Patrick was an alcoholic and repeat offender who had been referred to the ACE service many times. Sadly, the only time he could maintain sobriety was whilst in custody.

Despite repeated relapses in the community ACE didn’t give up and continued to re-engage and support Patrick.

On each occasion it was clear that he wanted to change. ACE consistently supported that position. We did not judge his previous actions and offending but helped him reflect on previous relapses to identify coping and avoidance strategies.

The consistency of our approach enabled us to persevere with support as long as he wanted it. With extensive pre-release engagement, proper planning, close intervention and learning from prior events, ACE was able to support Patrick to embrace the help available, including a voluntary monitoring processes.

By following through on our commitment, our repeated engagement and reassurance, ACE was able to help and support Patrick to completely revise his lifestyle and remain abstinent. ACE, being contactable in the long term, meant Patrick could continue accessing our support to maintain abstinence.

Further support with family crisis and accommodation issues enabled him to cope with these pressures without relapse. He was able to demonstrate this turnaround to accommodation providers and access social housing.

ACE Service Manager said “Patrick continues contact with ACE as he recognises the need to manage himself and that peer and agency support is a strong aid to abstinence. We are delighted with the progress he’s made, it’s been a really difficult journey for him.  ACE will be here to support him for as long as he needs it.”

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Note: Patirck’s name has been changed to protect his identity and stock image used.