Celebrating the work of Vita Nova

In today’s newsletter, I’m very pleased to introduce Michael Armstrong, Creative Producer at charity Vita Nova in Boscombe. Last year, Vita Nova was successful in being granted money from my Fix The Future fund towards their play ‘The Wasps Nest’, which is being performed in schools across the area. The powerful piece of work, performed by people in recovery from addiction, depicts the story of a teenager who becomes embroiled in county lines and knife crime, and how he found himself lured in.

Education is absolutely vital to tackling the issue of county lines and illegal drug crime. I know that enforcement alone cannot combat the crimes affecting our communities and to truly tackle the root cause, we must also have clear prevention and early intervention measures in place. My Fix the Future Fund aims to help create more prevention and diversion schemes across Dorset by supporting projects and initiatives which will benefit young people and their local community. I’m proud of the work we have helped support so far and am looking forward to seeing what’s next for this vital scheme.

I’ll now hand over to Michael to tell you about Vita Nova and the work they do.

“Vita Nova started in Bournemouth 25 years ago. Its primary output is a service which supports people in addiction recovery, primarily substance abuse, but over the years it has extended to include other more vulnerable people in the community. We’re based in Boscombe which is an area of significant deprivation and has an above national average drug and alcohol misuse figures. The secondary purpose of our work is around drug and alcohol awareness education. It's important to understand that we take a non-partisan neutral approach to raising awareness with young people and students from secondary school through to university. Our approach deals with the kind of challenges, questions and opportunities young people may encounter when they are growing up. So, Vita Nova has two purposes - education and direct support to the recovery community.

“Our aim with the school performances is to challenge people's perceptions of addiction and recovery. We don’t want to make it a finger-wagging exercise. We want to challenge the stereotypes and offer people a better sense of reality. Because when you ask someone to describe a heroin addict, most people would describe someone who lives in a grotty house with needles everywhere. One of our key missions is to put to bed some of the misnomers and misunderstandings surrounding the people who find themselves in these situations. 

“With The Wasps Nest, we’re aware that the power of theatre-in-education really lies in the fact that young people are seeing something direct and compelling. They may not connect to everything in the play, but there will usually be something they recognise, or which strikes a chord with them. As I said, we take a very neutral, non-punitive, non-threatening, non-judgmental approach. It would be very difficult to offer an opinion when our work consists of people who have made unfortunate choices; we can't wag fingers. It’s our neutrality and the lived experience of our performers is our strength.

“Vita Nova offers support to people post-treatment who have been without intoxicants for at least 30 days. We’ve got people who have been with Vita Nova for 20 years, who are now the cornerstones of our organisation. People come and go, and that’s just part and parcel of what we do but the community that they become part of, it's sort of self-nurturing. We've got a senior peer group who take new members under their wing, and it's something you couldn't really prescribe or shape. It's natural, inclusive and a shared life experience offering support and companionship.

“Just attending something every week at the same time re-establishes a bit of discipline and gives people in recovery a restoration of confidence and self-belief. Loneliness and isolation are killers, which we know from the impact on the older generation, but add to that addiction and it’s a potentially dangerous mix. That’s why our service is so valuable.

“It’s no secret that the pressure on the charity and voluntary sector is immense, so we’re grateful for funding we receive to support and expand our services. Public Health Dorset and Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner have been very generous. It’s rare you get senior leaders coming in to see what we do, but they did and we’re very grateful for their support.

“Vita Nova is a unique organisation and demonstrates that there is hope. For those in recovery they demonstrate hope by walking through our doors, by telling their own harrowing stories to others and by still being here, developing new skills and employment. That’s a profound message to convey to young people, and we’d love to see it continue for another 25 years.”

Thank you to Michael for telling us more about the crucial work Vita Nova does and the support it provides to those in recovery. I know tackling the issues of illegal drugs will not be solved with just one solution. It needs a multi-pronged approach consisting of prevention measures, enforcement and a focus on treatment and recovery. In my role as Senior Responsible Officer for the Dorset and BCP Combating Drugs Partnership this is exactly how we’re responding to the Government’s requirements in the National Harm to Hope 10-year Drugs Strategy. This strategy has three aims; to break supply chains which we’re tackling in Dorset through Operations Scorpion and Viper, deliver a world class treatment and recovery system and achieve a generational shift in the demand for drugs. We know this requires joint working, which is why we have organisations and agencies from across Dorset involved. Thanks to all of them - and Vita Nova and the vital work they do - I am determined we will make significant positive changes in Dorset, and protect our young people from the misery and destruction drugs cause.

David Sidwick

Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner