On Wednesday, NOVAS launched the evaluation of its Mid-West Respite Service, which provides vital supports for the families of people with substance misuse issues. It is the ‘only service of its kind’ in the state and although other respite houses exist in Ireland, none provide the same suite of services to their clients free of charge. It is funded entirely by the Mid-West Regional Drug and Alcohol Forum.

While located in Newport Co Tipperary, it serves people from throughout the Mid-West region, with most clients emanating from North Tipperary and Limerick City. The report found that the service is delivered with ‘compassion and integrity’ by staff who are ‘highly skilled and trained professionals.’ It provides respite for families from the chaos attached to supporting loved ones who are active in drug and alcohol misuse. It provides a quiet space in a peaceful rural setting and allows families a break from the ‘overwhelming stress and worry’ that fills their everyday lives.

It is a vital service for communities throughout the Mid-West with demand continuing to exceed capacity. Upon opening in October 2009 it supported three families, compared to 125 families in the final quarter of 2016. From 2011 through 2015 the service has supported 1,229 clients.

Gearoid Prendergast, Co-ordinator of the MWRDAF, praised NOVAS and the staff of the Respite House for the ‘care and warmth’ they bring when working with family members who find themselves under considerable stress, because of a loved one’s substance misuse. He noted that ‘all too often, people are so focused on the person misusing substances, that they don’t see or understand the impact it has on them and the other members of the family.’

On the same day NOVAS also launched the extension of the existing respite house, with the transformation of the old garage to a new peer support room. The extension was facilitated by the GECAS Charity Committee, who donated their time and money to create a beautiful new space adjacent to the house. Julie McKenna, manager of the Respite House said she was ‘immensely grateful to GECAS for creating a beautiful space which has allowed the respite house to expand its capacity and support more vulnerable families in the region.’ Communications Manager, Una Burns went on to describe GECAS as ‘fantastic supporters of NOVAS who have contributed to a number of projects in the region, particularly in relations to the homeless families supported by NOVAS.’

On Tuesday 15th May NOVAS’ Brother Russell House held an art exhibition of the client’s work. The art included beautiful paintings and sculptures all created by the residents using material such as fish wire, coins, buttons, chalk and paint.

Twice a week art classes are taught in the service by artist Rachel Thunder, who sets up a studio in one of the apartments in situ. The classes run for two hours and are a therapeutic outlet for clients. They support residents to build confidence, are a means of communication and are a social outlet for residents that have difficulties engaging in the wider community.

Many of those participating in the classes suffer from mental, physical and sensory disabilities and art is a successful therapeutic engagement that enables them to express themselves in a new way. The residents were very excited to highlight their work at the exhibition and Deputy Manager of Brother Russell House, Denise Curtin, remarked on how important the occasion was for the residents; ‘the exhibition is a wonderful opportunity for the resident’s work to be recognised by a wider audience. They are so proud of what they have achieved and were blown away by the response to their art today. The art is a very important outlet for our clients who often experience difficulties expressing themselves. It has transformed some of their lives.’

Guests were treated to a beautiful lunch which was cooked by residents, following a four week training course by NOVAS’ cook Fionnuala O’Brien.

The service is currently fundraising for a new dedicated art space in the service that residents can ulitise at any time.

Listen to our interview on Limerick 95fm Radio yesterday that was recorded in our Winter Bed Initiative a couple of weeks ago, highlighting the service, which was developed in collaboration with The Limerick Homeless Action Team, as a response to the homeless crisis in the city.
The service first opened on the 19th of December to support people who were at risk of homelessness in the city. It supports up to 20 individuals a night and has had more than 1,400 presentations since first opening.

This week, at the University of Limerick Graduate Entry Medical School, four McGarry House clients graduated from the project’s TOPPLE programme. The McGarry House team are looking forward to working alongside Rachel Casey, Jacinta McNamara, Damien Fitzgerald and Jonathan Haran who join the existing team of TOPPLE Peer Overdose Prevention Workers dedicated to preventing, responding to and supporting peers in the aftermath of overdose. The graduation celebration was attended by peers, McGarry House staff and management and local professionals in the fields of addiction.

