On Tuesday 27th March 2012 Edinburgh Cyrenians will be holding a one day conference at Murrayfield Stadium: Can Brief Interventions change Scotland's relationship with alcohol? Developing the model for community settings.

Since the Scottish government published Changing Scotland's Relationship with Alcohol in 2008, Scotland has been setting an example worldwide in terms of political commitment and funding for the delivery of alcohol screening and brief interventions in primary care. As strategic, multi-agency Alcohol and Drug Partnerships become responsible for continued investment in this approach, interest in whether the model can be successfully replicated across community settings is growing.

Our conference will feature international speakers from INEBRIA as well as local academics and practitioners. We will discuss the evidence base for brief interventions in non-healthcare settings and debate whether more evidence is required before introducing the model to diverse settings and client groups. Should the traditional model of ABI be adapted for community settings? What are the challenges of implementation with vulnerable groups and young people? And how can projects measure the impact of alcohol brief interventions and contribute to the evidence base?

Edinburgh Cyrenians has spent the last three years working closely with frontline staff to develop, implement and evaluate a model of alcohol intervention suitable for use across its services for homeless people. We will present the challenges and successes of our approach; and also hear the findings from other pioneering work across Scotland and the UK. Read more here.

Can Brief Interventions change Scotland's relationship with alcohol? Developing the model for community settings will offer practical support on introducing alcohol brief interventions to new settings and provide opportunities to discuss and share experiences in workshop sessions. It will be of particular interest to the public and voluntary sector, ADPs, policy makers, commissioners, researchers and anyone with an interest in innovative, robust approaches to brief intervention delivery, whether in Scotland or further afield.

Further details and a booking form can be found here.

My name is Fiona, I am mum to 2 wonderful children and, thanks to Edinburgh Cyrenians, we are looking forward to a more positive Christmas. This is something we have not had in years.

Last Christmas I lived in fear of losing our home, was struggling to manage my depression and was concerned by my children's living conditions and health.

I have suffered from severe clinical depression most of my adult life. My condition became so bad I could no longer work. This caused me major financial difficulties and I fell into rent arrears.

Thankfully I was referred to Edinburgh Cyrenians Homelessness Prevention Service. From the first meeting they gave me incredible support and helped me find solutions. They identified financial support that was available to me and helped me with my applications. As a result, my position improved enabling me to pay my rent arrears.

Our home was now safe, but it was still in a bad state. The flat was very cold and damp which caused problems with our health. My worker found out I was eligible for a new central heating system and boiler. Our home is at last warm and damp free.

With the removal of this uncertainty and stress, I have seen an improvement in my depression for the first time in years. My family notice it too, and my children are benefiting. I am now even volunteering for a couple of hours a week. This is helping my recovery.

I am just one of almost 4000 people Edinburgh Cyrenians helped in 2011. Their latest Impact Report shows the huge amount of good this charity achieves. However the continuing economic situation means more people are in need of the charity's help and there is an unprecedented demand on their services.

With the help of Edinburgh Cyrenians, my family and I are looking forward to a better Christmas. For the first time in years, I can look more positively at the coming year. You can help others in need build more positive future years by making a one off or regular donation.

On behalf of Edinburgh Cyrenians, and myself and my family, best wishes to you for a peaceful Christmas and a prosperous 2012.

Fiona
Volunteer, Edinburgh Cyrenian Trust

The evaluation of Cyrenians' alcohol project 'Getting the Measure' has recently been published by Create Consultancy.

Cyrenians have long recognized that alcohol use can not only contribute to homelessness but that it can seriously impede the progress made by those who access our support. Since 2008 we have been developing an approach which sees alcohol use routinely addressed across all of our service provision.

We have now trained over 50 frontline workers to deliver a bespoke model of alcohol intervention, designed specifically for vulnerable people, whilst our 'Getting the measure' website provides resources and support for all staff.

The evaluation shows that our approach has had a significant impact on staff ability to raise the issue of alcohol with their clients.
Factors key to this success are:

- The built relationship between practitioner and client.
- The recognition that clients won't generally be offended when alcohol is discussed.
- The development of staff confidence.
- The provision of prompts and materials.

The report includes a number of recommendations which will help us to continue to develop our work. We are also exploring opportunities for 2nd stage research into the impact of our alcohol interventions on the individuals we support.

