The Seaview Project’s hub is a wellbeing centre in St Leonards on sea with several other substance misuse and wellbeing services with specialist outreach teams, engaging those living on the margins of society.

A former volunteer at Seaview and senior lecturer, Dr Daren Britt, asked the senior management team at Seaview if they felt that exploring the possibility of gauging interest in Basic Drugs and Alcohol training in East Sussex. There was a small amount of funding that could be applied for to help with meeting the costs of engaging with a network. A meeting was held and there was support for the plan to re-introduce Basic Drugs and Alcohol awareness training.

Members of the team at Seaview who have experience in delivering training agreed to support a group of people with lived experience of substance misuse to develop their own training programme, raising awareness about drug and alcohol-related issues among the wider workforce.

Thanks to a small grant awarded, Seaview were able to recruit the peer trainers who developed training with a unique lived experience perspective with support from some experienced trainers.

The result is Connect, lived experience training, at your service!