Westminster Drug Project (WDP) and The Seventy4 Foundation merge
2 October 2013
Today two of London's leading drug and alcohol treatment charities have announced that they have merged to combine their services and provide an enhanced range of addiction services in London.WDP is a leading provider of drug and alcohol services in London and the south-east of England, including residential and non-residential rehabilitation and treatment. The Seventy4 Foundation has been providing daytime and evening addiction counselling services from its base in Westminster, London, since 1974. It offers a range of specialist support to people with addiction to drugs, alcohol, gambling or those with eating disorders.
The two organisations will bring together their expertise to offer a real choice for people in London who struggle with addiction. With an estimated 1.6 million people in England who have some level of dependence on alcohol and 1.2 million people affected by drug addiction in their families (National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, Public Health England), it is vital that charities like WDP and Seventy4 Foundation combine their strengths and resources so they can offer a comprehensive range of services to support recovery from addiction.
Yasmin Batliwala, Chair of WDP, said: “This is an exciting development for both organisations. Bringing Seventy4 under the WDP umbrella will enhance the diversity and choice of services we offer to individuals and families in and around London who are affected by addiction. WDP is well placed to support The Seventy4 Foundation through our network of relationships and range of expertise. With WDP, Seventy4 will be able to build on the wonderful work it has been delivering for so many years and support even more people suffering from addiction problems.”
Graham Boal QC, Chair of the Seventy4 Foundation’s Board of Trustees, said: "We at Seventy4 are delighted with, and excited by, this opportunity to further our objectives in combination with WDP. We look forward to a fruitful and mutually rewarding partnership which will, we are confident, be in the best interests of those we seek to serve."
By joining WDP, The Seventy4 Foundation becomes a key part of the organisation, complementing WDP’s wide range of services, and working with a greater client group. Seventy4 will continue to provide its programme from its base in the heart of Westminster, offering counselling services, structured programmes (day and evening) and aftercare support to people with a variety of complex needs and addiction problems.
Contacts:
Gouljan Arslan, Maltin PR: gouljan@maltinpr.com, 0207 287 2575, www.maltinpr.com
Yasmin Batliwala, Chair, WDP: Yasmin@YasminBatliwala.com, 07785 918 392
For more information about WDP, please go to: www.wdp-drugs.org.uk
A photograph of Yasmin is available at: www.maltinpr.com/yasmin-batliwala
Notes to editors:
Westminster Drug Project (WDP) is a charity committed to helping all those affected by drug and alcohol use including families and communities. We started as a small community centre in Westminster 23 years ago. Today we have 350 employees and 100 volunteers working with us and we were named as one of the UK’s top places to work in 2012 by the Sunday Times’ Top 100 Places to Work in the Not for Profit Sector 2012 for the second year running. WDP believes that with the right support, people can recover from drug and alcohol dependency and stop offending. We deliver services on behalf of local authorities across London and the South East and also raise funds to develop and improve the support we give. Services range from open access, residential and non-residential rehabilitation and detoxification, aftercare support through to specialist housing, family and children, alcohol and outreach programmes. We also work closely with partners in the criminal justice system to rehabilitate offenders and break the cycle of drug use and crime. For more information about our work, please visit www.wdp-drugs.org.uk
The Seventy4 Foundation is a charity providing addiction counselling services in the centre of London since 1974. The charity was originally set up to help people in Westminster who were suffering from alcohol problems, and this was extended to people with drug problems and other addictions in the 1980s. Over the years Seventy4 has helped thousands of people suffering from addiction problems. Based upon the charity's specialist knowledge and experience gained over so many years, Seventy4 continues to listen to its clients, both past and present, and to develop and adapt its clinical services accordingly. Through its depth of knowledge and provision of high quality clinical services, Seventy4 exists solely to help clients to overcome their struggle with addiction and live more fulfilled lives. For more information about The Seventy4 Foundation and its work please go to http://www.seventy4.org.uk or call 020 7233 0400
Yasmin Batliwala JP, Chair of WDP is a magistrate with over 20 years’ experience chairing Public Sector organisations and she is one of the founding trustees of WDP. She has been a Non-Executive Director of the Hertfordshire Partnership (NHS) Foundation Trust, Chair of the Hertfordshire Police Authority, Chair of the Watford Community Safety Partnership and Co-Director of the Police National Assessment Centre. Yasmin has an extensive background in the field of substance misuse, having managed the Substance Misuse Unit at the NHS's North East Thames Regional Health Authority and undertaken work for the United Nations Office of Drugs & Crime. Yasmin started her career undertaking ‘action’ research for the Department of Health into drug use within SW5 and Soho. She worked exclusively with drug users who were neither accessing nor engaging with services. The experience fired Yasmin's passion for ensuring that services are directly geared to meeting service users' needs rather than those of service providers or commissioners. She is CEO of the charity Advocates for International Development (A4ID
