Jargon Buster

Some people might use the following terms. This is what we understand these terms to mean.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

A	Return to Top
Abstinence	The philosophy of completely stopping the use of alcohol or other drugs.
ABV	Alcohol by Volume. An indication of how much pure alcohol is in a drink. Units of alcohol = ABV (g/ml) x volume of drink (ml) /1000.
ADP	Aberdeenshire Alcohol and Drug Partnership. A partnership commissioning and co-ordinating the work of various agencies to create a healthier, happier and safer Aberdeenshire free from harm due to alcohol and other drugs. (Prior to becoming an ADP in September 2009 this group was know as the Aberdeenshire Alcohol and Drug Action Team.)
Addiction	A chronic, relapsing condition characterised by compulsive alcohol or other drug seeking and use and by neurochemical and molecular changes in the brain.
Agency	A statutory, voluntary or private sector organisation providing services or some other intervention to address alcohol or other drug problems.
Alcohol misuse	Heavy consumption of alcohol on an individual occasion or the persistent use of alcohol above sensible drinking guidelines.
Alcohol related brain damage	Over a long period of time, heavy drinkers may develop various types of brain damage, including the Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome and alcoholic dementia.
Assessment	Interviewing a service user to obtain the sociological background, psychological makeup, educational and work history, family and marriage difficulties and medical issues to better assess their needs for treatment or support.
Assurance	Stakeholder confidence in services gained from evidence showing that intended outcomes are being achieved.
B	Return to Top
Binge drinker	Drinking more than twice the sensible drinking guidelines on a person's heaviest drinking day (8 or more units for men and 6 or more units for women in one session).
Blood Borne Virus (BBV)	A microscopic infectious agent transmitted between humans through the exchange of blood or other bodily fluids, such as Hepatitis B Virus, Hepatitis C Virus or Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), etc.
Brief intervention	A short motivational interviewing technique to help reduce problematic use of alcohol or other drugs by getting people to think differently about their substance use so that they begin to think about or make changes in their consumption.
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Carer	Someone who voluntarily helps another person who cannot manage without their support due to illness, fragility, disability or use of alcohol or other drugs.
Commissioning	The systematic process of specifying, choosing and monitoring services on the basis of identified need to deliver particular outcomes under contract or service level agreement.
Community	A group of people with a common interest or identity, such as geographic, ethnic, cultural, religious, sexual orientation or health status.
Community Health Partnership (CHP)	The part of NHS Grampian charged with managing and delivering health services in Aberdeenshire and modernising them to improve health and reduce inequalities in health.
Community involvement	Local people helping to direct the decisions about services affecting their lives by sharing their views, experiences and ideas.
Community Planning Partnership (CPP)	A partnership of the major providers of public and voluntary services in our area working together with the community to deliver better services on a variety of topics.
Community Safety Partnership (CSP)	A multi-agency partnership to improve the quality of life for those who live, work and visit Aberdeenshire by leading efforts to reduce crime, disorder, anti-social behaviour and to improve community safety and well-being.
Competencies	Skills that are essential to perform certain functions.
Condition Management Programme	A part of the UK-wide Pathways To Work initiative delivered by the NHS designed to help people with long term health conditions who are claiming incapacity benefit to return to the labour market by offering work-focussed support and advice.
Continuous performance improvement	The application of various methods on an ongoing basis to improve service quality and value for money.
Curriculum for excellence	A programme of work that is reviewing the current school curriculum. This has implications for teachers to be better trained in alcohol and other drug education to help tackle problematic use of alcohol or other drugs.
D	Return to Top
Dependant	A cluster of physiological, behavioural and cognitive phenomena causing a desire, often strong and sometimes perceived as overpowering, for continued substance use despite having persistent social or interpersonal problems caused or exacerbated by the effects of the substance. Results in withdrawal symptoms when use of the substance is discontinued.
Depressant	A chemical agent that diminishes the function or activity of a specific part of the body. The most common include alcohol, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, solvents and gasses.
Detox, Detoxification	Physical process of coming off an addictive substance (in treatment, often medically supervised).
