02/02/2026
A blast from the past.
On 16 July 2001, The Sentinel ran this piece when I took up a post as a Community Drug Therapist in the Northern area of the westernhsctrust. I had just moved home after many years away, stepping into work that was urgent, complex, and deeply human.
What strikes me reading this now is not the job title or the photo. It is the core idea that still holds up. People use for reasons. Usually sensible ones, given the context of their lives. , loss, , disconnection, survival. When we ignore those reasons and focus only on stopping behaviour, we miss the point and often miss the person.
Back then, the work was already about one to one conversations, curiosity, and helping people make informed choices rather than being told what to do. That thinking later found a strong home in Motivational Interviewing, and it continues to shape how I train, coach, and work with practitioners today.
Twenty five years on, the systems look different, the language has changed, and the pressures have intensified. But the fundamentals remain. Effective change work is . It starts with respect. It grows through listening. And it works best when people feel rather than managed.
I am sharing this not for nostalgia, but as a reminder. Good practice has a long memory. Our task is to keep applying it with skill, humility, and care, even when the context gets harder.
If you are working in substance use, mental health, social care, or any role where change conversations matter, this is the work. And it still matters.
