HADP Strategic Plan 2025/2026 – 2029/2030
HADP Strategic Plan 2025/2026-2029/2030 details our plans for the next five years , with a goal being to help people in Highland stay safe and healthy by reducing problems caused by alcohol and drugs.
Vision
To reduce the harm caused by alcohol and drug use in Highland, through a comprehensive, compassionate, and evidence-based approach.
Priorities
HADP have identified six key priorities, with six outcomes. Outcome measures will provide structure to access progress, evaluate interventions, and improve services.
Priority: Prevention and Early Intervention.
Outcome: Prevent, delay onset, and reduce problem alcohol and drug use.
Priority: Access to quality alcohol and drugs support and care services.
Outcome: Improve access to and benefits from effective, integrated, person-centred, quality, and recovery-orientated systems of care.
Priority: Harm Reduction.
Outcome: Reduce harm and risk experienced by people using alcohol and drugs by increasing availability and access to harm reduction approaches.
Priority: Whole system support and innovation.
Outcome: Make better use of the whole system to meet the needs of people with problem alcohol and drug use.
Priority: Supporting the workforce.
Outcome: Develop a resilient, skilled, trauma-informed workforce that work in trauma-informed places.
Priority: Effective engagement, delivery and governance.
Outcome: Ensure effective engagement, governance and reporting arrangements.
Values and Principles
Values: Core beliefs and ideas that guide practice and decision making.
Principles: Translate values into action, by applying practical ways of behaving in practice.
Asset based approaches facilitate community action that can achieve positive social change by using local knowledge, skills and personal experience. A strengths-based approach values the capacity, skills, knowledge, connections and potential in individuals and communities.
Recovery
HADP genuinely believes that people can and do recover, to become active and contributing members of society, and that this is fundamental to alcohol and drug service, and policy, development.
Lived and Living Experience
HADP believes that people and families with personal experience of alcohol or drug problems should be actively involved in planning, delivering and evaluating service provision, because this strengthens accountability, ensures genuine responsiveness to needs, and fosters a sense of ownership and trust. Equally, HADP recognises that not all people with lived experience will want to share their experiences, and that’s ok too.
Peer Support and Mutual Aid
HADP recognises that sustained recovery and positive outcomes are associated with mutual aid and peer support. Mutual aid can make a significant contribution to aftercare, particularly in remote and rural areas where service provision may be limited. This further strengthens recovery communities.
Focus on preventing poor health, improving health and wellbeing at a population level, using evidence-based approaches to address inequalities connected with social determinants of health, in collaboration with partners and communities.
Partnership
HADP believes that together, we will benefit from improved outcomes for people, with combination of resources, expertise, and skills.
Ethical
HADP acknowledges that practice must be professional and ethical. Therefore, it is against policy of HADP to work with companies that create poverty and harm from substances.
Remote and Rural Lens
HADP believes that equal access to high quality alcohol and drug services should be achieved regardless of geographic location. This requires development of new service models and a significant shift in skill mix across the remote and rural health and social care workforce.
Quality Improvement
HADP recognises that quality Improvement practices should be applied to allow for continuous progress, creating better, safer and more effective, more person-centred, services.
Viewing problem alcohol and drug use similarly to other health issues will help to address prejudice and marginalisation. Challenging discriminatory attitudes and practices is essential for building equality and addressing inequality.
Language Matters
HADP recommends ‘People First’ language; that focuses first on the person, not the behaviour (e.g. people who use drugs). People First language reminds us to be compassionate and that we are talking about human beings. People with Rights, who deserve Respect, and should be supported in their Recovery.
Positive Communication
HADP recommends the use of positive images and stories of recovery to provide hope and inspiration to others, whilst challenging stereotypes, stigma and discriminatory attitudes.
Human Rights Approach
HADP believes everyone’s human rights must be upheld, and we need to ensure this is the case for people, adults and children, who experience alcohol and drug problems.
Role
As per the Alcohol and Drug Partnerships: delivery framework, the purpose of ADPs is to achieve improved outcomes for individuals, families and communities by preventing and reducing alcohol and drug related harm. The HADP is to include the following key features in partnership delivery:
- A clear and collective understanding of the local system, in particular its impact, how it is experienced by local communities, and how effectively it ensures human rights are met.
- Informed by the above understanding, a locally agreed strategic plan, which sets out the long term measurable outcomes and priority actions for the local area, focussing on preventing and reducing the use of and harm from alcohol and drug use and the associated health inequalities.
- People with experience of problem alcohol/drug use and those affected are involved in the planning, development and delivery of services. This will require a shared understanding of the roles of duty holders and duty bearers in the context of a human rights based approach.
- A quality improvement approach to service planning and delivery is in place. Clear governance and oversight arrangements are in place which enable timely and effective decision making about service planning and delivery; and enable accountability to local communities.
- A recognition of the role played by the third sector and arrangements which ensure their involvement in the planning, development and delivery of services alongside their public sector partners.