Effective practice guide: Substance misuse

Effective practice guide: Substance misuse (PDF, 1 MB) 

Based on effective practice identified during our joint thematic inspection of community-based drug treatment and recovery work with people on probation (2021).

Contents: This guide focuses on leadership and working in partnership including our standards and expectations in this area and key takeaways. Examples of effectiveness are shared from the following: Operation ADDER (Addiction, Diversion, Disruption, Enforcement and Recovery) via a written overview and interview and the Community Sentence Treatment Requirement pilot areas via written themes.

The guide then identifies our standards and expectations around delivering good advice to court. We provide key takeaways from the examples of effectiveness, including videos sharing the importance of the person on probation’s voice and accessing the right sentence, and written tips on court proposals.

There is then a focus on case supervision, we share our standards and expectations and key takeaways from two written case studies and Q&A sessions.

The guide then looks at reducing harm to individuals, identifying our standards, expectations and key takeaways based on examples around practical harm reduction and different treatments.

We conclude with overall key takeaways, and further reading and resources for those wishing to explore this area further.