2025 · Article · English
Communities That Care in Ireland
Dillon, L.
Dillon, L. (2025). Communities That Care in Ireland. Drugnet Ireland, (91), 32–34. drugsandalcohol.ie/43357/
Summary
Bulletin article in Drugnet Ireland announcing the first implementation of Communities That Care in Ireland, in Newbridge, County Kildare, from 2025. It is led by the South Western Regional Drug & Alcohol Task Force's Substance Use Regional Forum (SURF) with support from the Department of Health, the Department of Justice and Kildare County Council. The article outlines the model's origins with Hawkins and Catalano, the community-coalition strategy, the Social Development Strategy and the five phases as summarised in the Health Research Board's 2024 evidence review on place-based responses (Pratschke et al.), from which it also takes the description of typical challenges: engaging diverse stakeholders, implementing several programmes at once with quality, and securing long-term funding. On the Irish pilot it records that the initial cycle is planned from January 2025 to the end of 2026, that a coordinator works within the Foróige Drug Prevention & Education Initiative, and that a key-leader orientation meeting was held on 26 February 2025 with Tusla, An Garda Síochána, the county council, education bodies, Foróige and local schools, delivered with the Center for Communities That Care. A descriptive announcement; it reports no survey or outcome data.