Collective Voice to hold webinar to share challenges and promising practice in supporting people who use ketamine

Our Director, Will Haydock, writes about a webinar being held in October…

Ketamine has been in the news a lot lately, with Sky, BBC and ITV all running segments in the last couple of months.  In my eyes, this is a good thing if it helps raise awareness of the harms that can be associated with its use, and helps more people to access support if they need it.

But raising awareness isn’t enough.  We know there are still challenges with making sure the right kind of support is accessible and genuinely addresses the full range of issues people using ketamine might be facing.

One of the reasons Collective Voice exists is to improve practice – by sharing promising practice and building connections across the addictions field and beyond.

That’s why we’re working with a range of organisations, including the NHS Addictions Provider Alliance and the English Substance Use Commissioners Group, to establish a network of people looking to improve identification, access and support for people who use ketamine.

Our first step in creating this network is to host a webinar on Tuesday 14 October 2025, 2pm-3.30pm.

But maybe ‘webinar’ is the wrong word.  Evidence and practice in relation to ketamine is developing – just like people’s patterns of use and experiences of harm.  So we want to be clear this session isn’t designed to teach people what’s happening or how they should respond to it; we’re aiming to bring people together to share challenges and successes in supporting people who use ketamine.  We can all be part of identifying issues and developing solutions.

In the webinar we will cover a number of angles on ketamine use, including:

• prevention and harm reduction;
• community-based substance use treatment;
• wider symptom treatment and management (including urology and pain management);
• residential treatment and inpatient detoxification.

We have ensured there will be a range of people attending to feed in their perspectives from different organisations and settings, across lived experience, practice and research – covering hospitals, community treatment providers, detox providers and residential treatment providers.

We’d welcome a range of people to feed in their perspectives and be part of this conversation.

We will cover the following questions through the discussion:

• What are the challenges you’ve faced?
• What successes have you had?
• What do you need to improve the situation?
• What could this group (or other structures) do to support you?

I hope to see you on 14 October to start to share knowledge and opportunities and build this network.  There is no doubt that there is real harm being caused by this drug, and this is an opportunity to reduce that harm.  Please sign up here.