Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 21 March 2023

Joint Committee On Health

Dual Diagnosis and Mental Health: Discussion

Mr. Mick Williams:

It will only work with questions like the Senator is asking, and if people on this committee continue to chip away at what we need to chip on. We have a health-led model. We believe in a health-led model. We do not have a moralistic model. We do not have a punitive model based on the justice system. We have a health-led model. That is how operate our service, and that is how we have always operated our service. We do not get into arguments about what constitutes hard reduction or decriminalisation. We run a recovery based model. There is no wrong door in Sankalpa. We treat everybody the same, whether they have convictions and have spent time in prison, or whether they have a job and the social capital for long-term recovery. Our mindset is in recovery and in providing opportunities for people.

We can and will reach a point where a health-led model is at the forefront of everyone's mind, but we are a few years and battles away from that. I believe in the model. The health-led approach is the model we should be using. We will continue the roll-out.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.