The 2nd of January 2025 saw the service open back up after being closed for just under a week, since Friday 27th December 2024. A few challenges throughout the month such as a leak and no heating during an icy week didn’t prohibit any of our services running as usual. Plans were put in place, things were changed around and everything ran as it should have.
The end of January saw the beginning of a new Monday group for our Men’s Programme. With the Men’s Friday group averaging at about 8/10 clients consistently per week it only felt right to open the service on another day to offer more support to those who already attend the Friday group, but also those who, for whatever reason, cannot attend on Fridays. Our Friday group runs from 2:30-4:30pm and the Monday group will run from 3:30-5:30pm. Should you be in interested in this programme please don’t hesitate to contact us.
The first Monday group took place on Monday 27th January with 8 in attendance. With the structure of the Friday group being food from 2:30-3:15pm and other planned activities from 3:15-4:30pm we would hope that the Monday group will run on a similar structure.
For our Slanu group the month of January bought the beginning of an 8-week course of Stress Management Workshops with an outside Facilitator as this was something which was identified as a need amongst the group. The group continues to work through a mosaic art project of the feelings wheel. 6 out of 9 of the places on this programme are currently engaged; new clients are always welcome.
Our Women’s Crack Cocaine programme started their 12-week Contingency Management Programme on Friday 10th January 2025. The group continues to offer a Friday programme and drop-in on a Monday from 9:30-4:30pm (service closed from 1-2pm in between), and Tuesday drop-in from 2-4:30pm. There is a huge push needed to keep these drop-ins open as numbers have gradually dropped off.
Our 6th Class transitional group started during the last week in January for our Youth Programme and we are accepting school referrals for our next cycle that will run from April until July.
After a long full January, February flew by, while also being busy with lots of positive aspects. Our Slanu programme visited the Civic Theatre to see a showing of ‘The 3:30 at Cheltenham’. This was a very impactful piece and all our clients who went to see it were moved by it. Another positive that came out of this was some of our clients visiting the Civic Theatre for the first time despite living in the area their whole life. The Crack Cocaine video ‘The Mothers Struggling with Crack Cocaine: Hope in a Crack Epidemic’ was released onto different social media platforms and has received very positive feedback. The documentary gave an insight into some women’s experiences of using crack cocaine and the stigma they are subject to in their own communities. The women that engaged with our programme this month have received support regarding housing, mental health, Tusla, medical, crisis intervention and anything else that presented during the month of February. One of the Friday groups during the month of February saw 10 women in the group at once which is more than has been present at once for a long period; this was very successful. The Monday Men’s drop-in ran consecutively every Monday in February, numbers varied from week to week, but we still saw men come through the doors which is a massive positive. This month the girl’s group from our Youth Programme began the Active Youth Challenge. This challenge is an opportunity for the girls to try 12 hours of different sporting activities over 12 weeks; so far the girls have engaged in pool, baton twirling and slack lining, with plans to do badminton during the first week in March. There is a huge push for the 15-17 year old drop in on a Saturday from 12-1:30pm. If you know of someone who would benefit from availing this service please contact Michelle on 014626033.
With the warmer days coming in our Slanu CE Scheme started working on the garden to freshen it up for the Summer. Some indoor planting of flowers and vegetables was done and will be maintained until all is ready to be re-planted outdoors. CARP marked International Womens Day as always this year and each woman who used the service and visited the building on the Friday got a small gift of appreciation which included some chocolate, fluffy socks, body cream and sweets; all women who received a pack were very grateful to staff. During the month of March our womens crack cocaine programme engaged in some self-care when they had SWAN in to do some holistics with them. To further highlight the important of self-care and self-love during the month of March the women had a nail tech in to look after their nails. Our men’s CM piece continued through the month of March also and touched on therapies such a CBT and Holistics. The numbers for this Friday group and Monday drop in have remained consistent. Our Youth Programme pushed through their Active Youth Challenge in March while engaging in a community walk, baton twirling and rounders. There is still a big push for numbers for our Saturday drop in times. For more information on any of our services don’t hesitate to contact us.
