Every year, International Nurses Day invites us to look more closely at the people who hold our health services together. This year’s theme - Our Nurses. Our Future. Empowered Nurses Save Lives - feels particularly fitting when you consider the nurses working in drug and alcohol services. These are not roles that attract much public attention, but they change lives every day.
We sat down with three of those nurses - Eileen, Dani and Julie - to find out more about the work they do and what it means to them.
Eileen, a community detox nurse, started her career in 1991. As a student, she had a placement in a drug service and discovered that she loved it. So much so that, in 2010, when she was offered a role as an alcohol detox nurse, she didn’t hesitate.
“When the job came up, I didn’t even think twice,” she says, “and it’s just gone on from there.”
Eileen supports people to withdraw from substances, mainly alcohol, safely at home, visiting them throughout the process. The first three days carry the greatest clinical risk - monitoring physical symptoms, managing medication, and checking in on how someone is coping. But what she describes goes beyond the clinical.
“You’re privileged to go into people’s homes,” she says. “I love to see clients get better.”
Dani, also a community detox nurse, joined the team after twelve years in acute and emergency medicine. Part of what brought her here was personal. Her grandfather was a dependent drinker who was hospitalised, and the care he received left a mark on Dani. It gave her a standard to work toward and a principle she carries into her work: “We treat people how we would want our families to be treated.”
What she values most is something she rarely had in the hospital: the chance to see the whole story.
“I love being around people and seeing people get better,” she says. “At the hospital, you don’t really see the end story. Whereas here you see somebody at their worst, and then you see them at their best, on the road to recovery,”
Julie, CDAS’s non-medical prescriber, is a registered general and psychiatric nurse whose career has taken her down many paths - but never far from this field for long. Even after retiring from full-time nursing, she found herself drawn back. “I retired…and then I thought, ‘Hmm,’” she says. “So I just rang up and said, ‘Are there any prescribing jobs going?” There were.
For Julie, the reward lies in the ability to see and treat the whole person. Alcohol and drug use rarely exist in isolation - they sit alongside mental health difficulties, physical health concerns and the pressures of someone’s wider life. Her role requires her to hold all of that together, rather than treating each element as a separate clinical problem.
“You’ve got to care for people at the end of the day,” she says, “and you’ve got to be knowledgeable on their physical health, their mental health as well as their relationship with substances - because you treat the person as a whole.”
Beyond the detox itself, the team coordinates with GPs and mental health services, runs a monthly liver health clinic, and refers to ongoing support with practical matters such as housing, finances, and employment. “It isn’t just about the alcohol - it’s about the bigger picture,” Eileen says. “We say, don’t be afraid to ask. If there’s something we don’t know, we’ll ask the team, and they can help.”
And the people who need that support are far more varied than most people assume. “When I came into this job, I thought I’d be working with a certain kind of client,” Eileen says. “But it doesn’t discriminate. We’ve detoxed consultants, doctors, nurses, firemen, millionaires.”
Ask any of them what keeps them motivated, and the answers are the same: the people.
Eileen has no personal experience of drug and alcohol challenges. Her commitment comes entirely from a genuine interest in the people she meets and an uncomplicated care for what happens to them. “I just love the work I do,” she says. “I love people, and I’m interested in people’s lives. I’ve never lost the passion.”
And when things start to change for someone, she is always careful about where she places the credit:
“Patients say, ‘You’ve got my life back on track.’ But they’ve got their own life back on track - we’ve just been caring, compassionate and non-judgmental.”
The team dynamic matters too. Dani describes what it has meant to be taken under the wing of colleagues who knew this work inside out. “I wouldn’t be able to do what I do now if it weren’t for these two,” she says. “If you can go into a service and you’ve got nurses like my fellow nurses, then you’ll be thriving. It is the most rewarding job. I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
If you are thinking about reaching out for support with drug or alcohol challenges, this is what the team would like you to know.
“Just come,” says Julie. “The hardest thing is stepping over the threshold; it gets easier from there.”
Eileen is just as direct: “You won’t be judged. We’re here to support you.”
And Dani: “We’ll look after you and care for you as we’d care for our own family. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Empowered nurses save lives. Eileen, Dani and Julie are proof of that.
If you or someone you know needs support with alcohol or drugs, CDAS is here to help — free, confidential and non-judgemental. Come along to our drop-in or call us on 01782 283 113.