The Alcohol Counselling Day Centre (Islington only)
CASA's Alcohol Counselling Day Centre helps individuals with alcohol problems from the earliest stages of change
back to a full engagement with life. The friendly and welcoming centre is based in Kentish Town. This is a dry building and
all service users are expected to be alcohol-free when they attend.
The centre provides two services:
Individual counselling and support service
This is an assessment and individual counselling service which is open to anyone who wants to do something about their drinking
and is able to attend appointments alcohol free. Clients' goals can include harm minimisation, controlled drinking, abstinence,
exploring underlying issues after a period of abstinence or just a space to think about their drinking.
Individual counselling contracts are usually for 6 or 12 weekly sessions, which can be extended as necessary. However, interventions are flexible and, if appropriate,
sessions can be offered as less frequent intervals.
Structured day programme
This is a group programme for clients whose goal is abstinence. The programme consists of psycho-educational groups which focus on relapse
prevention and abstinence maintenance as well as more openly structured support
groups, creative groups and complementary therapies such as acupuncture and yoga. Each client has regular key working sessions to support
them in their engagement on our programme.
The programme is designed so that clients may attend frequently in the initial stages and then gradually reduce their attendence.
The programme benefits from the depth of experience that exists within the agency. CASA has run group programmes for over
20 years and there has been a Structured Day Programme in this centre for 10 years.