A clear message from this evaluation is the importance of the relationship between practitioner and client in any behaviour change intervention. Cyrenians will continue to invest in our key-worker practice model, as well as topic based training, as a means to ensure that effective and holistic support is offered across our services.

Click to read the executive summary and the full report.

Gary Peterson is cycling 10,000km around Europe to raise money for a number of charities, including Cyrenians. He has covered 5,000km so far and had a few adventures on the way! You can read his blog and see loads of photos here or visit his wesbite (including an impressive route map) here. If you'd like to show your support and contribute to his fundraising for Cyrenians you can do so here.

The first ever major study into Scotland's pioneering homelessness prevention service has shown a near 100 per cent success in stopping people from losing their home, while saving a local authority money in the process.

Cyrenians 'Prevention Saves Money and Misery' report released today focuses on our Homeless Prevention Service and has already attracted supportive comments from the Minister for Housing and Transport, the City of Edinburgh Council's Housing Leader and a leading academic.

Our CEO Des Ryan will be joined by people who have successfully kept their home thanks to the service, when he presents the findings and recommendations to MSPs at a special Parliamentary reception this evening. He will urge that homelessness is a key focus for money spent on prevention in Scotland, in light of the risk of homelessness rising and to help councils meet the upcoming 2012 homelessness target.

Homelessness Prevention Service, which is commissioned by the City of Edinburgh Council and was the first of its kind, was a pioneering model of best practice. Des Ryan, CEO, says: "Scotland is a leading light to the world on homelessness and we must continue in that vein. The new report today shows that our pioneering way of preventing homelessness works - saving not just misery but money. We propose to policy makers that stopping people becoming homelessness should be a key part of preventative spending."

The study comes at a time when interest in prevention is at an all time high, following the Christie Commission's recent report and the Scottish Government's focus on prevention in September's budget statement.

Welcoming the report, Minister for Housing and Transport Keith Brown, said: "The Scottish Government is aware of Edinburgh Cyrenians' valuable contribution towards tackling and preventing homelessness. We welcome this research which shows the effectiveness of a preventative approach. This benefits not only those being assisted by the project but also the wider community. Scotland has an important, but challenging, homelessness target: that by the end of December 2012, all unintentionally homeless households will have the right to settled accommodation. With the evident success of Cyrenians Homelessness Prevention Service, we are a step closer to meeting that target."

The in-depth study demonstrates the effectiveness of the service in preventing homelessness, with 99 per cent of people the Cyrenians charity worked with in 2010/11 still being in their home a year later. It also shows that prevention can save councils' money and brings other improvements to people's lives, in particular their financial, employment and health circumstances. For example, within a sample of 50 service users studied in depth for the research:

• The Cyrenians Homelessness Prevention Service helped people pay back £19,400 in rent arrears, around £15,000 of which went back to the City of Edinburgh Council.

• Eleven had moved into employment since first contact with the Cyrenians. Many had seen a significant increase in income during that time.

• During their first assessment, 30 people talked about being depressed but within a year this had reduced to 14 people reporting depression.

• Volunteering hours in the local community had risen from 624 to 1,040 during a one year period.

Councillor Paul Edie, Housing Leader for the City of Edinburgh Council, said the report showed that the services put in place by the council to tackle homelessness in the Capital were working well. He said: "Support from Edinburgh Cyrenians, along with our other partners, has helped many people who are in danger of falling into homelessness. Preventing homelessness means they can avoid a whole range of associated problems such as rough sleeping, health issues and increased financial difficulties. These findings are testament to the hard work carried out by Edinburgh Cyrenians, the Council and our partners in tackling homelessness and shows that our radical strategy is paying dividends by helping those who need it most. Homelessness in the Capital has reduced by almost 15% in the past five years which is a fantastic achievement in these tough economic times. We have a long way to go before homelessness can be eradicated but as long as I have anything to do with this issue then this Council will do everything in its power to ensure those who most need our help and support receive it."

Leading academic, Professor Isobel Anderson, from the University of Stirling, in her introductory foreword to the report, writes: "I very much welcome this report as a contribution to the emerging evidence base on homelessness prevention in Scotland…..This evaluative study from Cyrenians illustrates how organisations can implement monitoring and evaluation of outcomes alongside development and delivery of services which seek to help people sustain homes and avoid homelessness. I hope this report will stimulate further discussion across the sector."

The full report can be downloaded from here.