Professionals

counselling

Catalyst is a not for profit organisation with charitable status, funded through a variety of sources. Our experience of working with individuals struggling with drug, alcohol and mental health issues has been built up over many years and has always involved working with a range of other professional and statutory bodies.

Our approach is friendly and non-judgemental while always  professional. We are deeply committed to the right of the individual to dictate their own pace and to decide their own way through life. We try to find rational solutions for people which work for them.

We believe in the cycle of change and harm reduction approaches such as motivational interviewing, solution focused therapy as well as brief interventions and street work. We are not a prescribing agency but believe that we are a part of the whole treatment system and work hand in hand with prescribers. We also work with services which promote abstinence, particularly when this is what the client wants.

Rights of the individual

We also believe that not all substance use is damaging or harmful and believe in the right of the individual to seek help to improve wellbeing when they need it and if they need it. We believe that that recognition comes from the person themselves.

Causes of addiction

We believe that people can be affected by problem drug or alcohol use (and indeed sex and gambling) from any strata of life and at almost any time in their life. We believe that many people self-medicate for issues which affect them and are often caused by trauma at some point in their life. Their drug use is a way of coping. Our job is to help that person to cope in other ways.

Data and Professional standards

Catalyst understands the need for accurate and meaningful data to allow work to be evaluated and we are fully compliant with HALO as a reporting tool. We also submit anonymised data to NDTMS and report on a quarterly basis on all our projects. We also complete outcome measures wherever possible and practical. Catalyst supports and complies with the DataProtection Act 2018 and GDPR principles.

We provide qualitative data where appropriate and this includes client feedback which is managed by our service user group rather than by staff.

All staff are qualified and conform to the Drug and Alcohol National Occupational Standards (DANOS), National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines (NICE) and the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy guidance ethical framework (BACP). We are affiliated to the Federation of Drug and Alcohol Professionals and members of the Skills Consortium.