Early Break, based in Bury and Rochdale, is one of the UK’s longest established and award winning young people’s drug and alcohol service.

Early Break has an excellent track record of delivering substance related treatment interventions to young people under the age of 21.

As a charity they support vulnerable children and their families to overcome some of the many issues that surround substance misuse such as child sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, poverty and neglect. 

The Service has been an innovative provider of interventions into young people’s substance related needs since 1994 through:-

• A clear person-centred ethos in which all workers, clients, parents and partners are valued and shown respect

• Early intervention through proactive outreach

• Innovative treatment interventions through jointly negotiated treatment plans with clients

• Development and implementation of the Family Centred Time model where Service workers have shown considerable strength, skill and experience in working with parents/carers, who often present in crisis themselves

• High levels of investment in the training and support of its workforce

• Effective service user involvement, giving young people a say in the services they receive and listening to their ideas for service development

• The award winning Holding Families Project where we have engaged adult substance misusers and their children to address the impact of parental substance misuse on family life

Early Break offers a range of holistic therapies to young people and families to help when making changes to their substance use such as aromatherapy, acupuncture, electro stimulation therapy and Indian head massage.  All of these therapies are also available to businesses/organisations to buy in for their workplace to enhance staff health and wellbeing.

DBAZ

Don’t Be A Zombie is a microsite created and run by Early Break in partnership with Rochdale Borough Council.  It is an early intervention public health website that is aimed at combating the issues associated with drug and alcohol for young people in the UK enabling them to make more informed and positive life choices.

Our Don’t Be a Zombie campaign plugs a key communication gap – a lack of online platforms to engage and educate young people about the effects of drugs and alcohol.

After carrying out research we decided to create a microsite that was: Mobile-friendly, highly creative, interactive, fun and engaging.