Need help? Call 0800 2 54 56 58 (11am-6pm, Mon to Fri) or email contact@cadas.co.uk

Resources

Online Countywide Support Directory

Cumbria County Council has introduced a new online directory of services called the Cumbria Support Directory. You can search and filter, save and pinpoint on a map, services under 9 different categories: Health and wellbeing Transport Accommodation options Things to do Money matters Day opportunities, learning and employment Managing at home Carers Legal. Just go… Continue Reading

Getting help with gender

In March, the CADAS staff team attended a virtual training session about Gender Identity with Matt from Gender-Ed Training & Consultancy Ltd. We all learned a lot and will be using that knowledge to support clients and their friends and families in future. The course covered a basic understanding of terminology around gender diversity, an… Continue Reading

No Smoking Day 2021: It’s not too late to ‘QuitForCovid’

It might seem counter-intuitive, but the past year has proved to be a really good time for people to give up smoking. Just as, at CADAS, we’ve heard from clients for whom the pandemic has been helpful in managing their substance use as well as clients for whom it has made things harder – lots… Continue Reading

Helplines on hand

There are many, many places to go for support at the moment – whether it’s about substances, finances, domestic violence or anything else… Please call or email for a longer list of Helplines for a range of issues in Cumbria, and addiction-related national helplines, if you need one but in the meantime these ones have… Continue Reading

New digital awareness sessions for schools

Teachers, tutors and youth workers are being urged to take advantage of our new digital resources aimed at raising awareness of drug and alcohol issues among young people. “We are calling on teachers and youth workers to get in touch with us if they are struggling to create sessions for Personal, Social, Health and Economic… Continue Reading

How to make a referral into CADAS

At CADAS we offer support to young people (aged 10 or over) and adults who would like help with managing their substance use – whether that is to cut down on the amount that they are using or to stop altogether or even to get help with maintaining abstinence from alcohol or drugs – and… Continue Reading

The true value of rehab

In the last few months on the Helpline, we’ve noticed that quite a lot of callers, either clients themselves or, perhaps more often, their loved ones, are interested in detox and rehab. That’s completely understandable. It sounds like an easy way to get someone else to ‘fix’ your ‘problem’. If you could be taken away… Continue Reading

Lessons in Living Well from Lockdown

The furlough time was a mixed bag of emotions for me as being around my wife and two boys was not only amazing but in regards to my kids it was essential. My wife works on the front line for the NHS and has constantly been involved with positive Covid patients, thankfully she has been… Continue Reading

Withdrawal: No one said it would be easy…

Over the last few months, we’ve talked to all sorts of people on the Helpline. Most of them feel that they have become dependent on drugs or alcohol and have made a decision that they want to free themselves from that dependence. But most of them are also, quite naturally, concerned about the withdrawal process.… Continue Reading

Stay active indoors this winter

CADAS has been a partner in Active Cumbria’s ‘Walking for Health’ project for quite a while now. They have trained our staff and volunteers to lead short group walks for people of any level of fitness in Barrow, Workington, Carlisle and Kendal. However, most of these walks cannot run at the moment and some of… Continue Reading

Make sleep a priority – here’s how

How have you been sleeping lately? Struggling with anxious or intrusive thoughts? Just unable to ‘switch off’? You’re not alone but if you’re not getting 7 hours sleep a night you’re making yourself more vulnerable to all sorts of things – from weight gain to heart disease – and if you go long enough without… Continue Reading

Building Better Confidence with BBO

A South Lakes woman who said she used to lack confidence and would not have been able to complete an online application in the past has been able to secure a permanent part-time job, thanks to help from the Building Better Opportunities project Getting Cumbria to Work. Victoria, who has had historic mental health and… Continue Reading

Rewire yourself happier: 8 top tips from science

In March 2020, as the coronavirus lockdown took hold in the US, Yale University decided to make its most popular course ever – The Science of Well-Being, taught by Professor Laurie Santos – available for free, online. We heard about it at CADAS back in April from Alice, one of our new volunteers in the… Continue Reading

10 self-care tips on the road to recovery

Time waiting for your 1-2-1 recovery support, with CADAS or anyone else, doesn’t have to be wasted time. Change isn’t easy for anyone but there are lots of things that you can do to help stabilise your emotions and get yourself ready to get the most out of the support when you get it. We’ve… Continue Reading

Comprehensive info about drugs

FRANK is a long-standing and authoritative national drug advisory service set up by the government to reduce the use of both legal and illegal drugs by educating young people about the potential effects of drugs. If you want to know more about drugs – their nicknames, their effects and the possible risks of taking them… Continue Reading

Online alcohol unit calculator

The Drinkaware Trust is an independent UK-wide alcohol education charity, funded largely by voluntary and unrestricted donations from UK alcohol producers, retailers and supermarkets. They aim to reduce alcohol-related harm by helping people make better choices about their drinking and they have a super-cool easy-to-use unit (and calorie) calculator on their website. It looks like… Continue Reading

A new perspective on problem gambling

It’s a great aspect of being a recovery support volunteer for CADAS that I get regular opportunities to refresh, or add to, my skills or knowledge, in order to be able to support clients better. Since I trained I’ve also attended workshops at CADAS’ 40th birthday celebrations and taken a course in ‘tapping’ (emotional freedom… Continue Reading

Continuing drug and alcohol support for schools

At CADAS, we offer a wide range of services which can be of real and lasting benefit to pupils, their parents and to teachers and support staff working at schools. We want to be able to support your community in whatever way we can and we would love it if you would let staff, pupils… Continue Reading

Paying attention to PSHE during and after the pandemic

Now more than ever, after the trauma caused by the coronavirus pandemic, schools need to concentrate on delivering high-quality Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE). The Department for Education (DfE) has made it clear that PSHE is an ‘important and necessary’ part of children’s education – indeed it was to become a mandatory element of… Continue Reading

Volatile Substance Abuse returns to Cumbria

In spring 2017 someone contacted CADAS to let us know about a group of Year 6 pupils (age 10-11) in the Barrow area inhaling butane gas. We quickly developed a Volatile Substance Abuse (VSA) awareness workshop and took it out to local schoolchildren and also to professionals including teachers, police and other support services,… Continue Reading

Online resources in uncertain times

There are so many free online resources for looking after yourself during these strange times. Here are just a handful to get you started… Making sleep a priority We know that many people have been struggling to sleep during the pandemic and so we commissioned ex-CADAS youth worker and freelance yoga instructor (among other things),… Continue Reading

Sleep and Recovery: 9 Top Tips

Sleep is one of the most important factors in physical and emotional health, wellbeing and healing. Continue Reading

Five Ways to Deal with Cravings: A SMART Recovery Guide

Here are practical ideas from SMART Recovery on how to cope with urges and cravings Continue Reading

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