Tendring Open Road funding given for paid coordinator

Essex County Council has given eight organisations, including substance abuse charity Open Road, in Clacton, a total of £87,556 as part of the Public Health Accelerator Bids (PHAB) small grants programme.

Joni Thompson, clinical and business development director of Open Road, explained how the undisclosed amount of funding would be able to pay for a part-time employee for over 18 months.

"An engagement coordinator helps publicise the work and breaks down the stigma," she said. 

Joni said the role would involve providing group interventions, delivering mutual aid, working with AA and NA and delivering “smart recovery” - another way of helping people with drug or alcohol substance issues and their families.

Ms Thompson, who has been part of Open Road for 17 years, explained how the role means the centre in Clacton, which is open three days a week, can now have more flexible hours for sessions outside of working hours.

Community - Joni Thompson Open Road's clinical and business development director (Image: Newsquest)

Open Road is currently going through the employment process for the role and after the 18 months hope to either collect more funding through Essex County Council or elsewhere by evidencing the impact of the coordinator.

Volunteers are integral to the success of the clinic which for more than 33 years has helped people in both Tendring and Colchester through a mixture of paid and unpaid workers.

However, Joni revealed since the pandemic and the “economic crisis” there has been “a dip in the number of people volunteering” due to people needing paid employment instead of volunteering.

Outreach - The SOS bus in Colchester is an example of the outreach work the coordinator would be helping with (Image: Newsquest)

As well as securing additional funding in the future, another option for “sustainability” would be to use a network of volunteers to keep the service well-known and active in the area for those who need it.

Joni also explained how important a coordinator would be to enable the charity to go into the community and focus on preventative work to stop individuals “getting entrenched” with their addiction.  

Open Road also finds how many people use substances to deal with non-diagnosed mental health conditions such as depression.

Joni added: “To understand that it is an illness and there should be no stigma to substance issues or to asking for help.

“It’s not something that should be hidden away.”