BACKGROUND
& HISTORY
In
October 2003, Sohan Sahota along with Gladstone Hibbert
and Manjit Singh Johal arranged a get together of
all individuals he was supporting and created a nucleus,
a voluntary self-help support network, which became
known as BAC-IN (Black & Asian cultural Identification
of Narcotics)
BAC-IN
is a unique and innovative recovery programme run
by and for people from the African Caribbean and South
Asian communities across Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire.
Based
on Mansfield Road in Nottingham, BAC-IN is a peer
led service created and developed from a ‘grass
roots level’ by recovering individuals, supporting
those who are affected directly and indirectly (users,
families & carers) by substance misuse.
The
Bac-in organisation acknowledges and empowers their
service users cultural, traditional, religious and
spiritual values. Furthermore, the group addresses
and supports such issues as the absence of cultural
empathy, lack of cultural identification and issues
with trust, stigma and confidentiality.
Traditional
recovery programmes are unable to offer a culturally
sensitive model of support. This combined with the
shame and stigma associated with drug and alcohol
abuse in some African/Caribbean and South Asian communities,
leaves those seeking help unsupported and isolated.
The
active principles of BAC-IN encourage its service
users to take responsibility for their own path to
sobriety, to self-empowerment and to a commitment
towards a meaningful and productive life. Self-honesty,
willingness to change, openness to take creative suggestions
are also key in developing a solid recovery foundation.
The Bac-in programme shows its service users that
they can achieve freedom from addiction, a life beyond
limitations and become useful members of society.
Many
BAC-IN members have faced racism, ostracism, experienced
cultural displacement, cultural/familial shame, societal
oppression, mental health difficulties and multi-forms
of abuse as well as economic and institutional barriers
throughout their long struggle to be free of their
addiction.
BAC-IN
provides an alternative, which acknowledges diversity,
recognizes and values difference and welcomes a wide
range of cultural, psychosocial and psycho-spiritual
perspectives in drug and alcohol treatment and offender
rehabilitation.
Bac-in
is bridging the gap within the existing support services
by addressing the culturally sensitive/specific issues
which are crucial for ongoing client recovery, this
in turn is vital in supporting and complementing the
work being undertaken by other service providers.
BAC-IN
has succeeded to create an environment of safety and
trust for its service users to talk about and explore
sensitive cultural issues. In this environment, the
service users are supported in re-connecting with
those cultural aspects many of them would deny, suppress
or feel unsafe to talk about with friends, family,
other groups, at other self-help meetings and with
staff from non-African/Caribbean and South Asian backgrounds.
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