The Public Health Agency funds a Connection Service in each of the Trust areas, to take forward local campaigns and initiatives in relation to drug and alcohol issues through co-ordinated work across agencies and communities.
The Connections Service is the operational arm of the Drug and Alcohol Co-ordination Teams which are multi-agency partnership that set local priorities and deliver a drug and alcohol implementation plan across the Trust area.
ASCERT hosts the Connections teams for the South Eastern and the Western Trust areas.
Connections workers are the link between the DACTs and community groups, service user networks and other agencies. As well as keeping the DACT informed of new trends and issues, they also identify gaps in services and can help develop plans and partnerships to begin addressing these.
Your local DACT Connections service should be your first port of call in relation to alcohol or other drug related queries.
In the Western and SE Trust they can be contacted by phone on 0800 2545 123 or e-mail connections@wdact.info for the Western team and connections@sedact.info for the South Eastern team.
For details of the Connections services in other areas and to get more information on regional campaigns and directories of services visit www.drugsandalcoholni.info.