Hackney Service User Forum is a group of service user representatives who work with Hackney drug and alcohol treatment services to help increase engagement and retention in order to enhance positive outcomes for all our clients.  HSUF members are based across Hackney’s treatment services so they can help these services to make improvements in accordance to our clients needs.

HSUF mission statement

• To empower service users to enable them to get the best out of drug and alcohol treatment services

• To help those who have barriers to accessing services to speak openly about their treatment and harm reduction needs

• To promote inclusion within service user groups and thus provide a sense of ownership amongst our diverse community

• To provide advice, guidance and advocacy to and on behalf of other service users thereby encouraging people into appropriate and timely treatment

• To motivate and encourage service users to practice, refine and develop their skills and confidence within a nurturing and supportive environment with a view to entering education, training or employment in the future

• To encourage service users to become appropriately involved in other relevant groups at local, regional and national level

• To ensure commissioners and treatment providers are doing what they can to promote service user involvement and best practice for drug and alcohol users, their families and the community as a whole.

HSUF support Hackney residents who have used drugs or alcohol problematically either in the past or currently and those engaged or disengaged from our local treatment system. HSUF are involved in a wide range of activities which include:

• Providing representation for Hackney service user’s, including support and advocacy at meetings and bringing service user issues to the London Users Forum

• Referring clients to appropriate treatment services and organising a range of diversionary activities

• Delivering service user representative training, harm reduction training, peer led training, and service user training for treatment and support staff

• Running service user groups / council meetings and organising a range of peer support groups

• Organising surveys and audits and producing a regular newsletter  To get involved with the HSUF and become a service user representative you need to be a Hackney Resident, have used one of Hackney’s drug and alcohol services and be fairly stable. You can be referred by your key-worker or you can nominate yourself. 

Contact 

Hackney Service User Forum

C/O Marilyn McKenzie

Service User Development Work

Hackney DAAT

Maurice Bishop House

17 Reading Lane

Hackney

E8 1HH 

Tel: 0208 356 4284

Office opening hours Mon-Fri 9.00am-5pm

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