This article is from page 6 of the 2013-05-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
A MEETING will take place in Ennis on Thursday night aimed at helping families affected by the growing problem of drug abuse.
The Mid-West Regional Drugs Task Force, together with members of the community from around Clare, is hosting a Substance Misuse Services Information day on Thursday, May 23, from 11am to 2pm at the Temple Gate Hotel. Fr Peter McVerry, from the McVerry Trust, will speak at the event.
Mary Leahy, Clare Community Forum, says; “If you want to know more, please come along to the Temple Gate Hotel.
“You may not be aware of what is available and this is an opportunity to have a cup of tea and see what services are here in our community, for our community. It’s not an area that many of us feel very comfortable about, so we want to encourage people to come along to this informal event.”
Those involved from the community came together after completing the FETAC 5 component certificate in Community Addiction Studies, hosted by Ennis Community College and supported by Clare VEC and the MWRDTF.
Pat Talty, of the organising group said;
“The course focused my interest in wanting to do something further, at a local level.
Together we decided that a starting point for this was to hold an information event, to inform ourselves and the people of Clare of the services available to us, our families and our community when substance use becomes problematic.”
Since last year, a number of new services have started in the mid-west region.
This includes the Community Substance Misuse Team (CSMT), which assists young people, families and communities develop effective and supportive coping strategies to deal with substance misuse issues.
Clare Youth Services, Bushypark House and the Health Services Executive Drug & Alcohol Service, CSMT and Limerick Youth Service recently responded to a clear need, and established a youth support group.
This group provides help to young people aged 14 to 18 years who are affected by a close family members drinking or drug use. Further information on all groups will be available on the day.