Therapeutic Tipperary recovery programme honoured at awards ceremony

A Clonmel project has been recognised for its work at the annual Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI) Awards in Croke Park recently.

A therapeutic horticultural project used as part of recovery work with service users by the HSE’s South Tipperary Substance Misuse Team in Clonmel was recognised at the awards for its work in incorporating social therapeutic programmes as part of recovery work with service users with the living experience of substance misuse. 

Following the Substance Misuse Team’s relocation to a new centre on the HSE’s Western Road campus in Clonmel in recent years, the ETB supported efforts to mark out and develop allotments and poly-tunnels on the attached grounds.

The ETB also, including through its tutors onsite, supports art and photography creative writing and mothers writing social therapeutic programmes.

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The social and therapeutic horticulture programme has become a key component of substance misuse recovery delivered by the HSE Substance Misuse Team at its centre in Clonmel.

This initiative provides service users with a structured, therapeutic activity that supports their recovery journey.

The HSE’s Coordinator of the South Tipperary Substance Misuse Team, Sinéad O’Mahoney Carey said: "We are delighted with this recognition, especially as it underlines a very positive initiative in which the support of our friends in the Tipperary Education and Training Board was instrumental.

"As part of the HSE’s primary care services, our Substance Misuse Teams provide a wide range of supports and are actively engaged in ongoing awareness campaigns and drug education.

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"Colleagues in our South Tipperary services, including outreach facilities in Carrick-on-Suir, Cashel, and Tipperary Town, promote wellness and recovery, working to improve the overall quality of life for individuals and their families struggling with substance misuse," Ms O'Mahoney Carey added.

"This award acknowledges the impact of our partnership with the ETB and highlights the success of the social and therapeutic programmes in Clonmel, which continues to be an engaging and rewarding initiative for participants," she concluded.

The Tipperary ETB invited the HSE’s Substance Misuse Service for South Tipperary to submit the Clonmel-based programme for the awards, resulting in a framed certificate and a €500 voucher prize.