Coolmine’s Outreach Team
Coolmine believes that it’s important to make every effort to reach out to people who need their support. Many drug or alcohol misusers just don’t know who to turn to or where to go to find help. Some are trapped in a cycle of homelessness. Some are in the prison system. Others just don’t know who to turn to or where to go. Everyone deserves a chance to turn their lives around and the opportunity to make better choices. We all need support and assistance at tough times in our lives.
Often the people closest to substance misusers are the ones who bear the brunt of the hurtful and confusing symptoms of addiction, such as isolation, dishonesty and anger. We are contacted by many family members who are desperate for support and advice, for themselves and their loved ones.
Coolmine’s Outreach Team enables clients to access the right treatment for their specific needs and circumstances. This may be a place on a Coolmine programme or a placement with one of a range of other service providers.
Outreach staff carry out the initial assessments of clients who contact Coolmine themselves or those who we meet in the community or in prison settings or who are referred by other services. The Outreach Team manages and coordinates waiting lists for all of our programmes.
The Coolmine Outreach Team targets four principle groups:
Coolmine’s Drop-In Service is the first point of contact for most clients, providing an appointment system for visitors to our main location on Lord Edward Street, in Dublin’s city centre. The members of the Outreach Team based at Lord Edward St. facilitate weekly groups, offering ongoing assessment and support to those awaiting a place on a treatment programme, and pre-entry groups which familiarise clients with working in the group environment on which their treatment will be based. Clients waiting for a place on a programme can avail of weekly acupuncture sessions, which provide a welcome respite of deep relaxation for those struggling with addiction.
Coolmine’s Homeless Service provides a link worker to all homeless agencies and organises regular sessions at projects managed by Focus Ireland, the Salvation Army, DePaul Trust, Ana Liffey and the Dublin Simon Community. Dedicated Coolmine link-workers assess people who are homeless and who wish to access Coolmine services. They also provide professional advice and support to the homeless project staff.
Coolmine’s Prison Outreach Service covers the main prisons in Dublin (Cloverhill, Wheatfield and Mountjoy), as well as the Midlands Prison and Cork Prison. Prison Outreach work consists of an onsite referral and assessment service. The bulk of these referrals come through the Probation and Welfare Service. In addition to this we provide a group therapy programme in Mountjoy’s Medical Unit. This programme runs for six weeks and is for nine clients who have detoxed within the unit. Clients who successfully complete the programme then have the option of moving to the Mountjoy Training Unit to serve the remainder of their sentence.
Coolmine’s Community Outreach Service works with community drug teams across Dublin. Through a holistic assessment process Coolmine Community Outreach staff work with clients to identify their best treatment options. We also work closely with drug treatment centres, providing a community detox service with Trinity Court (National Drug Advisory and Treatment Centre) and carrying out on-site assessments for Cuan Dara (Cherry Orchard Hospital) and St Michael’s Ward (Beaumont Hospital), preparing clients to engage with a primary treatment programme once they have completed their detox. We also offer on-site assessments to clients at the Lantern Project, a residential rehabilitation service that is a part of the Peter McVerry Trust.
To find out more about our range of programmes or to organise a referral for yourself, or a family member or friend, please contact the Outreach Team Manager on 087 1233 208 or by email: outreach@coolminetc.ie