specialized. 3/ Setting the core service: provide basic information for any person facing an addiction problem, be a trust bridge to help identified persons take the decision to cure themselves in the appropriate institutions in Charleroi or Namur. 4/ Partnership: find a place in the socio-medical network and be able to interact with all related actors in place).

How does it work today?

  • Physical point in Florennes: The service is open every Wednesday from 10AM to 12AM. (NB: Another Association “Le Répit” complements the service by organizing in demand meetings for drug abuse in the same building: http://www.pcs.florennes.be/permanence/permanence-de-lasbl-le-repit-sur-florennes/)
  • Specific trainings: Dominique Fastrez provides specific trainings on alcoology both for social workers and social services users 3 or 4 times a year (What is alcohol? How it affects the body…)
  • Replication process: following the success of the initiative, other local cities asked for such open information service; Dominique Frastrez is also operating in Philipeville and Metaye and looking for ways to find motivated citizens in these locations to carry on the project.

Participation and Governance

  • Partners: health professionals (doctors/ pharmacists); Hospital centres; local associations (tailored help providers)/ federal networks/ Socio-professional insertion service/ CPAS (local public social service)
  • Target people: local inhabitants (over 18)/ volatile group: some people only come once, other come every week during several months.

The approach: the service is based on people’s listening; the methodological grid and interview process is adapted to every newcomer: What does the person needs and what is she/he looking for? An informal trust deal is then contracted on different goals/elements to achieve. When the problems are heavy, Dominique Fastrez can discuss with the PCS team to share his views and advice for the best existing treatment options for each individual. He has developed a network with existing drug treatment centres and other socio-medical actors.

  • Evaluation process: Annual Activity Report (number of visits/ Types of follow-ups)

Added value of the project and making resources available

  • Risk-reduction and Health prevention among the population
  • Easy-access and reduced stigmatization: meeting with a person rather than a service (may it be social or medical); sincere exchanges/ interpersonal easy process.
  • Impact assessment: continuous evaluation process
  • Flexibility: Dominique has a total freedom to take decisions that he feels appropriate to each situation (sometimes he can go to the person’s house)

Challenges

  • Legitimacy & acknowledgment: Hard to get the service accepted by associations and health professionals (some first refused to provide the contact information of this new service). In general, it is complex to make “professional networks” acknowledge the work value and professional competencies of a citizen. It highlights the need for better recognition of retired persons’ competencies and their pivotal societal role in community improvement.
  • Participation:
    • Communication and acceptation: time needed until the service got known (word-of-mouth: usual taboo to dare contact someone about addiction problems)
    • Cultural barrier: alcohol consumption is culturally largely accepted in rural areas (the person who doesn’t drink is marginal).

Future perspective

  • Keep on this addiction contact network with both citizen and “professional” sides:
    • Need to convince the medical sector of the added value of the citizen part.
    • Find territorial citizens’ nodes in surrounding cities to get trained and ensure the long-term viability of the project
  • Strengthen the territorial presence near consumption spots

Proposals for change

  • Need to get acknowledgment of this mixed approach to local public officers/ associations: both professional and “citizen-based” method
  • Go beyond the classic operational mode: equitable and co-responsible approach; everyone benefits from another individual and can provide valuable knowledge to another person.

Other valuable projects

ON THE TERRITORY:

  • Risk Reduction Project: Philipeville and Florennes joint-project enlarged with 8 other cities

Focus group with volunteers: project launch in January 2012: Call for 25 volunteering citizens (over 18/ all backgrounds) in Florennes and Philipeville to co-construct a local action plan to better coin risks at the local level (trainings provided/ best practices identified). Actions during local Festivals: information/prevention stand points during parties/ Bus free night service (Philinoctambus)/ water free distribution. http://www.philippeville.be/Fichiers/reglement%20concours%20affiche%20rdr.pdf?ch_id=45 Signature of a Risk Reduction Charter: local authorities and festival organizations signed in june 2013 a charter to level down the risks in parties (fed by the focus group contributions) http://www.lavenir.net/article/detail.aspx?articleid=DMF20130624_00328176

IN BELGIUM:

  • No-alcohol party (LEUVEN): The Flemish Association for Alcohol and Other Drug Problems (VAD) in partnership with a student association tried a non-alcohol beer party during a student Event in Leuven (but the students didn’t know about it) Result: The placebo effect worked well and the party was a success. It was a showcase that party can work without alcohol. http://www.kuleuven.be/english/news/alcohol-use-awareness-campaign
  • Druglijn: Telephone/mail/chat and skype service around all questions on alcohol, drugs, psychoactive medicine and gambling http://www.druglijn.be/druglijn_english.aspx
  • Le Comptoir (CHARLEROI): A Hosting place providing free clean needles for drugs consumers and recovering used material to prevent the persons with any form of contamination (AIDS/ Hepatitis): http://www.lecomptoirdecharleroi.net/
  • Operation Boule-de-neige (Snow-Ball Operation): Modus Vivendi an association providing trainings on HIV prevention and drug use risk prevention has developed an operation where drug users are local relay-points for other users on health risks associated with drug consumptions (HIV/Hepatitis..). This operation enables marginalized population to get precious information from peers that they do not usually get by general public campaigns.