Drug	A synthetic or natural chemical substance that affects one or more biological processes. In this context, psychoactive drugs alter mood, emotion, or state of consciousness and affect function of the brain. Drugs include legal substances such as prescription medicines, solvents, glues, alcohol and tobacco, etc. Other drugs such as opiates, psychostimulants, depressants, hallucinogens and steroids, etc, may be illegal to use and possess unless lawfully prescribed.
Dual diagnosis	Co-morbidity of mental illness and problematic use of alcohol or other drugs.
E	Return to Top
Early intervention	Intervening when someone first shows signs of having difficulties to ensure they receive help as soon as possible to prevent a problem escalating and becoming more difficult to deal with later on.
Employability	Having enough skills and abilities for someone to employ you.
Evidence based	The conscientious use of current best information in making decisions about the delivery of services to maximise benefit and minimise risk from the resources available.
Excluded children	Children excluded from schools due to unacceptable, abusive or violent behaviour. The majority of excluded children come from families facing a range of problems.
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Forum	Local community groups for Aberdeenshire north, central and south concerned with alcohol, drugs and blood borne viruses.
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Governance	The system and processes by which agencies are directed and internally controlled to achieve objectives and meet the necessary standards of effectiveness, supervision, accountability, probity and openness.
H	Return to Top
Hallucinogen	A class of drugs that result in a distorted perception of reality, often accompanied by hallucinations. Includes LSD, cannabis, ketamine and hallucinogenic mushrooms.
Harm reduction	The philosophy of reducing harm caused by alcohol and other drugs without necessarily seeking abstinence. Approaches can include using needle and syringe exchanges, substituting prescribed methadone for street heroin, changing routes of use from injecting to smoking, or cutting down on the quantity of alcohol or other drugs consumed.
Harmful drinking	A heavy pattern of drinking that causes damage to physical or mental health (e.g. liver damage or episodes of depression).
Hazardous drinking	A pattern of drinking beyond sensible drinking guidelines which increases risk to health but has yet to cause observable serious harm.
Health inequalities	Non-random variations in health between people due to their socio-economic status or other factors.
Health promotion	The process of enabling people to improve and increase control over aspects of their lives that affect their health and wellbeing.
Healthy Working Lives	Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives Safe and Healthy Working service provides small to medium enterprises the necessary advice, resources and tools to confidently address their own workplace health & safety duties.
HEAT	Performance targets in the NHS around the areas of Health improvement, Efficiency, Access and Treatment.
I	Return to Top
Integrated care pathway	A locally-agreed multidisciplinary care plan, based on guidelines and evidence where available, describing the essential anticipated steps over a set time period in the care of a specific client group and the resultant progress to be expected.
J	Return to Top
Journey of care	The pathway through services taken by someone to receive the care that they require. Such a journey should ideally follow an integrated care pathway.
L	Return to Top
Lapse	Trying a substance after a period of abstinence.
Licensing Board	A statutory body under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 responsible for determining applications for liquor and gambling licenses. 3 Licensing Boards cover Aberdeenshire.
Lived experience	The domain of experience that occurs through our direct acquaintance with things, as opposed to what occurs secondarily through abstract reflection.
Local Community Planning Groups	Groups covering Banff & Buchan, Buchan, Formartine, Garioch, Kincardine & Mearns and Marr that bring together representatives from the Community Planning Partners to identify and address the needs and concerns of local areas.
Looked after children	Refers to young people for whom the local authority shares or has exclusive parental responsibility.
M	Return to Top
Mainstream	Using universal services routinely available to the general public to deliver support rather than through narrowly available specialist services.
Moving on service	A service that helps people address their wider relationship, housing and employability needs whilst reducing their need for specialist treatment services.
N	Return to Top
Northern Community Justice Authority	A statutory partnership covering the north of Scotland to bring together a broad range of agencies to achieve a more co-ordinated approach to delivering quality services for offenders and their families at a local level, with the jointly agreed task of reducing re-offending.
O	Return to Top
Opiate	A class of drug that depresses activity of the central nervous system, reduces pain and induces sleep. Use of opiates often results in addiction. Overdose can be fatal.
