Women’s recovery cafe aims to bridge gap in services

A WOMEN’S recovery café has taken place with the intentions of designing an aftercare group to celebrate recovery and make it visible in the Ballyfermot area.

Hosted by Ballyfermot STAR and the Recovery Academy of Ireland, a cohort of women attended the launch of the Women’s Recovery Café in Realt Nua, Park West last week.

The overall goal of the women’s recovery café is to bridge the gap in services between addiction services and aftercare services.

“The thing about Ballyfermot is that there is no aftercare whatsoever,” Eoin O’Doherty, Rehabilitation Coordinator with Ballyfermot STAR, tells The Echo.

“There are loads of addiction services but there is nothing to progress, there is no way of continuing the progression into aftercare.

“What we want to do is promote a culture of recovery in Ballyfermot.”

Sunniva Finlay and Nadine O’Brien, Outreach and Prevention Manager with Saoirse Domestic Violence Services

Ballyfermot STAR – which stands for Support, Treatment, Aftercare, Rehabilitation – has been in operation since 1997 and today they run a family support and childcare services along with programmes for people in addiction or seeking employment.

According to Mr O’Doherty, some 80 percent of people availing of Ballyfermot STAR’s childcare service are in addiction, while about 80 percent of people in recovery relapse within a year.

“A lot of women can’t engage with addiction and aftercare services, they may have to travel into town,” he says.

“Something like 80 percent of people in recovery relapse within the first year, so it’s very important that we have the support there to help them continue their recovery after they’ve left the addiction services.

“There is somewhat of a stigma around recovery services for women, they maybe don’t want to admit they are having an issue, but we’re here to support them.

“So through an aftercare service, you can help people in recovery get to the core of their addiction.

“The National Drugs Strategy is about reducing harm and supporting recovery.

“What the Recovery Academy of Ireland does is take people in who are two years into their recovery, train them in with loads of different things and then make them a recovery coach before placing them on a 20-week placement – so there’s employment opportunities in it as well.

“We are running this café in conjunction with them, and hope to make it a regular thing.”