Addiction & Family Support Project

The TVG Addiction & Family Support Project is funded by the HSE Local Drugs Task Force. We have two part-time Project Workers, Emily Barrett (Community Drugs Worker) and Amanda O’Donnell (Traveller Peer Drugs Worker). The central vision of the project is that we:

“Offer an accessible and visible service to the Cork Traveller Community, that is both confidential and culturally appropriate”.

We follow the key-working, care planning and case management principles and best practices to provide our services, and we use the term 'clients' or 'service users' for those who receive our services. We have the following goals:

Goal 1: To Identify & target client group:
A) We engage in outreach work to community members across the city on an ongoing basis.
B) We also engage in service outreach to identify and target client groups and increase referrals.

Goal 2: To be an individual support to Travellers dealing with addiction & family related issues:
We provide comprehensive, one-to-one, services to all Travellers dealing with addictions and family-related issues. Our services (to our service users) include, but are not limited to, the followings:

• Providing relevant information, raising awareness of our service users' rights, and assuring our commitment/responsibility to maintain data privacy and confidentiality;
• Assisting in filling out necessary forms, including initial assessment and HRB forms;
• Developing tailor-made care plans— based on each service user's circumstances, conditions and needs— and then following through with the entire plan execution;
• Maintaining communication with each service user to update her progress and follow-up steps; etc.

We maintain the highest possible standard of our service users' personal data confidentiality and their rights.

Goal 3: To be a Support to Concerned Persons dealing with drug & alcohol related issues:
We use a 5-step method for family member support. Our support includes informing our service users about their rights and our commitment/responsibility to maintain the confidentiality of their data.

Goal 4: To engage in Addiction and Family Education & Prevention work with Travellers
This project is developing a Service User Plan with the Local Drugs Task Force. We regularly participate in Traveller information events and meet with Traveller groups to raise awareness of the project and build relationships across the community.

Goal 5: To increase Traveller participation in D& A services
To support our service users and /or their engagement in other Addiction & Family Services, we link ourselves with a number of services/ agencies regularly.

We also organise Mindfulness and Acupuncture sessions and other courses on a regular basis for the Traveller community locally.