Mission & Philosophy
Welcome was established in 2001 to facilitate access to drug and alcohol treatment services in Solihull and provide some of the services needed to support people on their road to recovery. Although our services and models of delivery have evolved since then, we remain faithful to our basic principles.
We believe in:
• Actively listening
• Ensuring we understanding our service users and their needs
• Not seeing ourselves as the only ones who can help, but also identifying others who can help
• Agreeing a plan with service users on how to move forward in partnership
• Being there if our former service users need us again
Our service delivery is based on the following values:
• PROMOTING WHOLE HEALTH – taking care of service users’ physical and emotional well-being
• RELIABILITY – doing what we say we will
• INCLUSIVITY – we won’t leave anyone out
• STRENGTHS-FOCUSED – we will help service users to realise their full strengths and potential in life
• LEARNING – we are always learning, so that we can offer our service users the best
• CO-OPERATION – we will not work with service users in isolation, but in addition to their other sources of support
• EXCELLENCE – there is no ceiling to excellence, either for us or our service users
History & Development
Welcome has been a registered charity since 2001. Starting out as a drop-in centre with just two employees, over the years the range of services Welcome delivers has broadened and developed.
The idea for Welcome came about in 1999 during the Job Centre Plus New Deal initiative. The JCP and local Drug Action Team (DAT) met to discuss the apparent high incidence of drug dependency among Young New Deal clients. This discussion led to the formation of a multi-agency steering group with the objective of developing a not-for-profit drug rehabilitation project in Solihull.
New Deal was a key part of the Government’s ‘Welfare to Work’ strategy. It offered a chance for job seekers in key groups (18-24, 25+, 50+ and disabled persons) the chance to develop new skills and experiences to gain work.
Solihull DAT later merged with the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership, which was charged with implementing the Government’s 10 year strategy ‘Tackling Drugs to Build a Better Britain’ in Solihull. One of its aims was to commission services to enable people to change drug-using behaviour and to achieve their full potential in society.
Welcome, commissioned to deliver services, was formed as a company in the summer of 2001 and went on to achieve charitable status.
Then in 2008 the SIAS partnership was formed, further integrating the activities being delivered by Welcome, The Bridge (part of Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust) and Str8Up (Solihull council’s service for young people). More recently SIAS has welcomed additional partners – Aquarius, Changes UK and Urban Heard – and in 2019 was awarded a new contract to continue the delivery of alcohol and drug treatment and support services in Solihull.
Our Funding
In addition to being contracted to deliver drug & alcohol treatment services, Welcome as a charity has also been funded by a variety of grant funders throughout its history, including the National Lottery, Lloyds TSB Foundation Trust, the Department of Health Volunteer Fund, Henry Smith Charitable Trust and Children in Need. Their grants have enabled us to provide additional, or ‘wrap-around’, services alongside our main contract, including family support, employability support, a variety of wellbeing treatments, counselling and activities for young people affected by parental substance misuse, as well as support volunteers – many of whom have gone on to develop careers in the field of drug & alcohol support services.
As grant funding is ‘restricted’ to the delivery of specific projects and services, we also seek donations and carry out fundraising activities to raise ‘unrestricted’ funds which can be used to pay for a variety of other valuable and perhaps one-off items to support our clients in other ways. See our Donations page for more detail.