The TOPPLE team is currently engaged in actively raising awareness of overdose in the community, teaching their peers how to recognise signs and symptoms of overdose. These workers are equipped with the knowledge of how to engage with emergency services and how to carry out essential life saving interventions such as CPR and administration of Naloxone. The team was involved in the organisation and delivery of a number of interagency events to mark International Overdose Awareness Day and Overdose Awareness Week. These included events in McGarry House, PALLS and The Ana Liffey Project. The TOPPLE team also liaised with the HSE Naloxone Programme. The team presented on the TOPPLE Programme at the Irish Street Medicine Symposium in University College Cork last Autumn.

To date the TOPPLE team has:
• Provided 87 Prevention Supports
• Administered Nalxone
• Provided 6 first aid supports
• Liaised with emergency services twice
• Provided 12 post overdose support interventions
• Supported the McGarry House staff team when responding to overdose.

The programme will be run for a third time onsite this Spring and it is being evaluated with a view to making it available to other services.

Today, Minster of State with responsibility for Communities and National Drugs Strategy, Catherine Byrne, launched NOVAS’ Community Detox Evaluation in the Absolute Hotel, Limerick. The independent evaluation, conducted by Dr. Ronnie Greenwood, Dept. of Psychology, UL, found the service to be the ‘gold standard’ for delivering community detox with immense benefits to clients throughout the Mid-West region.

The service, which is funded by the Mid-West Regional Drug and Alcohol Forum, is part of a nationwide programme supported by the HSE and the Irish College of General Practitioners. It was developed to assist people wishing to access safer outpatient detoxification from benzodiazepines and/or methadone. It serves Limerick City and County, North Tipperary and County Clare, with one stakeholder in the evaluation noting it ‘fantastic that such a small services makes such a large contribution to this sprawling geographical region.’

Established in May 2012, the service has received the highest number of referrals in the country, with 335 referrals in the three years to June 2015 (when the evaluation began). The service is run in conjunction with clients’ GPs and community-based partner agencies. NOVAS support workers provide emotional and practical support, and concerns regarding relapse and overdose are addressed through individual care plans tailored to each client’s need. GPs working in partnership with the service noted that they were ‘empowered’ by the experience and they ‘trust, respect and rely upon the NOVAS team to provide essential support, to reduce risk and support clients through detox.’

The Community Detox currently comprises of a part-time manager and two part-time staff covering the entire Mid-West region. A key recommendation of the evaluation is to increase resources and staffing levels so NOVAS can broaden its target population to include individuals seeking to detox from substances other than benzodiazepines and methadone. Anne Cronin, Head of Service with NOVAS noted how ‘heartened’ the organisation was by the findings of the evaluation and how they were committed to extending ‘the protocols to include alcohol and codeine detox.’ She said ‘it is essential that we now pursue the recommendations of the report in conjunction with our partners’.

Minister Catherine Byrne considers NOVAS’ Community Detox as a ‘very positive example’ of treating addiction ‘as a health issue’. She noted the ‘huge gaps in aftercare’ once people leave treatment and committed to bridging these gaps. She went on to say that people from the Mid-West of Ireland should be able to access support services in their region, something she ‘is committed to’ as long as she holds the position of Minister for Communities and National Drugs Strategy.

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Maria O’Dwyer, NOVAS Board Member; Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, T.D.; Anne Cronin, NOVAS’ Head of Homeless Services; Cllr. Joe Leddin

On Tuesday 14 June NOVAS launched its Housing First service in Hook & Ladder, Sarsfield Street Limerick. The service was launched by Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, TD, who during her period as Minister for State with responsibility for Housing, endorsed Housing First as a means of ending long-term homelessness.

Housing First is an internationally successful model of accommodation provision for formerly homeless individuals. For more than two years, NOVAS has run a very successful Housing First pilot programme with the support of local landlords who provide accommodation for this marginalised group. Intensive support has been provided to tenants, which has afforded independence, self-sufficiency, community engagement and security of tenure. Deputy Jan O’Sullivan noted that it is this ‘wraparound support’ that makes the model so successful and provides ‘security for landlords’ as well as tenants. She praised NOVAS ‘for their dedication to addressing the homeless problem in Limerick for more than decade’.

