Archive Council News

28 November 2007

New facility helps substance mis-users on road to recovery

A project that helps adults address their drug and alcohol issues has been officially opened by the Mayor of Wrexham, Cllr Mrs Joan Lowe today.

The Elms Project is Wrexham County Borough’s new centre on Rhosddu Road, to provide a multi-agency building for the delivery of Adult substance misuse provision. It is an innovative development to ensure that a range of services are available to meet the wide-ranging needs of substance users.

Substance misuse treatment and support helps individuals overcome their problems by placing specialist teams from the North East Wales Trust, Wrexham Social Services and CAIS* under one roof. Drop-in services, advice and information, as well as structured treatments such as group work are available without clients having to access a range of different services at different sites.  Service Users Steps towards Change (SUSTC), a local service user group also operates from the building.

Funding for the £500,000 project has been provided by the Welsh Assembly Government's Substance Misuse Action Plan Capital Grant. These monies were secured by Wrexham Substance Misuse Action Team (SMAT) who supported the development of the project.  The SMAT is a subsidiary of Wrexham Community Safety Partnership.

The Elms supports the aims of the Welsh Assembly Government's National Substance Misuse Strategy, to support individuals to help them overcome their substance misuse problems and live healthy and fulfilling lives. It also supports the strategy aim to protect families and communities from anti-social and criminal behaviour and health risks related to substance misuse.

The benefits of providing services for substance misuse are far reaching not just for the individuals themselves but for their family, the wider community and the general economy as a whole.

Mary Burrows, Chief Executive of the North East Wales Health Trust said: "I am absolutely delighted with such an inclusive and important service for our area. Having spent time with service users and staff recently sharing their experiences, it only reinforces the importance of such a service to offer much needed support to individuals and their families. I am very proud of the innovative work of staff from our Trust, the Council and other organisations that through their commitment to others, have made this happen".

John Darlington, Director of Development and Performance, Wrexham Local Health Board and Chair of the Substance Misuse Action Team said:  "The Elms project is a clear example of statutory, voluntary sector and service users working effectively together to improve access to care. I am very pleased to see this developmental work come to fruition, as it forms part of our local strategy to provide services that are responsive to the local needs of our community. This new initiative will provide a range of substance misuse services under one roof and will have far reaching benefits.  It is a clear priority for Wrexham’s Substance Misuse Action Team".

* CAIS stands for Cyngor Alcohol Information Services