We’re so excited to share the launch of our new project – SPHERE!
‘SPHERE’ (Supporting Psychoactive substance users into Housing by Enabling Recovery and Empowerment) is a new Concrete service that will provide support and accommodation to local people impacted by psychoactive drugs, like monkey dust.
The project, funded by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) via Stoke-on-Trent City Council, will build on our existing services, which currently support over 150 people impacted by homelessness across Stoke-on-Trent.
At Concrete, we regularly see the vicious cycle that is faced by psychoactive drug users. They’re unable to secure housing due to the challenging behavior associated with drug usage, yet without somewhere safe to live, it’s difficult to make any kind of progress towards a new chapter.
The aim of SPHERE is to break this cycle and improve access to accommodation and support. The project will help users access and maintain safe and secure housing, alongside delivering support to help them as they engage in substance use treatment.
To celebrate the launch of SPHERE, we’re thrilled to share ‘Dust If You Must,’ a poem written by Rose Milligan. It’s close to the heart of one of our customers, who relates it to their own lived experience of the psychoactive drug monkey dust.
Dust if you must, but wouldn’t it be better,
to paint a picture or write a letter?
Bake a cake, or plant a seed,
ponder the difference between want and need.
…
Dust if you must, but there’s not much time,
with rivers to swim and mountains to climb.
Music to hear and books to read,
friends to cherish and a life to lead.
…
Dust if you must, but the world is out there,
with the sun in your eyes and the wind in your hair.
A flutter of snow and a shower of rain,
this day will never come around again.
…
Dust if you must, but bear in mind,
old age will come and it’s not kind.
And when you go, and go you must,
you yourself will make more dust.
