Richard Kingdon co-founded City Beacon with the backing of a City professional, and he remains its central inspiration and driving force. He has special knowledge of working with people who use alcohol and cocaine.
Richard has spent the last 20 years as a drugs worker and also has personal experience of recovery himself over the past 22 years.
Richard says: “The alcohol and drug field is full of jargon that can mystify clients. But alcohol or drug treatment is not rocket science. When your life and career is on the line, you need someone with professional knowledge who can be trusted. It is important that clients have information about professional skills, so I have listed my skills and experience at the bottom of this biography. I recognise that the skills outlined may mean little to the uninitiated”.
“When alcohol or drug use begins to have an adverse effect on your life, there is no distinction between people’s socio-economic status or position in life. I have worked with people from all kinds of backgrounds – high profile people in the entertainment industry and the City as well as people from less advantaged backgrounds, including the criminal justice system”.
“I started City Beacon in 2009 because I knew there was a huge alcohol problem in the City of London and that there has been a recent rise in cocaine use. There is nothing else like it on the doorstep within the ‘Square Mile’. We offer an affordable way to get balance back in your life, in a flexible programme that costs less than a few nights out with friends in bars and clubs and all with complete discretion and in confidence.”
Experience and Skills
Richard worked for four years as a drug worker from 1997- 2001 with Addaction, the largest UK- based alcohol and drug treatment agency and went on to work for a further six years with Cranstoun, another respected organisation. He became a team leader and service manager and later worked in community outreach for the Westminster Drug Project. He also has experience working in residential rehabilitation and in prison settings.
His practitioner skills include:
- The Advanced Certificate in the Management of Substance Misuse Practitioner Skills
- Motivational Interviewing Techniques
- Delivery of the latest NTA* approved ‘ITEP’ intervention
- Relapse Prevention and Suicide Awareness, Harm Reduction, Anger Management, Safer Injecting, and delivery of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy interventions and 12-step facilitation
- Richard has also provided drug awareness training for employer organisations
- Qualified in auricular acupuncture (a useful complementary therapy) with SMART UK
*NTA is the National Treatment Agency. ITEP is the latest technique for delivery of an international effectiveness project.
