| A personal-development service helps people who have experienced a crisis in their mental health and/or problems with substance and alcohol misuse to develop their confidence, interests and work skills and move forward after a difficult time.
The aim is to give practical support to help people when they are no longer eligible for the initial ‘crisis’ support that they may have received in the past.
This type of service may have different names in different parts of the country. Unfortunately not all areas have these services and there are not always enough places to go around.
Who is the service for?
The service provides support to adults of all ages, backgrounds and experience who are working to get their lives back on track after a period of mental distress and/or substance-misuse problems. Some people using the service may have been involved with the criminal-justice system. Others may have mental health problems that have never been formally assessed.
We work with people with a wide range of life and work experiences – from people who have never worked, to people who have held very senior positions in large companies.
All our clients live in the community. Some are in temporary housing and a small minority are homeless when they start to use the service.
|Top| How does the service work?
When people first start using the service they are asked to fill in a questionnaire. This looks at their lifestyle, and what they hope to achieve in the future. Their answers enable staff to offer them the support that is right for them.
After this a Personal Development Adviser will work with them to set some realistic goals and draw up an action plan about how to get there. The service-user and Adviser will then meet regularly to put the plan into practice. Advisers will meet people in their own homes, at convenient locations within the community or occasionally at Probation Service offices.
The action plan is reviewed and altered regularly to meet changing needs and ambitions, so the amount and type of support given often changes over time.
|Top| What can the service help me with?
Your Personal Development Adviser will give you whatever practical support they can to help you achieve your goals. This could include encouraging and enabling you to:
- take your first steps back into education or work
- pursue your interests – whether working with animals, history, sculpture or photography
- get involved in social and leisure activities, such as sport or drama
- do voluntary or paid work, part- or full-time
- write CVs and application forms, apply for benefits, make complaints, or perhaps to contact old friends or family.
We can also accompany you to important meetings or events related to any of these areas if you do not feel confident about going on your own.
|Top| How does this kind of service fit in with others?
Personal-development services work closely with local community drug and alcohol teams and the local Probation Service. Workers can put people in touch with other organisations if they require advice on matters such as housing, advocacy, legal advice or representation.
|Top| How long can I use the service?
People don't normally use this kind of service for a fixed length of time – it is available for as long as you need it, either quite intensively for several hours a week, or more occasionally. You can also keep in touch with your Adviser by phone once you have finished using the service.
|Top| What do people who use the service move on to?
Everyone is different and success is measured according to each individual’s goals, skills and abilities.
Many people go on to live very independent and full lives; they take degrees or diplomas, work in the voluntary sector, or in full-time paid jobs. Some people from Together’s personal-development services have moved on to work overseas.
|Top| Do you have to pay to use the service?
This type of service is usually funded by a local authority and is free to the people who use it.
|Top| Can I get involved in the day-to-day running of the service?
People using this type of service will generally be asked for their opinion of it regularly as part of the quality-assurance system, which is designed to make sure that the service meets appropriate standards. Service-users at Together services can also get involved in the recruitment of new staff, and we are setting up support groups led by service-users.
|Top| How can I get to use a personal-development service?
At Together, we actively ‘go looking’ for referrals and offer people a ‘hand in’ to the service to see if we are able to support them to achieve their goals. Most clients are referred through local community drug and alcohol teams.
At the moment, this type of service is only available in some parts of the country. Our services are listed alphabetically: click on the links for more detailed information. To find out what is generally available in your area, talk to your social worker, keyworker, community mental health (psychiatric) nurse or local community mental health team. | 
