Feedback from people who use our service is extremely useful to us in making sure that we continue to provide the help and support our clients and other service users need. So please do not hesitate to comment on the service you received whether you felt it was good or bad and we are always looking for ways to improve our service so any suggestions you feel would help please let us know on the form below or by e-mail, post, telephone or in person.

Here are some of the comments we received from people in the last 12months.

Our Clients say: 

"Thanks for the help that apas has given me so far and thanks to AW who I saw in HMP Notts for his help & support, I am hoping to come to apas on my release."

"I received a great service here today. I thought my advice worker  was wonderful and that everyone here is so friendly, I’ve been to other services but here is where I know I’ll get the help I need."

82% of clients who gave us feedback on our Alcoline service commented on how polite and courteous our Advice Workers were

"The denial pack is brilliant!"

Feedback from a Client attending Treefest where apas held a stall, said "I came to apas 8 years ago and I've never looked back, apas are absolutely brilliant and are doing a great job. I am very grateful to them." (All of this was said in front of a new client which helped them in their decision to come to apas for support.)

86% of clients who gave us feedback on our Alcoline service commented on how Efficient our Advice Workers were

"Talking to someone at apas helped to highlight how excessive my drinking really was"

"With most grateful thanks for not being judgemental. And making a listener into a talker - thanks again!"

" Thank you to everyone who works at apas for all their help and support"

71% of clients who gave us feedback on our Alcoline service commented on how sympathetic our Advice Workers were

"The website is brilliant, I found it really comprehensive, useful and informative, easy to use and understandable."

"I first called you nine years ago this week. I was in a state then.

I took your advice and the support you provided was excellent. Since then, I have not had a single drink and my life is a good as it has ever been.

I realised that it was nine years and I wanted to ring and speak to you to tell you how well I’m doing, and how much I appreciate what you did for me"

"The Bookshop was very helpful, I purchased several items!"

66% of clients who gave us feedback on our Alcoline service commented on how Discrete our Advice Workers were

"The best part of the service for me was having someone to talk to who understood my problems and gave me helpful information"

"It was useful to be provided with details of local services. The advice I received was very good and helped me to see how as a 3^rd party I could help."

"It was helpful to just have someone understanding to speak to about my problem, they helped me to put my plan into action"

"The best part of the service for me was talking to someone who listened, gave advice and had a calming voice"

88% of our Clients said that they were happy with the information & advice they received from our Alcoline service

"I found I could talk about anything including all my problems and that was a first for me"

"Keep up the good work because people need help like this in prison"

"apas helped me to move on in the right direction, they gave me advice when I needed it most and helped me to look at my problems openly and honestly, thanks!"

Feedback from our Ongoing Clients revealed that:

60% thought the advice given by their advice worker was excellent and 40% thought it was very good

53% said the support given by their advice worker was excellent, 33% said it was very good and 13% said it was satisfactory

73% said that access to our services was excellent, 14% thought it was very good and 13% thought it satisfactory

80% said that their relationship with their advice worker was excellent whilst the remaining 20% said it was very good

73% said the setting for appointments was excellent, 20% said the setting was very good and 7% said it was satisfactory

Schools say:

From a West Bridgford School: "Thank you for your contribution to making our information evening  such a success. Many parents made a point of saying how much they had enjoyed the evening and how useful they found it."

Over half of the parents feedback forms mentioned our contribution as being the most useful with many parents commenting on the usefulness of the information provided.

“Thank you to everyone who took part, the event was a huge success, the school were really grateful, the young people really enjoyed it and parents have commented on the difference it has made to their attitudes regarding, drugs, alcohol and relationships.

Feedback from a school event where apas ran a workshop on alcohol. When questioned, over 25% of the young people in attendance chose our workshop as the most interesting and the most useful.  

From A Nottingham City Centre School: "Thank you for speaking, your talk stimulated lot of reaction and discussion just what was needed! It was pitched at the correct level and content was direct and highly relevant."

From a School in Wilford: "Thank you for your talk, the children really enjoyed it and they have never been given so much information about alcohol or so much to think about."

Other Agencies say:

From a Probation Officer: "AW was allocated one of my lifers who was recalled before apas could see him. But AW then contacted me, came and read the file and then negotiated with his team re the appropriateness of the APAS referral.  He then provided me with a list of AA groups in Nottingham. So although AW never met my client, the service, reliability and advice he gave were all excellent."

"May I take this opportunity to thank you for an interesting and enlightening day of Awareness training, I would also like to thank you for extending your drop in service to our Young Persons Project as this may prove to be invaluable to us as staff and most importantly our service users."

"I feel more informed about drugs and crime the apas alcohol & drugs awareness training programme has helped me to understand the range of services available to our client group. I now feel more confident about working with alcohol and drug users."

100% of the court reports commissioned from apas last year were stated as being relevant and balanced.

“The Report we commissioned from apas for our client was most helpful and no doubt helped them to avoid a custodial sentence. It was gratifying to see someone being given support to address the problem that lead to their offending in the first place.”

Feedback received from a solicitor who commissioned one of our court reports. Instead of receiving a custodial sentence the client was asked to address their alcohol problem by attending weekly sessions at apas and completing the inpatient programme at the Priory Clinic, Nottingham.  

From a Certified Addictions Counsellor at a Behavioural Health Centre:  I have been asked to do Addictions training for our nursing staff here and I was initially looking for a copy of the Jellinek Chart.  The search provided multiple options but yours was so information rich that I thought I could pull the information such as denial right off and use it as a teaching tool.  It will save me a lot of time and work.

See also "What People Say" in the Clients section of our Annual Report

If you have any comments (good or bad!) you would like to make about any of our services you have experienced i.e. the telephone service, our one-2-one client services,  literature, Website, projects or anything else please email us. If you have any suggestions to improve any of our services we would also like to hear from you, a community service should be shaped by the community it serves so here's your chance to have your say about what you want from your services.