Chodskww/ / Counsellor, Senior, Youth Drug And Alcohol Service

Please Note:

• CV's will not be accepted
• All correspondence will be via Rezoomo only.

Informal Enquiries

Name: Fionnuala Keating, Senior Counsellor, HSE Addiction Service (CHO Areas 7 & 6)

Email: fionnuala.keating@hse.ie

Tel: 087-6886317

Name: Prof. Bobby Smyth, Consultant Psychiatrist

Email: Bobby.Smyth@hse.ie

Tel: 01-9214978

Details of Service

The Youth Drug & Alcohol (YoDA) Service provides treatment to adolescents under the age of 18 who have drug and alcohol problems. The service deals with the full spectrum of adolescent substance use disorders. The service offers a comprehensive outpatient treatment to clients. In terms of the Department of Health report on services for under 18s, it is a Tier 3 multidisciplinary out patient service (Department of Health and Children, 2005).

The initial broad aims of the service were:

• To ensure that appropriate services/treatment are provided to young people with substance use disorders.
• To demonstrably reduce the harm caused by substance use to young people.
• To develop the capacity of service users to solve their own difficulties.
• To provide education to young people in relation to substance use issues.
• To establish through rigorous scientific research appropriate interventions for the target client group.
• To provide a specialist consultancy service to relevant professionals that will support them in developing their skills in treating the target population.

The service is led by a Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist. Other disciplines in the team include Clinical Nurse Specialists, a Counsellor, a Family Therapist and NCHDs training in psychiatry. The staffing compliment is increasing in 2024-2025 as YoDA is one of two pilot sites for implementation of the new Model of Care for Adolescent Dual Diagnosis. This will involve expansion of the team and input by staff from new disciplines including an Outreach worker and a Senior Social Worker.

With the increasing focus on dual diagnosis, YoDA is building enhanced links with a range of inpatient and community based child & adolescent mental health services.

The service has a trauma-informed and systemic focus, viewing family participation in treatment as very important. Team members require the skills to build and maintain relationships with family member and other carers. As young people are also involved with a range of other services such as CAMHS, TUSLA, Probation, Education and Youth services, team members require skills in interagency working.

The key documents underpinning the service development are the Department of Health report on under 18s from 2005 [ https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/5981/], the National Drugs Strategy 2017-2025 and the HSE Dual Diagnosis Model of Care (2023) [https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/who/cspd/ ncps/mental-health/dual-diagnosis-ncp/ ] .

A number of new tier 2 adolescent Addiction services have developed in CHO areas 6 and 7 in recent years. A key role for YoDA is the provision of support to those services in assessing and managing the co-morbid mental health needs of their clients.

The service operates via a ‘hub & spoke’ type model. The hub is currently based on Airton Rd in Tallaght. There is also hub in Cherry Orchard Hospital. The service also in-reaches into a number of communities via the spokes, or satellite services, in peripheral parts of the catchment area.

In 2018, YoDA began to develop another service in CHO area 6, currently based in Clonskeagh, but also serving most of Co Wicklow. One of the senior counsellor posts will have input into that team.

YoDA has a track record for conducting research, with many publications in national and international scientific journals, with input from all professional disciplines in same.