Introduction

There are a number of agencies in Bolton who provide treatment for people who have a drug-related problem.

‘Treatment’ is not just about medication. Bolton’s Drug Action Team, and the specialist drug services in the area, believe that treatment is a range of opportunities that a person can choose from to help them to sort out their drug-related problems. This can include helping with a person’s physical, psychological, social and legal well-being.

Drug services in Bolton see people as individuals and know that there isn’t one type of treatment that will suit everybody. So, when a person first contacts a drug service, there will be an assessment of what is going on in their life, what their aim is and what might best help them to achieve it.
A personal “care plan” is then put together and agreed between the person and the drug worker. Care plans can, and do, change over time and will be reviewed regularly to make sure that a person is getting the most appropriate and beneficial treatment for them.

Treatment choices can include one, or more likely a combination of:

• Information and advice
• Counselling
• Structured day programmes
• Community prescribing
• Needle exchange
• Inpatient services
• Residential rehabilitation

All services are confidential – what a person tells a drug worker at a drug service stays between the person and the service, unless

• The worker believes that the person is in danger
• The worker believes that another service user is in danger
• The worker believes that somebody else, and particularly a child or children, is in danger
• There is a police investigation into certain crimes that a person may be involved in

                                 
All Bolton’s drug services are aware that there are groups of people, as well as individuals, who have different wants and needs and make efforts to accommodate them.