Where does our funding come from?

At the present time our main funding comes from Supporting People, which covers support costs but not therapies, rent, food or any extra activities. Rent is usually covered by Housing Benefit, Food and personal expenses by ESA or Incapacity Benefit.

Therapies are partly covered by fundraising activities organised by the residents, a small social enterprise selling firewood partly by the residents themselves from their personal income.

·         How can you refer to us?

We will take telephone calls from the individual who wants to be assessed or from a professional referrer. Depending on circumstances we will try to build up a rapport by having telephone conversations on a regular basis if some one is still using or in detox. If they are clean and ready to start the programme we invite them to the next possible assessment date, and if all questions have been sorted beforehand and we have a vacancy we will encourage them to bring a suitcase so they can stay if the outcome of the assessment is positive.

·         How are we registered and inspected?

We are reviewed by the Supporting People team and received a Silver Award for the quality of our services at the last review.

What is our principal approach?

A therapeutic community working with the whole human being, the spiritual, social, emotional and physical aspect.

·         What does it mean working out of a Steiner impulse and Anthroposophy?

We believe that every human being has a spiritual part to them, which needs to be nourished and which is longing for a sense of meaning and purpose in their lives. We also believe that people come into this world

with a task they want to fulfill, and a lot of addicts have totally lost this sense of meaning in their destiny. They long to make sense of their difficult lives having been subjected to abuse, neglect and traumatic events often in their early childhood.

·         How strict are we with regard to other addictive substances?

Smoking of tobacco is allowed outside the house, tea can be drunk until 3 pm in the afternoon, and coffee is available at breakfast and the morning coffee break. We try to encourage self awareness and self discipline with regard to any addictive behaviour or substances.

·         Do we take people who are on psychiatric medication?

We will look at each case and do an individual assessment.

·         Can we do assessments while people are in detox?

Yes, we are happy to go on the ward or assess over the phone if people are still using. If people are stabilised, visits to Inishfree can also be arranged. Final assessments and decisions are taken when people are fully detoxed. We do not reserve beds for people who are not ready to come yet.

·         Can people come for 3 months rather than being committed to a year?

Yes, most people cannnot imagine staying for a year, but can see that this is what they need once they have settled down. Also a lot of people have done shorter programmes in different places and have not managed to remain abstinent after leaving although they felt ready to go, so they want to learn from their previous mistakes.

·         Do we have a waiting list?

We usually have a number of people who are ringing in regularly in preparation for coming in. There is usually some flexibility about accommodating people who are ready to start.

·         Aftercare, what is in place at Inishfree?

Trainees who have planned their leaving and have completed a substantial amount of time at Inishfree will be supported by follow up keyworking sessions and the offer exists to come back as a volunteer and remain part of the community. After completing a year, people will have work placements and/or College courses in place which they started while at Inishfree, and Inishfree would carry on advising and supporting ex-trainees on a regular basis. We work closely with local housing providers and are able to successfully refer to Resettlement accommodation in the area. We are also in the process of setting up our own resettlement accommodation at the moment.

·         What happens when people relapse and test positive for drugs or alcohol?

People will be asked to leave. However, people are accompanied on outings for a long time and so relapse is very unlikely while being here. When someone wants to leave because of cravings we try to put as much support in place as we can to make their next step as safe as possible. We have good relationships with dry houses to allow a planned move at short notice.

·         How quickly can someone come back who has relapsed?

Within three days of leaving Inishfree, people can ask to be reaccepted and will be accepted if they can show that they have learnt something from their relapse and will re-commit.

We will consider anybody who has been with us before if they reapply.