Drug abuse may seem to be an overwhelming problem, but according to one award-winning drug worker, the number of adults successfully treated is growing all the time.

Based in North Finchley, Alison Lawrence, 37, is a Service User Involvement (SUI) worker for Barnet's drug and alcohol services.

She is also a founder-member of Barnet Service User Group (BSUG).

Ms Lawrence was named London's drug worker of the year in November 2007 after working for Barnet Primary Care Trust for only one year.

She believes the key to helping drug users beat the addiction is the principle of "service user involvement", meaning drug users are encouraged to be active in their own treatment.

She says that she first became interested in SUI in 2004, when trying to help a friend find treatment for a drug addiction. To her, it seemed an obvious solution to a difficult problem.

"For many years, people would go to the service provider and be told what they were being given for their addiction," she says, "but to get better results you need to be involved in the development of those services.

"This way is much more efficient. If it works, keep it, if not, lose it."

Although user involvement has been an official policy of the NHS for several years, Ms Lawrence believes in many places it merely takes the form of "ticking boxes". This is not the case in Barnet, she insists, which has a more "meaningful" relationship with its patients.

One of these is a 37-year-old New Barnet resident who suffers from long-term depression and mild substance addiction.

He feels the service has given him a voice, helping him to improve his confidence and earn a place on a college computer course.

"Just the fact of coming here helps to stretch my mind and offers something positive," he says.

"Rather than wallowing in depression, I have received encouragement and support. Instead of berating me, they have given me a voice and supported that voice.

"Prior to coming here, I spent time having mental health treatment, when they said, Here's the prescription, go away and cure yourself'. But what you really need is something constructive to do to give you a greater sense of self-worth."

Ms Lawrence says it is this supportive relationship which means people stick with their treatment.

"In Barnet people are coming in and staying," she says.

"This is because we have such a good staff team. We work together. We have a partnership between workers and service users to try and get the best treatment possible.

"People come and see us and they are very chaotic, and then they stabilise. It's a journey, back into the community, back into employment.

"It is about more than just coming to meetings. They also plan them, they meet staff and organisers, they get completely immersed in their recovery.

"They can feed back questions and suggestions to staff and commissioners and know they will be listened to.

"They can inform and develop policy, and that doesn't happen everywhere."

Over the last 30 months, Ms Lawrence has developed activities to help people sustain the benefits of treatment, including peer support, guitar lessons, and gardening and social clubs.

The direct result of her commitment has been to improve attendance and retention rates, with BSUG membership growing from eight to more than 200 over the past year.

The key to providing that "something constructive", Ms Lawrence believes, is communication and understanding.

"There are so many different layers to it. You need to be able to talk to people. Those on drugs and alcohol are exactly the same as everyone else.

"You don't sympathise, but empathise. You are not judgemental, but challenging."

Click here to find out more about Barnet's drug and alcohol services.