External Testimonials

Dr Kevin McConville

GP, Muiredge Surgery, Buckhaven

“I have used DAPL with my patients for several years now and find their service helpful, facilitative and often motivating to my patients. Your ease of access and central locality provides a choice option for patients or their family looking for support and guidance when it comes to dealing with their drug or alcohol problems. Having an under 18′s service has been very useful! DAPL provides linked work with NHS addictions and other community services and I can’t ever recall patients having anything but positive comments to make about your service.”

Sally Ingram MBACP (Accred)

Director of Counselling Services, University of Durham

“In recent years I have had the privilege of supervising a number of counsellors for DAPL. The work that DAPL undertakes is vital to the Fife community and its outcomes for the local community have been a joy to observe in my supervisory meetings with DAPL’s Young People’s counsellors. DAPL has an excellent team of young people’s counsellors who collectively have provided a high level of complex and challenging therapeutic work.

It has often been very distressing to hear the situations that very young people find themselves in and DAPL’s Young People’s counsellors are exposed to this on a daily basis. Yet I’ve observed in our supervisory work that far from diminishing the counsellors it spurs them on to achieve the very best outcomes for young people who work with them.

“The Young People’s counselling team have developed excellent working relationships with their statutory agency colleagues and this is evidenced by their reputation and the high esteem in which they are held. The Young People’s counselling team is transforming the lives of young people in Fife who have been affected by drug or alcohol misuse and the counselling team is not just an asset to be local community but to the counselling profession as a whole. I have had the opportunity to observe the demanding yet exciting work that these counsellors undertake and hope that this work goes from strength to strength in the years ahead.”

Ian Bease

Superintendent, Communities Policing Division, Fife Constabulary

“In recent years, Fife Constabulary has become more directly involved with DAPL on a daily basis through: local officer involvement, referrals through youth justice, local harm reduction initiatives in respect of drugs and alcohol and with periodic briefing sessions to staff. The openness to Partnership working has developed a good working relationship where informal case counselling can lead to earlier interventions for those most at risk. The success of the Street referral programme has greatly assisted the Police with problematic youngsters misusing alcohol and has led to a significant reduction in the overall level of anti-social behaviour and street disorder in the Levenmouth area. In addition, a number of parents have also participated in programmes thereby changing their approach, attitudes and behaviours towards substance misuse, which directly influences the actions of their children.”

Dr Judith M Burgess

Consultant Psychiatrist, NHS Fife

“Alcohol is easily available and associated with relaxation and celebrations. It is not surprising therefore that many people do not realise that even modest quantities can have harmful and unpleasant side effects. These include a wide range of symptoms, such as mood swings and memory impairment, that can significantly interfere with the normal activities of everyday life. Non prescribed drugs are now seen by many as “recreational” and again the harmful effects are often not recognised or acknowledged. DAPL provides a comprehensive service for people with difficulties associated with alcohol and drug use. Sometimes I send DAPL leaflets in advance of an outpatient appointment but may also suggest contacting DAPL after assessment at clinic. DAPL can supplement NHS care or, ideally, provides early intervention. My experience over the past 6 years is that DAPL is a very accessible and flexible service sensitive to the needs of the population.”

Sheriff M Hendry

“Sitting as the Sheriff in the Drug Court in Fife, I see and hear evidence on a daily basis of the damage caused by the abuse of drugs and alcohol to individuals, their families and the wider community. It is a massive problem, which blights our society, and must be addressed. Alongside the misery created by this problem, however, I am also privileged to see the welcome consequences of the intervention of agencies such as DAPL. There is no single source or cause of the problem, and our response must be multi-faceted. I have the responsibility of managing those subject to Drug Court orders, but I recognise and appreciate that counselling plays an important role in the rehabilitation of the addict/offender.”

Rowdy Yates

Senior Research Fellow, Scottish Addiction Studies, University of Stirling

“The addiction treatment field tends to be defined more by what we don’t know than what we do. We know that treatment works, that it saves lives and money, but how it works and who it works best for are questions still to be answered after more than half a century of research. What we do know is that consistency appears to be immensely important. We know that people who recover from a period of addiction (and huge numbers do) characteristically credit the importance of a strong, honest relationship with another person. Most often, of course this is a love relationship, but professional relationships figure prominently too. And this is something that voluntary agencies seem to do instinctively better than their statutory partners.

I have observed the work of DAPL over a number of years and consistency – developing the ‘therapeutic relationship’, if you like – is something that DAPL staff care passionately about and do extremely well. Some years ago, I undertook a brief evaluation of DAPL. The thing that really stood out, that everybody – other services, service planners and, critically, service users – talked about, was DAPL’s commitment to ensuring that all clients were adequately resourced, that they were allocated and retained a keyworker, that they were never allowed to just drift away without being chased up. Crucially, this was an issue that all the clients we interviewed talked about with great appreciation.

Everyone knows we are heading into troubled financial waters and finances for welfare services are bound to become less readily available. In times like these, I would argue, we would be well advised to channel limited resources into services like DAPL, that clients really care about and find useful.”

Ms Caroline Thomson

Deputy Head Teacher, Auchmuty High School, Glenrothes

“Auchmuty High School has successfully worked with the DAPL project for several years.

In all this time I have yet to meet a pupil who did not appreciate their support. Many young people continue to engage with DAPL over a significant period of time.

Similarly Guidance and Behaviour Support staff always speak highly of the service offered by DAPL staff.

I look forward to continued engagement with DAPL over the coming years for the benefit of the pupils in Auchmuty High School.”