Debra Dilks

After completing my degree in Health Studies in 1997 where I specialised in substance misuse, I started my career at a local alcohol detox and rehabilitation unit where I was responsible for giving one-to-one support to clients, utilising psychosocial techniques such as motivational interviewing and talking therapies, recording and maintaining full and confidential case notes, liaising with nurses to regularly review care plans, and also facilitating group work sessions built around an abstinence model. This initial experience gave me the skills I needed to successfully work in collaboration with clinical, administrative and management teams as well as with outside agencies such as Social Services.

After 18 months I moved onto a management role and moved to NECA as Team Leader at their Washington Service. Whilst there I was responsible for the line management of 6 staff, ran the needle exchange service and also held a small caseload of clients. During that time because of staffing issues, I was seconded to work in Sunderland Social Services Drug & Alcohol Team where I was responsible for assessing clients for their suitability for detox and/or rehab and held a caseload of around 12 clients. This experience of multi-agency working was very beneficial for me and gave me an insight into how other services work with the same client group. I regularly liaised with rehab units across the north, often collecting clients from prisons at the end of their sentences, taking them straight into treatment and maintaining contact and monitoring their progress through to planned discharge and successful reintegration back into the community. The information sharing skills I developed during this time and the wide network of professional and community resources I became aware of ensured that I was able to confidently provide the highest quality service possible to clients.

When I returned to NECA after having my final child in 2006, I was given the opportunity to work at the Institute of Health and Society at Newcastle University with the Screening and Intervention Programme for Sensible drinking (SIPS) team under the supervision of Dr Dorothy Newbury-Birch and Professor Eileen Kaner. This research programme was funded by the Department of Health as part of the national Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy and involved working in Primary Health Care, local A&E departments and Probation Services with the aim of evaluating the effectiveness of different methods of screening and brief interventions. Whilst there I was responsible for using various screening tools (PAT, SASQ, FAST and AUDIT) and dependent on the results, giving either brief advice, brief counselling or an advice leaflet. I was also responsible for delivering training and support to GP’s, nurses and Probation Officers on how to best give brief advice to hazardous and harmful drinkers with the aim of eliciting behaviour change by challenging client/patient ambivalence. This experience gave me greater communication skills to be able to confidently work with professionals across many levels.

At the end of the research project, I moved onto a Project Manager role at NECA’s Newcastle Service where I was responsible for the line management of 20 staff and had operational responsibility for the smooth running and overall growth and development of the service. I was also responsible for ensuring the service was able to respond effectively to the changing needs of both the client groups and the service commissioners at that time. Due to staffing levels, this was followed by a move to Project Manager of both South Tyneside’s Core Service and also Horizons Recovery Centre.

In 2016 I left NECA and moved on to County Durham Drug and Alcohol Service working for Lifeline as RAD and Housing Coordinator and this gave me extensive experience in the field of housing management and the importance of providing quality accommodation to our tenants. After 18 months I was TUPE’d to DISC (who subsequently rebranded as Humankind, then Waythrough) in my current role as Lead Practitioner for the Recovery Academies throughout County Durham.

I am a confident Manager who has excellent communication skills, who is able to motivate and get buy-in from a team and to lead by example. I have worked in a range of multi-disciplinary teams and have a proven ability to network effectively and to build strong professional relationships by focusing on our common beliefs and values. By the sharing of our combined skills, experience and knowledge, I have been able to engage and motivate service users and to also provide them with excellent levels of care and support.

Because I have been fortunate enough to work in this field in a wide variety of settings, i.e. in the private and public sectors, in education/training, for NECA in a variety of roles between 1998-2016, and over the last 9 years with Lifeline/CGL/ Humankind and Waythrough gaining experience in housing management, I have developed a much greater understanding of these issues. In each role my knowledge has increased exponentially mainly through observing and learning from senior managers, but also from other colleagues, other professionals, and through the sharing of knowledge gained from multi-agency working.

During my years working in this field, I have attended a large numbers of training courses which have given me a high level of specialist knowledge on subjects ranging from Advanced Safeguarding, Dealing with Aggressive and Abusive Behaviour, Motivational Interviewing, PREVENT, Assertive Communication, Neurodiversity, and have also recently completed the organisations Inspiring Leaders Programme. My training on Equality and Diversity has also given me vital knowledge about how important this is and enabled me to fully promote the rights of clients by using a non-judgemental respectful communication style to show empathy and understanding of their individual needs. Because of the high levels of knowledge I have gained, I have been able to demonstrate an excellent understanding of the issues relating to service users and the need for community based services in particular.