Learning and development

As an employee of ADS your development is extremely important to us. The quality of the service we provide depends on the competence of our people.

As ADS continues to expand its services it will recruit committed staff and volunteers in the fields of alcohol and drug misuse.

If a career of this kind appeals to you, or you would like to consider becoming a volunteer, check our Current Vacancies section – but please read this section, too.

We are committed to investing in the training, supervision and personal development of all employees, through a structured development and training support package. The flexibility of the programme is designed to meet the needs of individual staff and volunteers.

We aspire to all our staff with clinical roles becoming qualified as a minimum to NVQ Level 3 in Health and Social Care and FDAP (Federation of Drug and Alcohol Professionals) accredited within 12 months of being employed by ADS

As an equal opportunities employer ADS ensures that all employees receive fair and appropriate treatment and access to learning and development activities.

We aim to ensure that they:

• have the skills and knowledge to do their job effectively and safely;
• are trained to appropriate levels for their roles and are encouraged to pursue continuous individual and organisational improvement;
• carry out their work effectively in the best interests of the organisation and its clients;
• comply with all statutory regulations, along with the organisation as a whole.

All staff receive support and personal development packages appropriate to their role and needs, whether clinical or non-clinical. This will include, as standard, many of the following:

• line management/ case work management supervision;
• mentoring, observational practice, experiential training, formal training, supervision, and clinical supervision and peer group practice learning opportunities.
• Individual professional development plans, that include assessment of performance in relation to the job description mapped to Drugs and Alcohol National Occupational Standards (DANOS).

ADS also expects individuals to take responsibility for self-development by identifying suitable training activities and adopting a flexible and positive approach to any training and development that is identified with them.

ADS has created award-winning development packages such as Bridging the Gap, a six-month training programme for drug support workers, and Widening Horizons, a volunteer scheme under the Drugs Intervention Programme.

Each year we provide Nursing, Social Work Degree and Counselling Diploma placements for five Universities and Colleges in Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Leeds. Our centres have trained acupuncturists accredited via the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association UK

The Learning and Development team are here to support the development of skills and knowledge of staff in ADS with an overall aim of turning the lives around of those we work with.