History

In 1996 Jobstown Estate was in a state of confusion and panic as a result of the serious development of heroin use by mainly young people in the community. We witnessed the deterioration of youths living in the community in families who had no experience of heroin addiction and misuse problems. There was a high level of anger, fear, panic and ignorance in the community around addiction and drug misuse. The whole community was affected by the growing drug related problem in the community. Youths who had attended the local schools and played sports with the local teams were in serious trouble with Heroin addiction problems. After months and years the number of families affected by the Heroin epidemic continued to grow. With no services available outside of Dublin City Centre which is 20 miles away from Jobstown residents agreed that the young people were not faceless, they were from the community and deserved help and support.

In response a group of local community people called several meetings in the local Community Centre. It was agreed we would look to create a support service for families with Heroin addiction problems. With complete agreement from the local community JADD Project was founded. In a very short period of time it became urgently necessary to develop family support and childcare services for children living in families with serious addiction problems.

With the demand for services growing JADD approached the HSE regarding the provision of services in the local community. In agreement with the HSE, the local Parish Priest and Jobstown Community Centre JADD began delivering services in partnership with the HSE in the Pastoral Centre on Monday nights and the Community Centre on Thursday afternoons with 12services users and an agreed target of 25 which was quickly reached. In the early days JADD developed rehabilitation programs with the help of volunteers and support from Johnson & Johnson and the St Vincent De Paul, who paid for an Art Therapist in the Pastoral Centre for the children of service users with the support of T.C.U (Tallaght Centre for the Unemployed) who provided childcare workers. To date JADD has continued to develop all identified initial services with a focus on support for families and children in families with addiction or drug misuse problems. The Tallaght Drug & Alcohol Task Force was established in 1997 and agreed to support JADD with an application for funding of €65,000 for premises on the grounds of the Jobstown Community Centre. The application was successful and the centre opened its door on June of 1998. The H.S.E agreed to a partnership with JADD to provide supports for treatment programs. JADD is delivering services in the 4 pillars of the National Drug Strategy. (Treatment, Rehabilitation, Family Support, Homelessness, Education and awareness of consequences of Intergenerational addiction and drug misuse in families).

We strive to empower service users who wish to return to a drug-free lifestyle by providing a range of services free of charge, designed to support families with addiction problems. Previously before JADD was established, individuals with addiction problems had to travel to Pearse Street and pay for GP and prescription services. Additionally, Methadone Treatment wasn’t available on the medical card system – this changed when the Methadone Protocol was established.
JADD deliver services under the model of best practice.
CRA (Community Reinforcement Approach)
Services include treatment, rehabilitation, and counselling, one to one allocated key working sessions, supports for residents of Jobstown and the greater Tallaght community who have Alcohol, Heroin addiction and with related poly-drug misuse problems.
Support for their families and children living in families with drug and alcohol misuse to counteract the multi-generational legacy of drug and alcohol dependency.
We provide these support services in a safe, clean environment, showing dignity and respect for those participating in our programs.
We will deliver these services through inter-agency linkages and strategic partnerships with HSE., TDATF and others as appropriate.