Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Who are Swanswell?
A. Swanswell is a charitable trust with 42 years’ experience of delivering successful community-based programmes. We provide a wide range of services to support people, their families, carers and affected others with problems related to drug and/or alcohol misuse.
Q. What services will you deliver?
A. We’ll be delivering the substance misuse (drug and alcohol) service for young people and adults across Leicestershire and Rutland.
Q. Will there be any support for families and carers?
A. At Swanswell, we see families, carers and concerned others as being key helping people change
In our experience, involving families and carers in the recovery journey can help to increase the likelihood of the service user achieving their goals and maintain a more positive lifestyle. We will involve the service user’s family and/or carer in the assessment, care planning and treatment processes as much as possible (with the service user’s consent). We’ll provide access and support to carers and friends, either as part of the service user’s care or independently of service users.
We’ll also offer families and carers an assessment of their own needs and work with them to access support to meet those needs. As we keep family members and carers well, we improve the resources the service user has. We will ensure carers have access to support by using different delivery methods, such as telephone support, online forums, email and text messaging.
Q. Where will you be delivering the service?
A. Swanswell will be delivering from two main sites in Hinckley and Loughborough. We’ll also be available at regular times to see people in local venues in Wigston, Melton Mowbray, Market Harborough and Coalville.
Q. What times will you be open?
A. The offices in Loughborough and Hinckley will open Monday to Friday at least 9am – 5pm and Saturday 9am to 12 noon. There’ll also be one late night opening at both sites.
We’ll be in Wigston, Melton Mowbray, Market Harborough and Coalville at least one day and evening per week.
Q. How can the service be accessed?
A. You’ll be able to access drop in sessions in our offices and community venues. Other partner agencies (e.g. GPs, housing providers etc.) can make referrals, or you could ring us to make a self referral. We’ll have a dedicated telephone number for referrals.
Q. Will you be offering complementary therapies?
A. We will be offering complementary therapies at some of our locations. We’re also planning to train a group of service users to deliver complementary therapies as part of our social enterprise work.
Q. Does my loved one need to be seeing Swanswell themselves for me to access support too?
A. No. We will offer support to families and carers irrespective of whether their loved ones are in treatment with us.
Q. In the past I have asked for information about my loved one and have been told I cannot have this information due to confidentiality. What information can you share with me?
A. We will share any information where the service user has told us we can do so. We find that involving the family and carer at the start, when someone comes into treatment often supports more sharing of information. If we don’t have permission to share we will work with the family member/carer independently.
Q. Will I be able to give something back by volunteering?
A. We plan to have a volunteering team and we’ll welcome people who can help families and carers as well as service users. We know that those who have had their own experiences of dealing with substance misuse have a lot to offer.
Q. Will you be able to do work with siblings as they can also be affected?
A. We can work with siblings as we would see them as a part of the family unit if they are over 18. Our young persons services will be able to support younger siblings affected by someone’s drug and alcohol use to access support.
