Better Cork addiction services will lead to ‘huge savings’

Further funding for addiction services would have huge benefits for Cork in the long run, both socially and financially, according to the manager of a Cork addiction services provider.

Coolmine Therapeutic Community has urged the Government to include several essential proposals in Budget 2025, including seeking funding to establish a new Cork service. In 2023, Coolmine’s Cork/Kerry division worked with 1,117 clients, oversaw 1,384 new referrals, completed 741 new assignments and 6,772 key working sessions.

Coolmine is seeking alignment for its employees with public sector pay rates as staff pay rates currently remain 17.5% behind those in the public sector.

Coolmine Southwest manager Brian Duncan told The Echo: “In 2023 we had over 40% staff turnover across Cork and Kerry. It has stabilised since, but that stabilising comes at the same time as the HSE recruitment embargo – what usually happens is staff come in, they get training, they are highly skilled and excellent workers but when a job offer comes up with better terms and conditions you can’t blame them for taking it.”

The submission calls for €560,000 to establish recovery centres across three regions (Dublin, Cork/Kerry, and Limerick), which will give support to those transitioning from treatment to recovery, reducing the risk of relapse.

“Most funding nationally goes into primary treatment interventions, there’s very little dictated towards supporting people after that, but all international research says supporting people after treatment interventions, ideally in their communities, is crucial,” Mr Duncan said.

When people leave treatment “it’s stacked against them straight away” he said, explaining “the last thing we want is setting people up to fail afterwards — it’s vital to fill the void that’s left when someone puts down drugs or alcohol. They might have had to cut contact with lots of people, they may not have employment or education — without all of those it’s very difficult to sustain recovery.”

Additional funding would also help Coolmine offer social activities for clients to help fill this void and the free time left behind when people stop using a substance, he added.

Coolmine is also advocating for a centralised sustainable multi-annual funding model, addressing the current instability caused by annual, retrospective funding agreements.

“We do have a very good working agreement with the South West HSE, we’re 100% funded by them, so we’re not dependent on probation or client contributions, but our funding is year by year. We’re pretty confident it’s not going to get reduced this year, but we don’t know if in five years’ time it’s going to reduce or increase which can be tricky in terms of planning.

“From a funders perspective, there’s huge savings to be gained from better addiction services, from people not getting re-hospitalised or turning up in the judicial system again. We highly value the social benefits of recovery for the individual, their families, and for communities.”