A new look and a new name
Hello. I wanted to give you some background on why we have recently updated our website and changed our name to The Level. I really hope you like the new look!
Our re-branding exercise coincides with the significant expansion of our service, from 14 to 20 beds, which we completed in direct response to a continuing increase in demand. Increasing demand was already a trend both locally and nationally, and it has been further accelerated by the events of the last 18 months.
Even before Coronavirus, drug-related deaths in England and Wales were increasing year on year. In 2021 they have risen for the eighth year in a row, and by more than 60% since 2011. In fact, they remain at their highest level for more than a quarter of a century, since records began in1993 (according to ONS – the office for national statistics).
As I write this, we have treated 1,137 people since opening our doors in June 2018. We aim to provide a service that is safe, effective and accessible for all members of our community. After conducting research and consulting our staff, service users, partners and stakeholders, it was clear that in order to achieve this we needed to ‘up our game’ communications-wise. Put simply, we had to make it easier for people to find us and get help.
Addiction is challenging enough and yet we know that many of our service users previously faced unacceptable barriers when trying to contact and locate us. People were also somewhat confused by our name (IPDU, which stands for Inpatient detox unit) and found it a bit of a mouthful to pronounce.
So, we began searching for a new name that captured the essence of our service, was gender-neutral, memorable, easy to enunciate and had no negative connotations. After a lengthy search, The Level seemed to fit the bill nicely, because recovery can often feel like an uphill struggle and our aim is to provide a stable platform or, if you like, the level ground to help people recover. People said it made sense and they felt comfortable telling others they were accessing The Level.
At The Level we are very proud of the care we provide to our service users. Now we can also be proud of our website. I really hope you like the new look!
All the best, Adam.
