Trinity College Dublin (TCD) has partnered with Queen’s University Belfast, University of Strathclyde (Digital Heath and Care Innovation Centre DHI), University of St Andrews, and Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, on a major €6.8 million project aimed at transforming support for people living with substance use and mental health challenges across Northern Ireland and Ireland using digital interventions.
Pictured: Aaron Slater, Scottish Council Voluntary Organisations; Moira MacKenzie, Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre; Gina McIntyre, Chief Executive of SEUPB; Professor Sir Ian Greer, Queen's President and Vice Chancellor; Professor Kathryn Higgins, Principal Investigator of the SUMIT project at Queen's; and Professor Catherine Comiskey, Trinity College Dublin.
The SUMIT project (Substance Use and Mental Health Interventions using Digital Technology) is supported by PEACEPLUS, a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB). The initial beneficiaries of the project will be 1,500 people on the island of Ireland who are facing significant barriers to care.
Managed by Queen’s Communities and Place (QCAP), the initiative will work with partners to develop three new digital products to add to, and enhance, existing health and social care services. These innovations are in direct response to shared challenges identified across the island where individuals with substance use and mental health issues are often faced with compounding barriers including poverty, stigma, and poor physical health with additional challenges accessing services.
The School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin, recognised internationally as the leading School in the European Union, will lead the research and evaluation of the project over four years with a budget of approximately €1 million. Team members include Prof Catherine Comiskey, Dr Sonam Banka-Cullen, Prof Mary Hughes, Dr Peter Kelly and Mr Philip James.
Prof Catherine Comiskey, Professor of Healthcare Modelling, Global Addiction and Transformation in her address to the collaborating team of service providers, the people who use drugs and alcohol, the funders and the researchers said that she was proud to be able to bring the research excellence of Trinity College Dublin to this challenge. Drawing upon her team's national and international recognition in the field of addiction research, she vowed to ensure that the research findings would be both useful and of the highest standards. Working with the team the aim will be to provide accessible, transformative yet sustainable services for the benefit of people who use substances, their families and communities.