A Report on SVG Training Auricular acupuncture treatment for substance misuse and mental health issues.

following a trip to St Vincent in December 2009, Rachel Peckham and Caroline Simon from a non profit organisation NADA-UK (National Auricular Acupuncture Detoxification Association) – trained six health care professionals in an auricular acupuncture protocol that is used to help people with substance misuse and/or mental health problems. The training took place at Marion House and Glen Mental Health Centre in December 2010. The participants were psychiatric nurses and a doctor who work at the Mental Health Centre, plus a member of staff at Marion House.

The auricular acupuncture (NADA) treatment helps anxiety and trauma by having a calming effect on the central nervous system. In this way, it can be very beneficial for withdrawal symptoms from drugs and alcohol, and also cravings. If people are suffering disrupted sleep patterns, they may experience a better nights sleep after having the acupuncture. Generally people feel a greater sense of calm and relaxation with a course of treatment.

The auricular acupuncture is a very simple treatment to give and involves placing up to 5 small acupuncture needles into acupuncture points in the ear. It is given whilst the person is seated, and the needles are left in place for 20 – 40 minutes. The treatment is very gentle and people usually feel pleasantly sleepy and peaceful, providing a welcome relief from the stresses and strains that life can sometimes bring. It is given in a group setting within a comfortable quiet environment and many people are able to experience the treatment at the same time. Our aim for this project is to help these organisations in St Vincent and the Grenadines working with little funds, to provide an additional cost effective support service to their client group. NADA has proved to be an effective treatment in similar contexts throughout the world, and its group setting generates a sense of community fit for small community islands such as St Vincent and the Grenadines. This simple 5 point treatment has been used in many countries for nearly 40 years to help people with drug/alcohol problems, and/or mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and general stress. We hope this training will create an ongoing service of treatment to be used alongside existing programmes of care for patients, that will address these problems and ease the work load for the health care staff.

Years of previous experience supported by clinical evidence shows that NADA clinics, when incorporated into health care programmes, demonstrate a bringing together of communities (of any culture), and more engagement by the patients in their process of recovery and/or stabilisation

In the long term our hope is to encourage/enable ideally through funding, the setting up of an umbrella group in NADA Caribbean which will then be able to work globally with all other NADA groups as well as other global organisations who provide similar services.

About Rachel and Caroline:

Rachel is a trustee and trainer for NADA-UK (www.nadauk.com) and has been running NADA Training since 1999. She has trained approximately 800 health care professionals working within substance misuse organisations, prisons, hospitals and schools as NADA practitioners, and has helped set up auricular acupuncture clinics within these organisations in the U.K. Rachel has been practicing as an acupuncturist since 1993, and runs a successful clinic providing treatment for general conditions with the emphasis on well being for mental health. Rachel is a member of the British

Acupuncture Council -

www.acupuncture.org.uk.

Caroline Simon is a NADA practitioner/assessor and BSc Hons

Acupuncture Student at the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine. Caroline has assisted Rachel during NADA Training in London. Caroline has 3 years experience as an NHS Outpatient Administrator in Adult Mental Health at Guys Hospital. Having travelled throughout the English speaking Caribbean, Caroline intends once qualified to spend more time in this region helping with the development of NADA Caribbean.