The St. James Priory Project is a unique project which has been developed in Bristol over the last 13 years. It is based in the city centre and offers comprehensive support to people with a history of homelessness who have a substance dependency.
Services offered:
'First Stage' Treatment -Walsingham House
Dual Diagnosis Programme - Walsingham House
'Third Stage' Treatment - St James House
Families / Carers Programme - Facilitated Support Group
We believe that addiction to alcohol and drugs (substance dependency) is a progressive, primary and incurable illness and not a matter of morals or willpower.This does not exclude appropriate consideration of social or personal factors which may have a bearing on an individual’scurrenthealth. The disease, if left untreated, will prove terminal - either directly, through continued usage and the effect this will have on physical health, or indirectly through accidentormisadventure.
Addiction is a threefold disease, affecting people:
Physically;
Emotionally;
Spiritually.
The illness is characterised by loss of control over the use of drink/drugs.Continued usage results in physical and emotional dependence.It will affect all areas of life – personal, family, social, financial, health, and impede the ability to function.However, It is treatable.
Treatment for this illness is based on the acceptance of the goal of complete abstinence from all mood-altering substances. Most of our residents will already have tried, unsuccessfully, to control theiraddiction and find that controlled use does not help. Abstinence, combined with gaining insight to the full implications of the addiction on self and life, will enable an individual to make the changes necessary to return to a normal, healthy and fulfilling life.
Self help and self responsibility are important elements of recovery. Individuals must take some responsibility for doing what they can to improve their health. To do this requires appropriate and relevant help. During treatment residents willbe involved in reading, talking, listening, group work, one-to-one counselling and ongoing help and support from staff and peers to equip them with the tools to enable them to make the necessary changes to break the vicious cycle of substance dependence. The treatmentprogramme promotes a way of life for an individual which emphasises honesty, trust, responsibility, respect and self worth.
We are an Accredited Supporting People Provider:
Not only do we provide specialist addiction treatment at Walsingham House but we also provide general support. Most residents will have other issues to manage such as debt, benefit problems, housing difficulties, and relationship problems or mental health concerns. While our main focus is to work with the primary problem- substance dependency- we also provide guidance and support to deal with these other issues. We aim to establish strong links with other agencies – such as housing and mental health teams – which will enable the individual to move on to appropriate support and accommodation once their treatment is completed.
We also operate an integrated Dual Diagnosis service - Dual Diagnosis
