Drug-help group ‘stretched to limit’ with no state funds
By Aura McMenamin
Faith-based rehabilitation group New Hope has said they are ‘stretched to their limit’ without government funding.
New Hope is a drug-treatment service based in the grounds of the old Hazel Grove golf course in Killinarden, Tallaght. It has accommodation, cooking and recreational facilities.
There are 16 men on the programme, usually self-referred.
After six or more months on the programme, the men can transition into ‘step-down houses’ owned by New Hope in the Tallaght community, where they can learn to reintegrate with other recovering users and their progress is tracked.
However, founder and manager Layton Kelly said a nationwide demand for more housing is felt by New Hope and hopes that South Dublin County Council can provide another house to New Hope.
He said: “There’s a massive demand – the last guy we took in was on the waiting list for two months. This year has been the longest we’ve ever had.
Some are finished and they’re still here. But they’re blocking beds and they don’t have anywhere to go.”
The centre is currently awaiting government funding and relies entirely on donations, grants and volunteer work to maintain the ground and provide education, food and activities for the men who use the service. Most of the staff are voluntary and ‘out flat everyday’, according to Kelly.
With a stunning view of the Dublin mountains behind the centre, New Hope offers a year of routine, regiment and spirituality for men seeking to recover from drug addiction.
Men who enter New Hope must abide by strict rules. They must go on a full detox two weeks prior to enter the programme. For the first two weeks in New Hope, the men are not to speak to their friends or family in order to allow them to settle emotionally after withdrawals from drugs or alcohol.
They are not allowed to have money or mobile phones, and their medication is kept in a vault.
Fundraising officer Aine Lebioda said the men on the programme are encouraged to pursue education or volunteer in the community and church.
“Social reintegration is a very important part of the programme. We organise a lot of social outings.”
New Hope was founded in 2007 by Kelly, a native of Kiltalown in Killinarden. He has experience with drug use and the pitfalls of methadone treatment, having become an active heroin addict at 16.
A few years into his addiction, he sought help. While Kelly says he wasn’t raised to be particularly religious, he credits his sobriety and life’s work with a chance encounter. Kelly said that in a moment of desperation, he walked into LifeGate Bible Baptist Church in Tallaght village.
He met with the pastor, David O’Gorman, who allowed him to leave Tymon North, which Kelly said was ‘full of drugs’ and secured him a place on residential programme on a farm in Scotland.
After a year in the programme, which Kelly says taught him work skills and reintroduced him to the basic principles of Christian morality, he was sober and ready to begin his new life. He married, had children and moved to Ireland after completing his studies in social care.
“God changed my life – even the discipline of getting up in the morning and reading my bible, going to work – that was a big change for me,” Kelly said.
