"SMART recovery meeting"

To the LLW Watershed Day program,

I attended SMART recovery recently and I would like to provide some feedback.

As someone who is familiar with SMART I was very disappointed with how the service was conducted at the Wollongong facility.

As I was waiting for the session to start, two LLW staff were discussing another client whilst I was in the room, using their name and going into some detail about their reason for seeking the service. This made me incredibly uncomfortable as I found it very unprofessional and a huge breach of confidentiality. I immediately felt uneasy and unsafe.

This feeling was exacerbated when another client entered the room to attend the same SMART group as myself. In my opinion this client was very obviously under the influence, ie excessively talkative and fidgeting. I had noticed a sign below the front desk that stated ‘If you have used in the past 12 hours please do not attend group on that day. If you continue to attend day program under the influence, staff will exclude you for a period of time’

I had expected that rule to be adhered to, however the group session started anyway and I thought to myself ‘okay, I’ll just give this a chance’.

From my experience, SMART recovery is run with an inclusive approach and one that is sensitive to each individual in the room. The session starts with a ‘check in’ of each person and an overview of the last 7 days, as well as a brief plan for the next 7 days. This also gives each person an opportunity to flag any issues that they have had/may have come up.

Respectfully, I found the facilitator to have very little interest in guiding the group. The client who was under the influence spoke for extensive periods of time, straying off topic and discussing things that I personally found inappropriate.

The session had finished before I was even asked to check in, and as it wrapped up the facilitator mentioned that they liked to run these groups ‘casually’ and that they felt it was best for us as clients to talk to each other and give and receive advice from one another.

As a client, I feel I need to flag that structure is something that is important in these settings. In my experience, when your life is chaotic you look for the constant and the calm. You look for what is reliable.

I left feeling very shaken. The service I have been receiving at Katoomba for the last year has been excellent and it was disappointing to have the experience I did at Watershed.

I hope that my feedback is taken onboard so that the service can be a more positive and welcoming experience, particularly for those who may be feeling overwhelmed and anxious about reaching out.