Agenda item

The Board received a presentation by Vicki Beere, CEO of Project 6, which outlined the work of the Project 6 organisation and gave details of the ‘Third Place’ proposal for Doncaster, which was a new way of supporting street drinkers in the Borough.

Vicki began by giving an overview of the work of Project 6 and its background history as a charitable organisation.  She then summarised the current delivery offered by Project 6, which included:-

• Developing Project 6’s community@Sober Social;
• Developing crisis services; and
• Older People’s Alcohol Service

The organisation’s plans for development included the launch of the Third Place proposal for Doncaster, which was a harm reduction approach for street drinkers, and developing the Crisis Service – Doncaster Pathways, into a Borough-wide offer through a Voluntary, Communities and Social Enterprise collaboration with the health and social care forum.

The Board was informed that, following a successful pilot in Keighley, the Third Place was aimed at providing opportunities to tackle the cycle of multiple and complex needs by providing a safe environment for street drinkers and others affected by homelessness, rootlessness and destitution who often had no access to their own first or second space.  The service would offer opportunities and choices for individuals to create meaningful and sustainable change in their wellbeing through reducing harm and improving health outcomes, in a safe environment where individuals could receive the support they needed.  Vicki confirmed that Project 6 had the support of the various substance use forums to develop the Third Place offer, and she stated that she was seeking the Board’s support in principle for the proposal today.

During subsequent discussion, Dr Rupert Suckling commented that the compassionate approach of the proposed Third Place project was entirely in keeping with the discussions that this Board had been having with regard to supporting individuals.  On the question of resourcing this project, Dr Suckling explained that it was hoped that funding would be forthcoming as a result of the new Drugs Strategy that was launched in December and that some of this could be made available to support the Third Place initiative.  He added that it would be useful to give further thought in the future as to how the work of Project 6 fitted in with the broader network of other charities and organisations providing support in relation to substance use.

In supporting the project, Phil Holmes felt that there was always scope for providing more help for individuals affected by drug and alcohol issues and he felt it was timely to be looking at expanding this work in Doncaster.  He added that it would be useful to draw together the different strands of activity taking place across the Borough in this regard and stressed the value of providing support to individuals which addressed the root causes while treating them with dignity.  He also stated that the Council would be happy to help Project 6 make connections with some of the other work currently being carried out in the different communities in the Borough.

Councillor Nigel Ball welcomed the Third Place proposal but stressed that it was important that all of the various organisations that provided support to people in this area of work co-operated together, in order that there was a joined up approach and people could be signposted to the Third Place where it was felt they would benefit from it. 

Dave Richmond stated that St Leger Homes would be happy to provide practical support and assistance with the Third Place project as part of its social responsibility activities.

In response to the comments received, Vicki confirmed that Project 6 was fully supportive of working with the smaller organisations involved in helping individuals in relation to substance use, and this was regularly discussed at the Health and Social Care Forum. 

Dr David Crichton suggested that it would be useful for Project 6 to link up with Laura Sherburn, Chief Executive of Primary Care Doncaster, as they had provided an Inclusion GP for Complex Lives in the past.  He also suggested that as the Third Place project came under the umbrella of Complex Lives, it might be possible to allocate some funding from that area for this initiative.

It was then

RESOLVED to note the presentation and confirm the Board’s support for the ‘Third Place’ proposal.