We thought it would be useful to put this guidance in our news section as well as our resource section for ease of find.

Mutual aid groups are a source of structure and continuing support for people seeking recovery from alcohol or drug dependence, and for those directly or indirectly affected by dependence, such as partners, close friends, children and other family members. The evidence base shows that clients who actively participate in mutual aid are more likely to sustain their recovery, and the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends that treatment staff routinely provide information about mutual aid groups and facilitate access for those who want to attend (NICE, 2007; NICE, 2011; NICE, 2012).

In working towards compliance with NICE quality standards, local commissioners and service providers will seek to ensure that facilitating access to mutual aid is supported within the local recovery system and that keyworkers recognise it as an integral part of their role.

Keyworkers must give thought to the way they approach the subject of mutual aid with their clients because the evidence shows that simply providing information and leaving them to make contact often results in them either never attending or quickly dropping out (Humphreys, 1999).

A more active approach involves services promoting and hosting local meetings, holding explicit and structured conversations with clients, and setting care-planned goals around attending and engaging. Evidence shows that this kind of approach is usually more effective (Timko et al., 2006)

Facilitating access to mutual aid
Three essential stages for helping clients
access appropriate mutual aid support

Please download mutualaid-fama

Introduction 4

The three-stage FAMA model 6
Session one: introducing mutual aid 7
Session two: encouraging the client to engage with a mutual aid group 9
Session three: taking an interest in the client’s experience of mutual aid groups 11

References 12

Appendix 1: recommendations for peer accompaniment 13
Appendix 2: hand-outs 14

mutualaid-fama

Helping clients has never been easier now that most meetings of mutual aid have moved online you can find access to most meetings Down below.

Twelve Step Recovery:
Narcotics Anonymous – http://www.nabyphone.com/ or  https://online.ukna.org/
Alcoholics Anonymous – http://aaphonemeetings.org/  or https://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/AA-Meetings/Find-a-Meeting/
Cocaine Anonymous – https://www.ca-online.org/ or https://meetings.cocaineanonymous.org.uk/meetings/?tsml-type=ONLINE
Adult Children of Alcoholics – https://adultchildren.org/  or http://www.adultchildrenofalcoholics.co.uk/meetings_online.html
Al-Anon – https://www.phonemeetings.org/ or https://al-anon.org/al-anon-meetings/electronic-meetings/