Transcript

KATIE

My first name is Katie. I first came to FDAC in September '21. Completed FDAC the beginning of this year '23. My experience of FDAC was great, I came into FDAC when my son was born. My son was born in the September, and I started FDAC in the January.

And things were very slow in the normal-care proceedings. From September till January, nothing sort of went anywhere. I was having to do a lot myself. I started with FDAC and things instantly were just very sort of, I'll say intense. But I knew where I was going, and I knew what was expected of me. And yeah, I just went forward from there, and I completed it the January after.

I think what worked for me was the fact that you had a worker with you and an allocated worker that visited you every week, done relevant testing, and was just interested in how you were getting on. It wasn't just focused on recovery, it was about yourself as well. Very, very rewarding. You had court. We'd go to court every two weeks. Which was a big achievement, really, that you got good feedback from the court as well.

And I think the more encouragement I got, the more I wanted to do it. It wasn't just you were left to your own devices. It was very intense. Different things to do every day nearly. Yeah, and I think once you'd completed it, there'd be another thing to go on to as well. So there was always planning ahead. You always planned different things to do, and it just kept you busy the whole time.

I think FDAC were a lot more involved, if I'm honest, I must say, it's been my personal social worker, very much. It wasn't just as I say, focused around recovery, it wasn't focused just around addiction. It was just more about your own well-being. And even just down to, how are you, and things like that, some people don't get from a social worker. It was just a much more intense relationship. And you know you can trust them because they want the best for you. They don't want a negative outcome, they want a positive outcome.

I think at first, as I say, at first, it's quite daunting because you have so much expectations of you. You have so much to do really. When you're not in a routine and you're not used to doing much, and then you get put into FDAC and you're expected to do things every day, testing every week or every two weeks. And I had a newborn baby as well. So obviously it was quite hard. But I think the first month was a bit tough, but then after that, it just seemed like a normal way of life.

I mean, you meet fantastic people that are in the same position as you. That are very supportive. Everyone's so supporting of each other with the different groups that you go through and things like that. So yeah, mine was a great experience.

Me personally, there's not anything that I changed because it all went really well for me. I think the assessments at first were probably the hardest part for me, because you do have to relive a lot of what you've been through. And basically, so to speak, air your dirty laundry to everyone, people you don't know. But once that part's over and done with-- and I think that was the hardest part, but not something that I'd want to change. But yeah, that's just the hardest part. But after that, no, things fall into place. And I think once you're in, started the routine, a few groups every week. And I think it gave me a massive structure to what I needed to do.

I think if I went through traditional care proceedings, I think I wouldn't have been given the push that I was with FDAC. And my working relationship with my social worker wasn't the best at the time. Obviously, her main focus was my son that was born. Obviously, she needed to keep him safe, but there wasn't much based around what I was going to do next. It was about just me making certain phone calls. But you don't always get the same response from the agencies that you're calling.

You're trying, but they're so overwhelmed with people they don't always get back to you as soon as you give them a call. So there was a lot of delay in that. But then luckily for me, from the September to the January, is all I had to wait to join FDAC. So in the January straight away I was on FDAC. And it just seemed like a totally different way. I was pushed into doing things straight away, which helped me. So I do think that it probably would have been a lot more waiting around, a lot more stuff that I would need to find to do myself, rather than being told what to do.