Back to Search
Start Over
Coolmine Therapeutic Community, Dublin: a 40-year history of Ireland's first voluntary drug treatment service.
- Source :
- Addiction; Feb2016, Vol. 111 Issue 2, p197-203, 7p
- Publication Year :
- 2016
-
Abstract
- Aim To document the evolution over 40 years (from 1973 to 2013) of Coolmine Therapeutic Community (Ireland's first voluntary drug treatment service) against a background of broader drug policy developments in the Republic of Ireland and elsewhere during this period. Methods Data were gathered by means of archival research within Coolmine, complemented by semi-structured interviews with former clients, current and former Coolmine management and staff, and representatives of outsider stakeholder interests. Results Coolmines's history has three phases: (1) an early and uncontentious phase, in which external authorities provided financial support for Coolmine without questioning its work practices or outcomes; (2) a middle, controversial phase, in which Coolmine struggled for survival in an external policy environment now dominated by harm reduction strategies; and (3) a final phase in which, through the use of conventional corporate governance, Coolmine management sought to repair its damaged reputation by introducing evidence-based clinical practices. Conclusions Coolmine Therapeutic Community was established when drug treatment services in Ireland were in their infancy, and its changing fortunes over subsequent decades reflected changing perceptions of what constitutes appropriate addiction treatment-and in particular the role to be played by former addicts within addiction treatment systems-as well as changing perceptions of funding relationships between statutory authorities and voluntary providers of health and social services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- SUBSTANCE abuse treatment facilities
MEDICAL care
TREATMENT of drug addiction
HEALTH services administration
DRUG control
HISTORY
HUMAN services
HIV prevention
HIV infection risk factors
SUBSTANCE abuse treatment
DOCUMENTATION
ENDOWMENTS
HEROIN
INTERVIEWING
RESEARCH methodology
MEDICAL personnel
HEALTH policy
NARCOTICS
PATIENTS
EVIDENCE-based medicine
HARM reduction
TREATMENT programs
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 09652140
- Volume :
- 111
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Addiction
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 112293781
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/add.13157