Michael Goulding, NOVAS CEO; Deputy Jan O’Sullivan
With the support of Limerick City and County Council and the Limerick Homeless Action Team, NOVAS is now operating a Housing First model with a dedicated staff team to support its clients.
Michael Goulding, NOVAS CEO says the organisation ‘offers a range of facilities to ensure successful outcomes for both the tenant and the landlord including a dedicated Housing Support Team, optional rent collection via our National Housing Officer, a 24/7 on-call system for landlords and tenants and an internal maintenance team to complete any unplanned and exceptional repairs.’ Goulding went on to say that the service has had ‘very successful outcomes locally during its pilot phase and the supports offered by NOVAS provides security for both the tenant and the landlord.’ He said that ‘it is our duty to find new and innovative ways of supporting long-term homeless people and a Housing First model tailored to the local environment is one such means in doing this.’

If you would like to learn more about Housing First or have a property you would be interested in letting to a Housing First client you can email housingfirst@novas.ie.

NOVAS Initiatives’ Brother Russell House has been awarded best Homeless Project at The Irish Council for Social Housing Biannual Conference and Awards Ceremony in Tullamore last Wednesday.

One of Limerick’s oldest homeless services, Brother Russell House was demolished in November 2013 and a complete rebuild, redesign and renewal of the service was commenced. Following the official sod-turning on the 29th of that month, by the then Minister for the Environment, Jan O’Sullivan, the rebuild began in earnest. The construction of this purpose-built supported housing facility was made possible by the financial support of the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government and the J.P. McManus Charitable Foundation.

The lives of Brother Russell tenants were utterly transformed by the physical development of the service, which provides 33 units of accommodation to homeless people, some of whom have sensory, physical and mental disabilities. The single apartments are homes for life for tenants who are no longer considered homeless, a stigma many have carried throughout their adult lives.

Anne Cronin, Head of Homeless Services with NOVAS believes that ‘the new service is unique in terms of being specifically designed for homeless people with a disability’ and notes that ‘while the physical building is a marvellous development, it is the delivery of support by staff that enables tenants to live with security and a degree of independence in a place they now call home.’ Cronin went on to say that ‘the in-house life-skills programme enhances our tenants’ ability to live fulfilling lives and prepare those capable of independent living to move-on, if they so wish.’

The service has supported marginalised men in Limerick City for four decades. The increased capacity of the new award-winning service now allows NOVAS to continue to cater for this group as well as supporting homeless women there. Cronin notes that ‘the traditional homeless demographic composed largely of men but this has changed considerably in recent years, with an increasing number of women also finding themselves homeless. Our new services reflects and caters for the emerging needs of homeless people in Limerick and we are delighted to be able to provide a service for women at Brother Russell House.’

Michael Goulding, NOVAS CEO, is ‘thrilled that Brother Russell House has been recognised by the Irish Council for Social Housing for its innovative design and the excellent support and care our staff deliver there.’

In Late 2014, NOVAS Initiatives won an award for the Best Patient Lifestyle Education Project at the Irish Healthcare Awards ceremony held in Dublin.

NOVAS Initiatives, one of the largest homeless providers in the state, recently won the category for projects that promote healthy lifestyle and patient education, with a view to improving the health of at-risk populations, at the Irish Healthcare The project, entitled, HEADS UP: Preventing and Responding to Overdose in McGarry House was commissioned to tackle the level of overdose among the homeless population in one of its Limerick services, McGarry House. This is a low-threshold facility that provides temporary supported accommodation to 30 male and female residents.

Michael Goulding, NOVAS CEO, noted that the award ‘is not only recognition for the work NOVAS does to combat the issue but more importantly a recognition of the scourge of overdose among the most vulnerable groups in our society. More people die in Ireland each year from overdose than road traffic accidents, yet it fails to reach the political agenda. We hope this research will help to highlight the issue so that a consorted and pro-active response by government and the relevant agencies can be pursued.’

