Alumni Cathryn Kemp has been working tirelessly to get better help and understanding for people who become addicted to painkillers after revealing her own experience of dependence and subsequent detoxification at PROMIS in her book “Coming Clean: Diary Of A Painkiller Addict by Cathryn Kemp (Little Brown, £10.99)” Cathryn has also founded a charity “Painkiller […]

I was proud as punch to read of the brave and tireless work that PROMIS alumni, Michael McDowell, is doing in getting help and support for addicts on the streets of Belfast In a piece today in The Irish News, Michael was quoted as saying: Michael McDowell, of drug outreach group Belfast Experts By Experience, […]

First prize: Help those less fortunate   An extraordinary Catholic priest in Australia, Father Bob Maguire, is running a competition with a top prize that ‘guarantees happiness.’  See: http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/nov/24/father-bob-offers-people-chance-to-win-happiness-guaranteed He is is offering a third-placed prize of five nights in a chain of high-end hotels, with the second-placed prize being five flat-screen TVs. However, it’s […]

We are delighted to hear that the organiser’s behind the Movember movement are turning their focus this year to men’s Mental Health. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29841063 It is our considerable experience that physical and mental health are not separate matters but two aspects of well-being and resilience that overlap and have a clear cause and effect relationship; […]

It has been impossible, today, to ignore the important findings of a recent Home Office report, which compared the UK’s approach to drug misuse with that of 13 other countries and concluded that there is no evidence that the criminalisation of drug use leads to a reduction in the problem. See, for example, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29824764. In […]

A couple of weeks ago (16th August, on BBC3; “Russell Brand: From Addiction to Recovery”),  Russell Brand launched a hard-hitting attack on conventional approaches to drug addiction: first, he lambasted the view of right wing tabloid commentators who favour the view that addicts recklessly and freely abuse drugs, and could as easily choose differently. And […]

For a long time, when dealing with depression, psychotherapy has worked with the past and psychology has worked with the present to manage symptoms. More recently some therapies have begun to look into the future for a solution.

“Let’s Back our Boys and Bet NOW!” “Bet in play NOW!” The above exhortations, and others in the same vein, were made in raucous advertisements shown on live TV coverage just before kick-off and at half-time in England’s European Championship games this month. They were startling, attention-grabbing, and no doubt had people reaching for their […]

Two weeks ago a young man in Northern Ireland died of liver failure. 22 Year old Gareth Anderson had previously featured in newspapers at 19 when he had been refused a liver transplant because he had been unable to go 6 months without a drink. Tragically he clearly didn’t want to die and was obviously […]

Who will drink less when minimum pricing for alcohol is introduced? The spectre of young people bingeing on cheap supermarket booze before setting out on evening revels in pubs and clubs has been a significant factor that has encouraged our legislators to introduce a minimum price for a unit of alcohol in this country. Will […]