The first month of summer had positive aspects to it across all the different services that the organisation has to offer. After numerous weeks working on their active youth challenge and trying different sporting activities, the girls on the youth programme finished up the challenge and travelled out to attend an event in the RDS where they received a token of achievement for taking part in the challenge. Through attending this the girls and staff got ideas for different activities they could try next week if they decided to take part in the challenge again as it was so enjoyable this year. Our women’s group enjoyed the weather while it lasted and took the group outside to soak up the sun. As part of the Friday group also this month the women had an informative visit from a doctor who was available to answer general questions around the drugs they were taking and how these effects our bodies and our mental health. The end of another CM cycle came for the men's programme and to celebrate this a group of 7 men and 2 staff took a trip to Glendalough and took part in a successful walk and had a barbecue to finish off before making their way back to CARP. Our Slanu programme began their walking group in preparation for their 20km hike as part of an overnight stay that was happening at the beginning of June.
At the beginning of June our Slanu group went on our third annual overnight stay to Stoops House in Wicklow. As part of the overnight stay our group done a 20km walk, to prep for this we done a walking group for 2 months previous to build up our distance and our pace to prepare for the 20km. During the month of June our youth programme done a Sailing trip with the education training board with was enjoyed by all the young people who were involved. At the end of June, the summer project started for our youths and this will run right through until the first week of August and will include trips to Kylemore Go Carting and Splash Valley.
Following on from a funding grant received to CARP, period packs were done up for all female clients who use the service. Packs included sanitary pads, tampons, chocolate, underwear, fluffy socks and a hot water bottle. The focus of the men’s group during the month of June was mostly around the physical impacts of addiction through educational workshops, there was also a focus around promoting health through new experiences for the men lie Pilates and hiking.
As the weather picked up in July some services delivered by CARP adjusted their plans to enjoy the weather and delivered the service outside in the sun where possible. As our Slanu programme were preparing to take 2 weeks annual leave from the second week in July there was lots of preparation and planning done in order to put in plans for clients to have the safest and most fulfilling annual leave period as possible, with the service and phonelines still remaining open should someone be struggling. Upon returning to their programme after the 2 weeks the full group returned back. The group partook in willow weaving; a workshop that was put on by the Community Centre. With CARP turning 30 this year, our group also started an art piece to mark this occasion that will be on display in CARP following the completion. The summer project continued for our Youth Programme with the month being packed with activities such as a sailing trip, go karting, a trip to the roller rink and a water sports experience in Bay Sports.
Attendances for our men’s programme and men’s drop in maintained great numbers in the month of July. A drug education piece was delivered to the men by a male doctor and this had great levels of engagement. As the Contingency Management (CM) cycle was coming to an end an evaluation was done with the group to discover what worked, what didn’t work and what they’d like to see more of in the future. Our project workers for the women’s crack-cocaine programme put together and delivered a piece around menopause during the month of July because this was a topic that they were being presented with continuously.
August was the last month before the kids from the youth programme returned to school, and it ended the summer project for 2025 was a successful one. As some preparation for the return to school was discussed the numbers in our mid-week groups remained consistent. The group agreement was renewed for the youths and the group decided that they want the staff to surprise them with a Halloween outing this year. For our Slanu programme we started up a block of workshops around Reduce the Use which ran very successfully and really engaged all that were involved. Goals were made and followed up on during the couple of weeks that Reducing the Use was explored within the group. Another important part of our Slanu Programmes August schedule was the running of the Theory Test preparation groups with Connect 4 Youth Workers. Connect 4 gave their time to the group once a week for an hour to create a space where the group could study for the Theory Test. The incentive for this was that if everyone engaged in the sessions then they could go to their keyworkers and book their test out of programme funds. From the end of July until the start of August the staff discussed the idea of doing a pilot event that involved getting the Women’s programme and the Men’s programme together outside of CARP’s normal operating hours to have an event that promoted fun. Staff locked in a date and began planning for the event. The event was an 80’s and 90’s themed party and everyone from both groups got a special invite for entry into the party. During the day at the end of August we had holistic therapists, a hairdresser and a nail technician available for the clients to utilise. As the afternoon turned into the evening the group had music bingo to enjoy, with hot and cold food platters and then a live ballad singer finished off the night. Due to the success of the night staff are running with the idea of putting on a similar night once a month on a Saturday to again promote the concept of fun into the lives of those who use our service. We can’t wait for the next one.
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