Established in 1992, Carlisle House is a residential substance misuse treatment centre situated near the centre of Belfast. It caters for individuals over the age of 18, who currently live within the Belfast Health Trust and Northern Health Trust areas. Service Level Agreements are held with both Trusts who are the main funders. Carlisle House also welcomes private clients. It offers a range of services, advice and information, treatment programmes, and ongoing support services. Carlisle House is registered with the government regulatory body RQIA.

Carlisle House aims to provide the opportunity for individuals who have a substance misuse problem, and their relatives, to begin the journey of recovery through self-awareness and change.

At the core of Carlisle House is a commitment to a value of respect, dignity and compassion. The model underpinning the treatment programmes is an integrated model of care, employing a psycho-social approach to therapeutic intervention. A strong emphasis is placed on creating a safe environment that will enable individuals to discover their own solutions to their own problems.

Aims

• To foster an environment of respect, acceptance, honesty and openness.
• To promote a holistic approach incorporating appropriate models of treatment in order to facilitate change.
• To promote service user involvement in the provision of the substance misuse treatment service.
• To demonstrate a commitment to meet professional standards appropriate to the provision of a substance use treatment service.
• To demonstrate an ongoing commitment to the personal development of each staff member.

Treatment Philosophy

At the core of Carlisle House is a commitment to a value of respect, dignity and compassion. We work within a Therapeutic Community Model based on a Systemic Approach to Substance Misuse Treatment. This approach to treatment is a practice based evidence approach, integrating Systemic Practice Principles. These Principles are: Collaboration i.e. sharing expertise and agreement of goals between service users and staff; Strength based i.e. privileging the strengths of the service user and their resources; Solution focused i.e. exploration of solutions rather than problem focused; Contextualising i.e.viewing individual behaviour within the context of families, communities and societal systems. Thus behaviour may be viewed as symptons or manifestations of how these wider systems are functioning.

The above is provided through the following:

Daily Structure / Routine; Group Therapy; Individual Therapy; Treatment Plans – Outcome / Recovery Star; Eco Therapy – gardening, walks, dry stone walling etc.; Creative Therapies – art, music, filmmaking etc.; Family Therapy / Family Supports; Substitute Prescribing and Medicine Management.

Post Programme Support

Carlisle House recognizes the importance of support and therapeutic intervention post Programme. A variety of weekly supports are available. To access these the individual must first have completed the Residential Treatment Programme.

RECONNECT Support Group

The ex-resident support group meets weekly and offers peer support within a safe context. A member of staff facilitates this group twice each month.

Individual Counselling

Individual counselling can continue, on request, following the completion of the Residential Therapeutic Programme. It offers the opportunity to continue personal work in a safe and private environment.

Family Therapy / Support

Carlisle House recognises the impact of substance misue on the whole family, and provides the opportunity for families to seek support. Family therapy provides the opportunity to deal with the impact of substance misuse within the wider family and in a safe context.

Information and Advice

Carlisle House offers a helpline service from 7am to 12 midnight. This service is offered by experienced staff and provides support and information to individuals with a substance misuse problem, or to a relative of someone with a substance misuse problem.

We also provide on the first and third Tuesday of each month an Open Morning. This gives service users and families an opportunity to find out more about what we do and how to access the service.

The Council for Social Witness provides oversight, personnel and accountancy support.

Director: David Cuthbert

Carlisle House
2-4 Henry Place
Belfast
BT15 2BB

Tel: +44 (0)28 9032 8308
Fax: +44 (0)28 9043 4533

Email: management.carlisle@pcisocialwitness.org