Research was undertaken by Quality Matters and the Graduate Entry Medical School University of Limerick. It was found that almost three quarters of the people who had participated in the research had previously overdosed, most within the last year, and 93% had witnessed an overdose, again most within the last year. Benzodiazepines and heroin were the drugs most frequently used by those interviewed, with one-fifth of the cohort injecting daily.

‘We commissioned this research because nothing like this had been done before in Ireland’, Anne Cronin, Head of Homeless Services with NOVAS explained, ‘People are dying unnecessarily from overdoses in Limerick and all over Ireland. These deaths are preventable. This research helps us understand our residents’ experiences, and how our residents and staff can prevent overdose, and can best respond to it when it happens to stop it becoming fatal’.

In the 18 months prior to the research there was an overdose every two weeks, on average, in McGarry House.’ The staff were responding effectively, but we knew there was more to learn’ said Anne, ‘We needed to find out why such levels of overdose were happening among our clients and the best possible ways we could respond. We felt an independent review was the most effective way to do this.’

A multi-agency response to the issue is one of the key recommendations emerging from the report. It also recommended first aid and overdose response training for homeless people. A link between poor mental health and overdose was clearly identified, with more than 50% of the participants indicating that they had been in a particularly bad place immediately prior to their last overdose. The recommendations also made specific reference to supporting high-risk pregnant drug using women.

A peer overdose training project led by NOVAS and our partners is under development and will be delivered to homeless people throughout the country when completed.

Brother Stephen Russell House, one of Limerick’s oldest homeless services, today (21st November) officially opened the doors of its redeveloped and extended facility in the city. The new service will provide 33 units of long-term supported housing. NOVAS’ CEO, Michael Goulding, noted that ‘the tenants of the new facility will no longer be considered homeless, a stigma many of the men have carried for more than a decade.’ He went on to say that ‘the service will provide a home for life for those who need it and will afford them dignity, privacy and security’. He believes ‘a single unit of accommodation is the least that anyone deserves.’

The service, situated on Mulgrave Street in the city, has been completely rebuilt, redesigned and renewed, to meet the changing landscape of homelessness in Ireland. Capital to complete the service was provided by the JP McManus Foundation and the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government. It is thus fitting that Sue Ann Foley, daughter of JP and chairperson of the Foundation along with Minister for Education and former Minster for Housing Jan O’Sullivan, will officially open the service today.

The old service, despite the keen efforts of staff was unfit for purpose. It was outdated, substandard and unsuitable to the requirements of many of its clients. There are a myriad of issues among its tenants including mental health issues, physical disabilities, alcohol and substance misuse and experience of sexual and physical abuse. The new build will cater for the physical and therapeutic needs of all tenants. The former dormitory style accommodation will be replaced with single, ensuite rooms and clustered communal living areas. A specially designed service for those presenting with a disability has been developed on the ground floor.

Anne Cronin, NOVAS’ Head of Homeless Services noted that it was poignant that this fantastic service was being opened on the same day that such startling figures about homelessness have been revealed in its 2013 Annual Report. ‘The redevelopment of this service is one of a range of responses by NOVAS to the national crisis’, she said.

The organisation’s annual report revealed that it provided support and services to 2,014 families’ children and single adults during 2013, this was an increase of 23% from the previous twelve month period and a 110% increase since 2010. The report also described how, despite the increasing number of people supported, it amounted to less than 70% of all those referred to its services throughout the year. In all NOVAS service, demand far exceeded capacity. The organisation took a number of steps to tackle the issue including increasing its outreach support, developing a Housing First pilot service and expanding its building programme.

The report also highlights the young age profile of clients, with 50% of those availing of residential services less than 30 years of age. In addition, some 53% of those in receipt of accommodation were women. The organisation is particularly keen to find better outcomes for this group, including plans to relocate and expand the capacity of Mount Brown, Dublin’s only women’s homeless service.