Outcome	The identifiable impact on, or consequences for, individuals and the community due to the planned actions, interventions or services of the ADP or its partners.
P	Return to Top
Partner	An agency working in cooperation with others as a member of the ADP to implement this strategy.
Partnership	A collection of partner agencies with mutual understanding, parity of esteem and shared objectives founded to co-plan and share responsibility for service design to optimise outcomes for service users.
Performance management	A process which contributes to the effective management of services in order to achieve high levels of performance. It establishes shared understanding about what is to be achieved and an approach to leading and developing services which will ensure that it is achieved.
Prescription medicine	A drug that is legally available only with written instructions from a doctor or dentist to a pharmacist.
Prevention	Early detection and intervention to stop problems from becoming more severe.
Psychostimulant	Any of several drugs that act on the central nervous system to produce excitation, alertness and wakefulness.
R	Return to Top
Recovery	A deeply personal, unique and voluntary journey of regaining control over and living as meaningful and satisfying a life as possible as a full and valued member of society.
Recovery Capital	Those internal and external resources to which an individual has access that either promote or limit the likelihood, extent or maintenance of recovery. Internal resources include: self esteem, confidence, resilience and hope. External resources include: access to suitable housing, employment, family, relationships and social support.
Rehab	Rehabilitation. The process of coming to terms with life without alcohol or other drugs.
Relapse	Multiple lapses leading to a return to the previous levels of problematic use of alcohol or other drugs.
Resources	The labour, skills, information, finance, materials, equipment, supplies or accommodation assets available to plan, implement and deliver change, goods or services.
S	Return to Top
Self medicate	Use of alcohol or other drugs to help cope with enduring difficulties such as poor mental wellbeing or mental health problems.
Sensible drinking guidelines	Guidelines recommending a pattern of drinking unlikely to cause harm. Sensible limits for men are 3 to 4 units per day, up to 21 units per week; for women 2 to 3 units per day, up to 14 units per week. All individuals should aim to have at least 2 alcohol-free days each week. Pregnant women or those trying to conceive should avoid all alcohol.
Service	Any statutory, voluntary or community based agency that provides a mechanism of support, care, or motivation to address alcohol or other drug use.
Service user	A person who uses or could make use of a service.
Single Outcome Agreement	A new outcome based approach to define the relationship between the Scottish Government, Local Authorities and Community Planning Partnerships. Part of the Scottish Government National Performance Framework.
Solvent	A volatile substance that is capable of dissolving another substance. Misused solvents include butane gas, dry cleaning fluid, thinners and aerosol sprays.
Statutory sector	Public agencies, funded by government, with specific legal responsibilities.
Strategic	Consideration of the widest possible set of factors (the "big picture") and broadly defined long term goals to address a particular problem.
Substitute prescribing	Use of methadone (or other medicines such as buprenorphine) to treat heroin dependence.
Supplementary prescribing	Prescribing undertaken by a specially qualified pharmacist, nurse or midwife after a diagnosis has been made and a Clinical Management Plan drawn up for the patient by a doctor.
T	Return to Top
Tiered interventions	Interventions designed where each tier accommodates a specific level of need. Tier 1: Interventions able to be provided by mainstream community services (e.g. offering information, brief interventions and referral to other services). Tier 2: Open access alcohol and other drug services (offering extended interventions, advice, harm reduction and referral to specialist services). Tier 3: Referral only specialist community based alcohol and other drug services. Tier 4: Highly specialist and residential services.
Transparent	Easily understood or seen through, reducing the risk of deceit.
Treatment	Procedures that are intended to relieve illness or injury.
U	Return to Top
Unit of alcohol	A beverage containing 10ml (~8g) of ethanol equals one unit. A half pint of 3.5% ABV beer, one 25ml measure of 40% ABV spirit or a small glass (125ml) of 8% ABV wine equals one unit.
V	Return to Top
Voluntary sector	Agencies which are not for profit and are independent of the state.
Vulnerable	A person or group is vulnerable when support is required to enable or promote independent living and safe and active participation in the community.
W	Return to Top
Wellbeing	A state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
Withdrawal	A variety of symptoms that occur after chronic use of alcohol or some other drugs is reduced or stopped.