How WithYou is helping to reduce overdose deaths across Liverpool

WithYou, a national drug, alcohol and mental health support charity explains how they’re working to reduce overdose deaths with initiatives across Liverpool.

Drug use can have a devastating impact, and every year, over 4,000 people in the UK die from an avoidable drug overdose.

WithYou is playing a vital part in reducing that number through providing training and resources to help reverse the effects of overdoses.

Naloxone, which can be injected into a muscle or sprayed into the nose, temporarily reverses the effects of opioid drugs like heroin, morphine and methadone. It can be enough to save someone’s life.

WithYou provides education and training to clients, their families and partner organisations around how and when to administer naloxone.

Sarah Humphreys, Head of Service Delivery says:

“It’s really important that anyone carrying naloxone and who is witnessing an opioid overdose feels confident using it. You should use it if you think that someone

has overdosed, even if you’re not sure what they’ve taken - naloxone will not cause harm to a person who hasn’t used opioids.”

“At WithYou in Liverpool, we offer naloxone training and kits to our clients, their families or friends, and local partners, as we know that anyone could come across someone who’s overdosed. The more people who carry and know how to use naloxone, the more we can prevent people dying from overdoses.”

“It’s really important to stress that family and friends can save lives with naloxone. We recently provided training to a client’s 93 year old grandmother who told us that the training was a “great relief”, as now they’d know how to respond if their grandchild had an overdose.”

On August 31st 2023, WithYou joined their partners and allies in marking International Overdose Awareness Day - the world’s largest campaign to end overdose.

Amanda Casey, Harm Reduction lead for WithYou in Liverpool says:

“Our aims for International Overdose Awareness Day included reducing stigma around overdose and telling the stories of the people left behind the statistics that we have lost to opioid overdose.

For more information about WithYou in Liverpool and the services they offer, please visit their website: www.wearewithyou.org.uk

We wanted to remember those gone too soon and recognise those people who go unseen by opening our memorial garden. We honoured the lives of people we have lost by inviting a family member of a client who died from opioid overdose to open our memorial garden.”

“Moving forward, we are committed to reducing stigma around overdose and partnering with the community to increase our professional knowledge so we can better tackle drug overdoses in Liverpool. For example, we attend the quarterly National Harm Reduction Forum to feedback with other professionals on good practice, areas to develop and improving the service user experience.”

“We will continue our successful naloxone training for staff to upskill their knowledge and continue to go out into the community to provide life saving training to a number of services across Liverpool.”

“We’d urge anyone who needs our services - either for themselves or someone they worry about-to get in touch with us by phone, email, in person, or through our free webchat service.”