The Positive Outcomes Project (POP) is a partnership-based outreach team that is making a difference to those who find themselves in a cycle of offending due to alcohol and/or drug dependency. 

The POP team consists of three Addiction Social Care Workers from our Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) as well as two officers from Police Scotland and a Sacro lived experience Peer Mentor. 

The POP team supports male offenders, aged 16 years and above, who reside within the Glasgow City boundary and commit offences due to a dependency on alcohol and/or drugs. 

The aim of POP is to break the cycle of offending behaviour by providing support and advice in relation to accessing addiction services, health and medical services, recovery and rehabilitation services, housing, welfare rights, education or employment opportunities and the criminal justice system. 
Since 2020, POP has also been supporting a new initiative called ‘POP Plus’. This project involves two lived experience Peer Mentors, who use their life, recovery and work experience to engage with and support detainees within Greater Glasgow’s police custody cells. The Peer Mentor’s ability to build rapport with detainees allows them to signpost them to agencies who can help tackle a whole range of issues such as addictions, bereavement, anger management and more.

Susan Brown, Police Scotland Sergeant, responsible for the POP, said:
“POP and POP Plus are a success on many levels. The project has improved the lives of our service users by reducing drug/alcohol abuse and offending behaviour as well as improving the access of Police Scotland Detainees to support and advice. This project is a great example of a successful, productive and active partnership between the HSCP, Police Scotland and Sacro.”

Over the last year, POP was evaluated and the preliminary analysis revealed that service users felt they had most improved at reducing their drugs and alcohol consumption as well as not committing as many offences.

Service users were interviewed as part of this review, where they were asked about their perceptions of the addiction workers, police officers and Peer Mentor. They were all very positive about their interactions with the POP addiction workers. This was linked to their ability to be open with the addiction workers, the perception that POP workers didn’t ‘give up on them’, the intensive knowledge the addiction workers had about their specific needs and the wealth of resources that they were able to link them into.

Lindsey Auchincloss, Addiction Social Care Worker, Glasgow City HSCP, said: “POP is a unique team.  We are made up by people with many different life and work experiences that we are able to link in with and have a productive working relationship with some of the most vulnerable people in the city. We are also lucky to see people achieve real change in their life and be successful at doing this and moving away from services.”